OT: Favorite Aircraft Nose Art.

[cshold]

Surprised Old Savage hasn’t started this thread yet.
One of mine on my favorite aircraft.

[Kansas Ed]

????????

Ed

[AJMD429]

Anatomically, I don't think that would really be the "nose" of the airplane, would it...?

Perhaps the left side of the upper chest, er, well . . . breast. . .

If someone painted that on a plane these days, it would be so distressing and create such an 'adverse work environment' for the poor dear women and do-ask-do-tell gays, that they'd all have to go to the infirmary for FMLA papers on the way to their attorneys...

[pwl44m]

That would put a kink in the Jihad.

[Old No7]

Given the original art was painted back in WWII on a typically all-male base -- I'm really surprised she isn't packing a pair of 44s, instead of the smaller 36s!

Old No7

[Old No7]

"Not as attractive" as the young lady on the first post, but you did say to post your "favorite" nose art, so here's mine...

WD-A nose art.jpg

That's WD A aka "Ridge Runner II" of the 335th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force of the Army Air Corp from WWII. Painted as the plane piloted by Major Pearce McKennon (a mighty fine gentleman and piano player), this beautiful D model P51 Mustang represents the "red nosed" Mustangs that were based at Debden, England, northeast of London near Saffron-Walden.

The Mighty 4th, consisting of Squadrons 334, 335 and 336, was the highest scoring Fighter Group of the war. As a "ground pounder" -- but darn proud of it -- my late father was Flight Chief for A Flight and WD A was the lead bird of the flight (the "Little Friends", as the bomber crews called them).

The 4th was formed after the U.S. took over flight operations from the RAF, as Debden was home to the original Eagle Squadrons (71, 121 and 133 were the RAF's group numbers) which had American pilots flying Spitfires for the RAF. My dad used to say "It was a good war when the Brits ran the show..." as I guess the regulations went up, the amount of passes went down, and the chow went to hell when the Army Air Corp took over. (Well, there was a war on, after all...) The British pilots used to pee on the tail wheels of the Spits "for luck" before a flight, which was hell for the ground crews due to the rust and corrosion it caused, but I digress...

The red-nosed Mustangs from Debden were the first Allied Fighters to make it all the way to Berlin, when Hermann Goering looked up and said "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up...".

Just thought of this...

It is December 7th... 69 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor... That means that 69 years ago tomorrow, my dad went down to the recruiting office, or whatever it was in those days, and volunteered to put his mechanical and machinist skills to use keeping our planes in the air. Sure, he would have loved to have been a pilot, but he knew others were better educated or skilled for that than he was. But he was very proud of his service.

Now that he's gone, I've got a list of 1,000 questions I'd like to ask him about Spitfires or Mustangs -- guess I'll have to hold those for when we meet again.

Old No7

[Ben_Rumson]

I've had a book that lists the names of all known 8th AF names of B-17s...They're fun and funny to read.. Many had pretty raunchy names... Some pics of them actually have the names blanked out by the censors of the day.... Like; C**P TRAP... replete with a Piccadilly Lilly delivering her, shall we say... bombs of doom...

[El Chivo]

Nose art is one reason I like the P-40's. They started the tradition with the shark's teeth.

[cshold]

I did get that unspoken “that would be kinda neat” look for Ms. J
when I showed her the pic. and told her my B-17 would have her
picture on the nose, and the plane would be called the Lady J.

Though that was after the Initial “why are you looking at naked woman AGAIN” look

[Ysabel Kid]

Given the original art was painted back in WWII on a typically all-male base -- I'm really surprised she isn't packing a pair of 44s, instead of the smaller 36s!

Old No7

+1

[Ysabel Kid]

Surprised Old Savage hasn’t started this thread yet.
One of mine on my favorite aircraft.

Great idea on a post thread Mike. Everyone should also tell us a little about the aircraft pictured.

[Borregos]

From the U.S. Army Air Forces official story of the VIII Bomber Command's first year over Europe.

[444tsgt]

I was lucky enough to actually get to climb inside the Sally B, at RAF Duxford. She was beautiful and something I will never forget. Its hard to imagine the guts it took to fly in a B-17 over Germany knowing what your chance of survival was.

[cshold]

Ran chills of pride up and down my spine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdDLxqkeJ10

[txpete]

some shots from the CAF in midland.they saved these before the acft were turned to scrap.













this made me feel old...

[Blaine]

I can't find the pic, but I like the cigar chomping, hacked off looking Woody Woodpecker throwing beer bottles.

[mod71alaska]

This is my favorite airplane nose art. Best bush plane ever built and the most fun to fly in the mountains or right above the tree tops. The Super Cub was used in combat in Vietnam as a spotter plane.

[1886]

Enjoy a little nose art and political commentary. 1886 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQNTRjah ... re=channel

[RIHMFIRE]

Ran chills of pride up and down my spine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdDLxqkeJ10

great pics guys.......

I wonder if that is the same B-17 that was restored here in new symrna beach?
awesome plane with a great history...
saw it in a airshow in daytona....flying with a F1-17

[Borregos]

Here is the nose art on the B-24 my Dad flew in for RAF Costal Command hunting U-Boats.
They spotted 29 U-Boats, attacked 19 and sank 4.

[Ysabel Kid]

some shots from the CAF in midland.they saved these before the acft were turned to scrap.

Wouldn't one of those made a great wall piece in a "man cave"?!

[dr walker]

My wife's grandfather marked many of his planes with Mickey Maus. They were usually marked below the window.

[awp101]

My wife's grandfather marked many of his planes with Mickey Maus. They were usually marked below the window.

Interesting...JG26 Schlageter IIRC?

[GonnePhishin]

dr walker,

Adolf Galland by any chance?

[Ben_Rumson]

+1 Galland

[dr walker]

His name is Douglas Pitcairn. He flew with Galland (that was where I found the image). They flew together in the fighter wing 3/Jagdgeschwader 88.
He flew HE-51's and BF109's.

[awp101]

Ahhh, the Condor Legion!

[jeepnik]

Nose art is one reason I like the P-40's. They started the tradition with the shark's teeth.

Not quite, while popularized during WWII, after all we had one heck of a lot more airplaines, nose art was seen on some WWI aircraft.

By the way, the P-40 is my favorite WWII airplane as well. While the nose art is nice, I'm more impressed by the fact that when needed, it could be turned out rapidly. While things like the P-38 and P-51 were "on the drawing boards", the redesigned P-36 (they went from a radial to an inline engine, and had to change the wings and fuselage a bit), went into production in a very short time. It remained the only aircraft used by all of the allied nations, serving with some of the smaller nations until the end of the war and beyond.