Out on the ramp at 5:30 this morning – very cold again but I came a little better prepared today. Unfortunately the wildfire smoke is hampering the flying today – As I was told by one of the pilots – “you shouldn’t fly faster than you can see”. Visibility due to the smoke caused several of todays events to be canceled.

As I was taking the above image – it dawned on me that I really don’t know the history of “Nose Art” on airplanes. Plan B today was to document some of the art work on these older military planes.

Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of a military aircraft, usually located near the nose, and is a form of aircraft graffiti.

Nose Art is largely considered a military tradition,  and began for practical reasons of identifying friendly aircraft. The practice then evolved to express the individuality of the pilot

I couldn’t find any definitive documentation of when it began, however, photos of “decorated” planes started to appear in WWI in both Axis and Ally fighters. Insignia and ominous designs like pirate flags were meant to strike fear when seen by their opponent due to the fact that it was close air combat at that time.

In WWII, the designs got more elaborate, especially on the USA side where scantily clad pinups were painted based on the pinup calendars of the time and various other theatre magazines and periodicals. It continued into the Korean conflict.

Nose art saw a decline when Political Correctness took its toll and is highly regulated – all designs must be approved through the proper channels and top brass. The female pinup form is now prohibited but privately-owned warbirds are not regulated and are at the discretion of its owner. They now also have a tendancy to add the airplane name along with the “art”