Bomber Girls: Airplane Nose Art of World War II
Squadron insignias could be found on World War I era aircrafts but it wasn’t until World War II that the idea of actually painting a whole image onto the nose of a plane came to fruition. Before that point, men would paste pages from popular magazines onto the nose section, tail section or fuselages of their aircrafts. As painting images on airplane noses became popular, a bona fide industry sprang up and artists were suddenly in demand. They would get paid as much as $15.00 per nose art, a small fortune for an artist at the time. World War II was widely considered the “Golden Age” of nose art.
Nose art could be found on nearly every type of aircraft flown during World War II. B-24s, P-38s, T-6 Texans, Welch B-17s, and Wilson B-29s were just some examples. If you could name the plane, there was Pin-Up girl nose art available for it. The military never officially sanctioned the art as it was widely viewed as a harmless morale booster. Some of the images were even propagandistic.
Often, artists would use real women as models for their Pin-Up art. This started as men began requesting duplications of centerfolds from magazines like Esquire. However, men soon moved on to other things and Rita Hayworth’s image from the 1940s film Put the Blame on Mame was used at one point. Nose art also tended to be racy for the times. The men were given much more freedom to choose what they wanted on their aircraft and so artists were encouraged to depict pin-up girls in very little dress. It was a sort of rebellion against the attitude of American sexuality at the time, although a limited one. The army also supported that as well. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for men who knew their planes would be out of the public eye to have nude pin-up girls drawn onto the nose.
- Sensuality in Bomber Nose Art: Discusses the use of sensual nose art during World War II.
- Nose Art Images: Collection of black and white nose art images that definitely weren’t printed with (epson ink).
- Aircraft Nose Art: For God and Country: Discusses how nose art was a military tradition during World War II.
- WWII Nose Art Galleries: Has multiple galleries divided by the type of plane with nose art on it.
- Memphis Beetle: Provides the history of the Memphis Beetle airplane nose art.
- Aircraft Nose Art: Discusses the major fads of aircraft nose art.
- History of Nose Art: Gives a brief history about aircraft nose art.
- Nose Art Gallery: Has a few examples of WWII era aircraft nose art.
- Pacific Nose Art Gallery: Displays the Pacific Theater’s nose art.
- History Saver Art Panels: Has images of WWII era nose art panels; some in color.
- Lost Warbird Nose Art Gallery: Has images of aircraft nose art; not for children.
- 395th Nose Art Gallery: Nose art from the planes of the 195th fighter group.
- Flying Girls: Image archive with pin-up, black and white, and color photos of aircraft nose art.
- Don Allen Collection: Collection of famous artist Don Allen’s nose art.
