Nose Art

[Wildr1]

I've been interested in how aircraft from the U.S. got such colorful names. A B-29"Aluminum Overcast" a B-17 " Flak Bait", a B-24 "Fertile Myrtle" and a few X-rated, these may end up edited but I have been fascinated by nose art. (sources from the internet)

 

[GrauGeist]

Because the army felt allowing the crews to name their aircraft and apply nose-art was a morale booster.
While the Germans were a bit more conservative, they allowed thier crews to do the same.

This is actually a tradition that goes back to WWI, where aircraft not only had names and art applied, but in many cases, the entire aircraft was painted to the pilot's liking.

By the way, "Aluminum Overcast" is a B-17G.

 

[Wildr1]

I stand corrected on the B-17, yes WW1 had many colorful aircraft (mostly German) but it blossomed in WW2.
a web connection: Nose Art on WWII Warbirds

 

[Wildr1]

If this got moved from aviation to markings and camaflage, shouldn't shark mouth be moved here also???

 

[Wurger]

The Shark Mouth Aircraft thread is a kind of collection of pics of the shark mouth planes. The idea of the thread poster was to gather a lot of pic of such marked kites. So the Aircraft Pictures seems to be the correct sub-forum for that. Your thread suggests that you are interested in how it happened the US planes got their names with arts. Your first post sounds like you request some info on that topic including the possibility of discussion over the "genealogy" of such markings. And this makes the difference. Therefore I have decided to move that here.

BTW.. both threads are still in the Aviation section but just in different sub-forums.

 

[fubar57]

You'll love these books then...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Brooke]

Hi: Many years ago we had for dinner a guy that lived here in Ukiah, California who painted W.W.II nose art, but I forget his name. Can anyone remind me? He told to going from base to base and painting as a living. There may have been a model posing for some of them.

 

[MiTasol]

For those interested in nose art have a look at the MacArthur Memorial page on the subject
Nose Art Of The Southwest Pacific Area