USO Canteen FReeper Style....Nose Art and Pin Ups go to War....May 8,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

The practice of personalizing military aircraft with custom artwork began a few years before WWI, and continues to this day. The peak of this practice occurred during WWII, when hundreds of thousands of aircraft were adorned with such artwork, generally painted near the nose of the aircraft... hence the term, "Nose Art."

Often, flight and ground crews wore a smaller version of the artwork painted on the backs of their jackets. Of course, the quality of the artwork varied, from crude to excellent, depending on the skill of the artist.

The sultry, wonderful world of Nose Art is as varied as the individuals who dressed up and decorated the aircraft and the feelings of the men who flew them into combat. Though this variety is staggering, common themes run through them all from World War II to the end of the Korean War when the genre all but left the scene.

Humor, pathos, slogans, girls, cartoons, nicknames, hometowns, girls, patriotism, dishing it to the enemy, warriors, girls, youthful bravado, girls...these transcended nationality as both Allies and Axis pilots went to war in their individually marked chariots. Men at war separated from home, family, loved ones and a familiar way of life sought ways to personalize and escape the very harsh business surrounding them. For the most part they thought about women, represented on the sides of aircraft in the most tender of ways to the most degrading. These men spent many hours longing for the tenderness a woman could bring to their lives...and for the sexual pleasure they could provide. Whether top level commanders ordered it off the aircraft or not, the men let their feelings flow onto their machines.

As their aircraft reflected, fighter pilots of both wars were busy strafing, bombing, hunting for aerial kills and protecting friendly aircraft, airfields, supply lines and troops. But the ground crews were just as busy trying to make sure the aircraft they had generously loaned to the pilot was on the line each day and ready to bring him home. There is never enough credit to be given to these men who worked ten hours for every hour the pilot flew.

The fame and glory attached to the pilot over shadowed his faithful ground ponders, but this usually did not prevent the enlisted men and officers from becoming devoted friends. Each needed the other to make the mission successful, and a pilot's crew would experience as much pride for a victory, knowing they were behind the guns as well. As a result, nose art was often the choice of the ground crew rather than the pilot. Some units made room for both by having the pilot's art on the left side and the ground crew's on the right.

Unique among fighters, the P-38 Lightning had three noses to adorn, allowing a separate canvas for the pilot, crew chief, armorer and radio man.

Pin Ups.......

The Professor is trying to give you a more scientific explanation of how this kind of cheesecake affected the average American soldier.

World War II pinups appeared in many forms, from fighter and bomber nose art and bomber jacket art to calendars, postcards, matchbooks, and playing cards. The term pinup was coined during World War II, when soldiers would "pin up" these idealized pictures on their barracks and foxhole walls, and sailors did the same to lockers and bulkheads. There were photos of Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner, and hundreds of other calendar girls and Hollywood starlets whose only claim to fleeting fame was their image seared into a GI's brain from a ragged page of YANK or Esquire magazine.

"Servicemen soon began to create their own pinup art, decorating the noses of their planes and their bomber jackets with more primitive paintings of shapely babes."

Betty Grable as she appeared in a map-reading manual. This image was used to get pilots used to reading map grids.

An early centerfold featuring Dorothy Lamour, "... the No. 1 pinup girl of the U.S. Army."

Nose art was a popular morale builder, it ranged from tame cartoon characters to some really "RACEY" women.

It must be remembered that these men were young, at war, and homesick at times. The names of mothers, girlfriends and colorful limericks were often the inspiration for this unique art form. These pictures and captions are published here for historical value, exactly as they appeared on the planes.

[Snow Bunny]

Hi, good to see you. I hope you've had a wonderful day.

[lodwick]

More local beef from Billie

With special thanks to the good-natured FReepers above, they are pictured as follows: Mr. February in front...ST.LOUIE1. Behind him, left to right are: Mr. July...ArneFufkin; Mr. December 2001...Lonnie; Mr. October...lodwick; and Mr. June...hole_n_one. Next, standing left to right: Mr. August...real saxophonist; and Mr. September...Cool Guy. Back row, left to right: Mr. March...Mr. K; Mr. January...kachina; Mr. April...cmsgop; Mr. December...COB1; Mr. November...TexasNative2000; and Mr. May...Dog.

Billie's homepage here at FR is not to be missed.

[Jen]

#302 OMG!!! As Fred Sanford would say, "Elizabeth, it's the big one!" My heart is racing. Somebody call 911.

[SassyMom]

WOOHOO!!! Will ya look at that calendar!!!!! ;)

font face=Monotype Corsiva"color="Teal"size="5">Sassy

[Snow Bunny]

You are so kind, good to see you. I hope all has been going great for you my friend.

[SassyMom]

Let me try again.... shesh......

Sassy

[SassyMom]

I'll be happy to help you find those cowboy boots and hat. It may be tomorrow though, we have a big storm moving in so I will need to shut off the puter pretty soon.

[Snow Bunny]

giggle....good one Lodwick. Billie is so very talented. She did such a great job on the Calender.

[SAMWolf]

I've got their patch. They had converted to A-10's by then.

[Snow Bunny]

ROTFL.....hot hot hot.heh.....

[SAMWolf]

It's the upper case character on the top left-hand key of your keuboard right next to the 1.
It's called the tilda.

[Snow Bunny]

And here are our wonderful " BAD" boys...tee hee

[Mr_Magoo]

Two NAS Pensacola Jets Collide, Crash In Gulf 7 feared dead.

[4TheFlag]

Hey fellow Bad Boy, what kind of trouble you want to get into tonite, LOL...

[Jen]

Do you collect military unit patches?

[Pippin]

Thank you.

[SAMWolf]

Not really, It's just one I happen to have.

[4TheFlag]

Hey, anybody seen who today????

[Pippin]

Trouble? You? Nahhh!

[4TheFlag]

NICE plate there CS!!