Since its inception, aviation has adopted many maritime traditions, including the increased predilection of sailors for various kinds of superstitions. So, following the fleet ("a woman on a ship in trouble"), one of the most bad omens promising a pilot continuous trouble was the presence of female representatives on board the plane or even next to it (which, however, did not cancel the pilots' favor to girls outside the aerodrome). Another characteristic feature of the early aviators was their bright personality, which inevitably led to attempts to give a recognizable appearance to their aircraft. So, already in the First World War, various drawings and personal emblems of pilots appeared on the sides of airplanes, but in general, the puritanical attitude of society at that time to the image of the female body for a long time did not allow such pictures to appear on the sides of aircraft.
Oddly enough, but the pioneers in the image of playful beauties on the fuselages were Russian pilots. This happened after the February Revolution of 1917, when the authority of the commanding staff was greatly shaken, and everything or almost everything became possible. The Civil War, which began soon after, only added freemen to the work of the airfield "painters", and the boards of the "newports" and "sopvichs" were full of girls in frivolous poses. Tellingly, this kind of painting did not take root at all in the air forces of other states participating in the First World War, whose pilots limited themselves to less defiant painting, and British airplanes generally had an ascetic appearance, and differed from each other in maximum tactical signs, consisting of geometric figures ...
The ended World War I, and then the Civil War, took away with them the multicolored appearance of aviation technology. The next arrival of onboard painting in the now in the Red Army Air Force took place during the Great Patriotic War, moreover, it acquired a mass character already in its second half, after the Soviet pilots gained air superiority. However, under the watchful eye of political workers on the "Yaks" and "Lavochkin" Stalin's falcons, most of the drawings of representatives of the animal world (birds of prey or all kinds of lions and tigers) or political satire appeared. The author is aware of only two photographs of Soviet wartime aircraft with drawings that, with a large degree of convention, can be attributed to erotic themes, and both photographs depict "Airacobras" obtained under Lend-Lease. Here it is, the pernicious influence of the West!
In this very West, meanwhile, the side painting bloomed in double color. By the beginning of World War II, the genre of drawing, which received the name pin-up (pin-up - from "pin up", that is, it is meant that such a drawing is hung on the wall with the help of buttons), acquired extraordinary popularity in the United States, the classic plot of which was a girl who got into an awkward situation and lost some of her clothes. Seductive beauties clung to thorny bushes in stockings, their dresses were blown by sudden gusts of wind, they accidentally caught the artist's eyes while taking a shower or changing clothes.
If in the First World War American pilots were not noticed in an addiction to naked beauties, then with the beginning of World War II, pin-up began a victorious march through the fuselages of the US Air Force planes. The command preferred to turn a blind eye to art, rightly believing that there was no particular harm to military discipline in this, but there was a certain increase in morale. In the future, this tradition was preserved, and as soon as the American Air Force entered the battle, be it the war in Korea, Vietnam or the Persian Gulf, painted "combat friends" immediately appeared on the fuselages of aircraft. In the last couple of decades, the attitude towards fuselage art on erotic themes has become more loyal in other air forces of the world.
Fighter "Nieuport-23" from the 22nd KAO of the Western Front with the image of a mermaid on board - the first known drawing in the "nude" style on an airplane (http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
A mermaid on board the Nieupora-17 presents a ribbon with a red star, apparently to the owner of the aircraft - the chief of aviation of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, I.I. Semenov (http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
This "Nieuport" by an unknown red pilot has been transferred to a completely classic plot - "Venus of Urbino" by Titian
(http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
"Nieuport-17" from the 43rd reconnaissance squadron of the Turkestan front, Bukhara, 1920. The drawing on board reproduces the painting by the French artist Jules Joseph Lefebvre "Mary Magdalene in the grotto" (http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
This one, captured in April 1919 by the Poles on railway station Vilna "Nieuport-24bis" from the 3rd artillery squadron is decorated with an antique plot - the goddess Diana shooting from a bow. After repairs, the Poles included this fighter in their Air Force (http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
On board the Nyupora-24bis, Krasvoenlet Popov from the 44th reconnaissance detachment of the Western Front is wringing her hands in despair at another naked beauty. In October 1919, the pilot flew in his fighter to the Poles. Having painted over the red stars, they did not touch the "work of art" (http://vikond65.livejournal.com)
