From the collection of Corpral Donald Elson, United States Army Air Corps. The following is a discription of this art form from the web site, "Military Aircraft Nose art" http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/milita... -- Nose art thrived in its infancy largely because servicemen had more freedom to alter their aircraft. Although the military never officially sanctioned nose art, it unofficially approved it as a morale-booster. It was a survival technique in a harsh environment. A little bit of levity and diversion goes a long way, and a measure of pride and enthusiasm comes from individual expression. Similarly, young men, who were generally under the age of twenty, could derive some comfort from images of women, mother, and home. Anne Josephine Hayward, a member of the American Red Cross Aero Club in England and a painter of nose art, challenges current objections to nose art as degrading to women or others: "Its purpose was worthy, to bolster military morale in a terrible time. The members of each crew came to feel that their plane and their painting were somehow special and would bring them luck, a safe return from hostile skies. The art may have been frivolous at times, but it was never anti-social" (Ethell, pp. 120-121).

The characteristics of World War II aircraft art and the fact that it flourished during that time are indicators of that era. The art reflects the attitude of the people involved in the war--both at home and on the front, and, in the case of World War II, the attitude was positive (Davis v. 3, p. 3). The images--often patriotic and sometimes propagandistic--clearly reflected the spirit of the times, the all-out American effort to fight the good war. The combat crews were backed by a unified, supportive public. This was a war with a clear objective, and one in which the whole country challenged a known evil. At first look, the art that was a product of the war seems to be nothing more than silly names and irreverent images. But taken as a whole, the images indefinably suggest an underlying determination of the country to right a wrong.

There were four main cultural sources of 1940s nose art. The first was the popular men's magazine Esquire, whose calendar page was the era's equivalent to the 1960s Playboy centerfold. The most duplicated nose art images were the product of Esquire's artist Alberto Vargas. Whether a Vargas copy or a Philip S. Brinkman original, pin-up art of the day was transferred to the side of an aircraft. Comic strip characters provided another source to be duplicated. Common images of the day were Burma, Madame Shoo Shoo, and Dragon Lady, characters from Milt Canniff's "Terry and the Pirates," and Miss Lace from "Male Call," a strip he created for the troops' daily newspaper. Dog Patch and Moonbeam McSwine were two images from Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" strip copied with regularity. The 56th FG and the 47th FS of the 15th FG, known as the "Dogpatchers" had an entire series of nose art creations based on "Li'l Abner" (Ethell, pp. 71-72). The line between art and life blurred as professional artists Canniff, Capp, Herblock, and Sgt. George Baker (creator of "Sad Sack") contributed art work in the form of posters for the military.