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.

[Diver Dave]

Try running it through Netscape. I just tried it and it came back with gif vs the bmp on IE.

[MistyCA]

ok...I have another little story for you. when my youngest daughter was born I contracted a blood infection that settled into my floppy mitral valve in my heart. When she was a couple months old the infection (unbeknownst to me) had festered and I throw an embolism which caused me to have a stroke. The entire left side of my body is somewhere in limbo-land. I had absolutely no feeling...you could have removed it and I would not have known!

I was hospitalized for 8 weeks undergoing intervenous antibiotic therapy. There were complications which had threatened my life very seriously on a number of occasions. I was allergic to the medication, and there were 8 different kinds of specialists who cared for me and pulled me through.

When you face mortality you begin to realize what kind of things really matter in your life. Flowers that sway in the breeze become something that you can marvel at. Old people become much more important. Smiles come easier. Life is simply amazing...all life.

I was walking through a store one day and a strange man came up and asked me what had happened that made me beam such happiness. Apparently I was smiling...just because. BTW...while I was still in ICU my dad sat on the floor in the room and waited for some sort of good news. I remember waking up because my nose was itching like crazy! I kept complaining about it and my dad shot up off the floor and said, "thank God! You can feel it!!!" :) I continued to recover enough feeling so that no one would ever notice that I had had a stroke, although it took several months. One day I was carrying my baby in my left arm and (duh) didn't realize I had her! LOL... And I could never trust that side to test bottles, etc...hot sometimes felt cold, etc.

The point is that sometimes it takes loss to recognize all of those things that we had always taken for granted. Loss gives us an opportunity to make gains. Loss is what we make of it. ":)

[Mama_Bear]

Thanks, I will try that.

[MistyCA]

Thanks Tonk! I wonder if I can email them with more success. I will try that too. :)

[Mama_Bear]

THANK YOU! It worked, I got it. :-)

[MistyCA]

No, it is apparently something in my system that does not allow you to copy the animations. I haven't figured out yet what that might be.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

[MistyCA]

I wondered about that. I posted it in Netscape, but the same thing happend to Billie when I posted it in IE. thanks.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I was able to save with IE with no problem.

[MistyCA]

Wow...that is great! Thanks Dave!!!

[Mama_Bear]

Thanks Tonk. Did you do it the way Dave suggested, save it in Netscape, or were you able to save it some other way? I know you are too busy to be saving and posting graphics for us. I appreciate it. I have Netscape on my computer but I never use it. At least now I know I can get them via Netscape if I have to. :-)

A big thank you ((((hug))))!

[Diver Dave]

what version are you using? I think mine is 5.5. I'd make a quick check, but I'm in Netscape now. When I tried to save with IE, I too was only allowed to save as a bmp.

[Mama_Bear]

Thanks to Dave and Tonk, I got it. Thank you so much for thinking of me. I will put it on my page ... there is always room for one more bear on my page. LOL! And that one is soooo cute. :-)

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Your Welcome
I just used IE with no problem.
I ONLY use Netscape to check websites for my business after my partner builds them.
Some tables etc won't work on Netscape, but will work on IE.
So he always builds in Netscape so they work on both browsers.

[Snow Bunny]

I agree Misty, and I am so glad you are OK now. Thanks for sharing that, what a beautiful story.

[MistyCA]

I am glad you got it and especially glad that you like it! Of course I thought of you immediately when I found it a little while ago. :)

[Mama_Bear]

I was able to save with IE with no problem.

Hmmmmm ... well, I'm confused. But, thank you for your help. Next time it happens I will go directly to my Netscape browser to save them. :-)

[Snow Bunny]

Thank you Tonkin. I appreciate it. I just saved it to my storage place so you can delete it from yours. Thank you again.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"what version are you using?"

6.0 version, but I recommend NOT to upgrade till all the bugs worked out of 6.0

[Snow Bunny]

Thanks so much.