Pilots of the 3rd Hells Angels Squadron of the American Volunteer Group in front of their P-40C Tomahawk, Burma, 1941. In the hands of the pilots, the squadron's emblem is a nude red female figurine with wings designed to depict the fiend of hell ( http://www.archives.gov)
"Airacobra" squadron commander of the 69th Guards IAP Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Proshenkov, 1944-1945. Complicated composition of marks aerial victories and two female portraits is extremely uncharacteristic for the Red Army Air Force (http://waralbum.ru)
Pilots of the 102nd Guards IAP on the wing of the "Airacobra", the cockpit door of which is decorated with a picture in the pin-up style. Judging by the available photographs of other aircraft of the regiment, the process of "decorating" the fighters was quick and effective - the American magazine that came to the USSR together with the ferry pilots was fraternally disassembled into pages and pasted on the doors of the cabins (author's collection)
"Lady in the Dark" - Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter, named after a popular musical (http://www.indianamilitary.org)
First Lieutenant Richard O. Lehnert with his mechanic on the Lightning wing of the P-38J California Cutie. 55th Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, England, June 1944 (http://www.americanairmuseum.com)
American pilots admire a masterpiece of art aboard the Douglas A-20 Havok bomber from Bomber Squadron 410, 97th Bomber Group. Great Britain, summer 1944 ()
American naval pilots of World War II dabbled in on-board painting in general and pin-ups in particular an order of magnitude less often than their land-based counterparts, but there are no rules without exceptions. The photo shows a line of naval "Hellcats" F6F-5N from the night fighter squadron VMF (N) -451, each of which carries its own drawing on the nose
(http://www.zone-five.net)
Night fighter P-61 with its own name "Moon Happy". For anyone, but for the Japanese bombers operating at night, the meeting with the "Black Widows" did not promise any happiness!
(http://www.modelersalliance.com)
Transport "Douglas" C-53 "D-Day Doll" carries a drawing of the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
(http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org)
Lieutenant Guy Bordelon is the only US naval pilot who took part in the Korean War to achieve the title of ace, alongside his Corsair F4U-5N Annie-Mo. All his victories were declared at night, in battles with light Po-2 and Yak-18, used as bombers (
Aircraft Nose Art - the art of drawing on the fuselage of an aircraft - was most widespread in American aviation during the Second World War.
The plots were different: patriotic themes, heroes of comics and Disney cartoons, but above all, of course, girls.
Nose Art is not something fundamentally new - it traces its roots to the ancient custom of the army to decorate itself: knights put on rich armor, sailors installed rostra on ships, Indians painted their faces ...
Aviation Nose Art originated with military aviation... Here is the airplane of the Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca: 
(Rumor has it that this horse later migrated to the emblem of Ferrari cars)
The heyday of Nose Art was the Second World War.
Almost all american planes had their own names. There are no exact statistics, but, apparently, about half of the planes carried Nose Art drawings. 
Zodiac signs. scales 
and Cancer 
Nose Art was approved by the Air Force command as a morale boost and some psychological support to the crew.
There were also limitations. Drawings, as a rule, were worn only by combat aircraft, and in the naval aviation Nose Art were completely banned. 
American psychologists who have studied the phenomenon of Aircraft Nose Art believe that in this way the plane was humanized, reminded the pilot of home and peaceful life, and served as a kind of psychological defense against war. Many planes bore the names of wives, girlfriends, mothers.
Captain Ervin S. Ethell and his wife Jenny 
"Acting Widow" 
Corporal Ruby Newell - the most beautiful girl of the unit - at her portrait: 
The crews painted the aircraft exclusively at their own expense. This was done by both amateurs and professionals who served in the units - former artists, cartoonists. 
“The wife of our pilot once told us a legend about a stork that lived on an island in the Pacific Ocean and flew around a thousand of the surrounding islands every day to wish them well. We liked the story right away, and for two quarts of Irish whiskey, one soldier drew us this stork on board. " 
(I personally would not give a drop of whiskey for this drawing)
Pin-up girls met much more often than real wives and girlfriends.
Often these works were copies of magazine drawings. 
(this crew flew 90 combat missions, which is a lot by American standards)
As noted, in the Pacific theater of operations, the girls for some reason were much lighter dressed than in Europe. 
Night mission 
The most common Aircraft Nose Art drawing - a shark's mouth - was invented during the First World War. 
Cards, bones, four leaves of clover are symbols of good luck. 
I wonder what these camels mean ... 
"Difficult child": 
(this plane starred in the movie "Amendment 22")
After the Vietnam War, Nose Art practically disappeared and only gradually returned in the 1980s. It was considered that this restores the continuity of the glorious martial traditions.
