Nose art is the art form found on many Allied Forces bombers and fighter planes, and WWII was the golden age. Squadron insignia was painted on aircraft in WWI in wild and varied ways but true nose art began in WWII with the pasting of images from “men’s magazines” on the fuselage of B-17 Flying Fortresses. It was a short step from there to painted images, and the further from official eyes the plane was based, the racier the image, aircraft based in the South Pacific were ‘hotter’ those in England. There was an industry painting these images, and the artists received up to $15 a plane.

The images-often patriotic and sometimes propagandistic-showed the all-out American effort to fight the good war.

Sources for the images – Esquire Magazine and Alberto Vargas’s images were the pin ups of the day. Comic strip characters, from Terry & The Pirates for example, were also common, I’ll Banner provided Moonbeam McSwine. Images of Movie Stars, Rita Hayworth was popular, were a third source. Disney cartoon characters a fourth.

But it was the pin-up that became the most recognized image for nose art. Nose art’s portrayal of women was free-spirited and daring.