WW II Military Aircraft Nose Art

[ismnotwasm]

What bothers me about this-- besides the obvious--is how many of the planes must have went down. Painting a sexualized woman on the nose on a War plane is disturbing when one thinks of the many potential implications.

Its also heartbreakingly sad.

Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of a military aircraft, usually chalked up on the front fuselage, and is a form of aircraft graffiti. Although wildly painted squadron insignia was common in World War I, true nose art did not occur until the Second World War. At the beginning of World War II, before the idea of painting an image on the skin of a plane arose, crews of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) pasted pages from Esquire Magazine, Men Only, and Look magazine on the nose section, fuselage, and tail sections of the B-17 bombers known as Flying Fortresses. By the end of the war, there was such a demand for artists, who received up to $15.00 per aircraft, that nose art could be called an industry

http://www.vintag.es/2014/03/ww-ii-military-aircraft-nose-art.html

[TheNutcracker]

1. My Dad's plane was the Rum Buggy II - painted bottle of rum as a chariot!

My Dad flew with Carl Frieberger who went on to do stunt flying in WWII movies. They were shot down 8 times! All survived each time. The Rum Buggy!

[ismnotwasm]

2. I'm glad they survived

That's really a neat story.


I realize these painting were more a sign of the times, and nobody gave it a second thought--but then I think of the terrible of death toll of fighter planes.

[mn9driver]

3. The death rate of allied bomber crews over Europe approached 80 prrcent

...during some parts of the war. The overall KIA rate for the 8th AAF operating out of the UK for the whole war was about 41 percent, with another 20 percent shot down and captured.

The psychology of nose art needs to take into account the fact that these very young men knew the low odds of their survival every time they climbed into those machines. The overtly sexualized women painted there were terrifyingly likely to be the last women they would ever see. It explains why so many of these images combine sex, death and bitterness.

They needed to live through that at least 30 times in order to "complete" a single tour.

It was a different time under unimaginably difficult circumstances.

[ismnotwasm]

4. That's kind of what I was thinking

Sexuilized women have always been there to "entertain" the troops, and it was a different time. And didn't the crew often have a certain amount of affection for their fighter? Almost anthropomorphic?

What's interesting is they knew she was going with them.

[mn9driver]

5. Undoubtably.

It was common for crews to assign human, gender and even magical qualities to their machines. A certain amount of situational psychosis was probably a good thing. It allowed them to keep doing it over and over again.

[HubertHeaver]

6. The flight crew, be it in a single-seater fighter or multi-seater bomber, do have

an affection for their aircraft (bird).

Davis-Monthan AFB is the parking area for the "mothballed" aircraft. Back in the 70's they would give guided (bus) tours of the parking area so the interested public could see the old aircraft. It was not uncommon for an old guy to find his old airplane and want to get out of the bus to hug it. And talk about it. Incessantly.

To me, they were just machines. To the people whose lives depended on them, they were something more.

[ismnotwasm]

7. We have the Museum of Flight up here in Seattle

And the sheer history makes is in incredible. I haven't been in a while but it seems as if they had a fighter or two

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. Dark humor is a coping mechanism for dealing with horror.

I just can not begrudge those men their homage.

Perhaps, it is over sexualized stereotypical portrayal of women on the noses of those air crafts.

But, I just can not judge them and find them in any way downgrading women.

[ismnotwasm]

9. It was different times as has been pointed out

And very sad times


Made ME want to go read "Gravity's Rainbow again for some reason. That book is better than taking acid, with its disjointed phallic non-story symbology in the midst of war and death

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. different era.

very drastic set of circumstances.

Need to read Gravity's Rainbow. and should probably get a copy for brother.

yes.

thanks for reminding be about that book. One of those on my get around to it books.

[ismnotwasm]

11. It's hard to read

All Pynchon is a challenge, but his writing changes your brain, I swear