Princess Leia 
The cat fires a missile on the MiG-29: 
In 2007, the British Department of Defense banned the use of images of girls as potentially offensive to female personnel.
Now the procedure is complicated: first, the crew presents a sketch of the Nose Art to their commander, and he must agree on the drawing with the command of the air wing. 
UPD 9.12.12 It turns out that the camels on the fuselage mean that the main route was through the Himalayas. The number of camels - the number of sorties, the camel turned in the other direction - the crew had to turn back due to an engine malfunction (
FavAfter the outbreak of the First World War, the pilots went all out. Some painted aces on iron birds, some skulls, and one Italian - a horse (the one that became the emblem of Ferrari). And, of course, it could not do without women.
Of course, the guardians of morality were annoyed by such airplane decorations, but they had to endure - it is difficult to preach morality to a 20-year-old professional killer, who will burn half the sky in an airplane tomorrow.
When the war was over, the screws were tightened. The army is order, everything here should be monotonous, trimmed, painted and sprinkled with sand. However, as soon as the next world turmoil began, history repeated itself.
The greatest connoisseurs of aircraft art were American pilots. There is a logical explanation for this. The British painted their bombers in camouflage colors and flew at night when few could see them. True, the goal to see properly was also not particularly successful, but when bombing cities, special accuracy is not required. The Americans, who were terribly proud of their Norden sight, flew during the day, and even Winnie the Pooh could not disguise such a bandura as a B-17 in the sunny sky. When the command realized that the pilots were massively drawing some kind of abnormal disgrace on the planes, it was too late to prohibit it. Only evil spirits and gambling were banned - that is, devils and cards were asked to redraw.
Of course, each crew wanted their plane to be not a sower in the style of Ostap Bender, but a real work of art. This was best done by those who were friends with a brush and paint while still in civilian life.
For example, in the Pacific Ocean, Al Merkling, who worked as an illustrator and toy designer before the war, served as a corporal in the 20th Cartographic Squadron. Soon, drawings not provided for by the charter began to appear on the surrounding bombers. The first was the bomber jacket of Lieutenant John Wooten. When flying from the United States to Australia, the plane was so skewed in turbulence that the combat vehicle had to be patched up even before the front. On this occasion, the crew chipped in and asked Merkling to draw them something like that. Al drew - Patched Up Piece, in the sense of "patch on patch". Everyone liked the picture, and people lined up for Merkling. Until the end of the war, he painted at least twelve B-24s and a couple of smaller cars.
On the other side of the planet, fighters from 334 Squadron were lucky. Their mechanic, Don Allen, graduated from art school in Cleveland before the war. Drawing on fighters was, of course, more difficult than on bombers, but Allen succeeded. By the way, he did not mix art with pornography. Therefore, when the pilots asked: "Don, draw me such a nude so that Fritz's eyes would go to his forehead!" - Allen replied: “Stop it! Let's do it nicely and not go! " And so he painted almost forty airplanes. After the war, he became a tough commercial artist, head of the studio. Somehow in the mood he redrawn part of his military drawings and donated it to the Aviation Museum in Dover, Delaware. If you are in those places, do not miss it.
Don Allen is painting Miss Dallas
Anne Hayward, who worked at the base of the 385th Bomber Group, began with drawings on the wall of the pilot club, and then began to work on the pilots' jackets and on the aircraft themselves. Apparently, the guys liked both the result and the process itself. In fact, the life of a bomber is boring and monotonous, every day - the same thing: "messers", anti-aircraft guns, crawled on his word of honor and one wing. And here, in the midst of dull everyday life beautiful girl the plane paints for you. The group's pilots even wrote a collective letter asking to release her from other work and assigned Ann a special jeep.
Of course, talented artists able to come up with an original drawing were in short supply during the war. In this case, ready-made plots were taken. In the top was Alberto Vargas from Esquire magazine. When they say "pin-up", they usually remember it. The owners of the magazine then showed beneficial patriotism - they sent out as many as nine million copies to the military for free. Just imagine: poor ji-ai are sitting in some hole in the middle The Pacific, where even sharks swim only on holidays, and here in the next package - bam, a magazine with half-dressed beauties. Fighting spirit immediately hardens and rises to an unattainable height.
Well, those who lacked magazines copied and pasted from posters of famous actresses, dancers and just pretty girls. Sometimes it turned out even remotely not like the original, but the guys liked it.
