Thread: Somethin' Different....

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Well, I just got through looking at a book that featured nose art off of the WWII planes...what a cool book...
I'm a nut for that stuff, can't get enough of it...

Anyhoo....It got me thinkin' (scary, I know...)

If you guys had a plane like that, what would you name it?

Some of the names I came up with were:

"Hell on Heels" "Mis-Managed"
"Beautiful Bad Dream"

i'd like a B-25, and name it "Delivering the Goods", as a kid i built tons of the B-25 models,

The artwork on these planes was absolutely amazing...

I didn't know that cartoon characters were used frequently too....I saw Tom (of Tom & Jerry), Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny....
Also lots of other assorted cartoon critters....

It wasn't just critters. They were also hooked on leggy women. These are some of the FEW I could post here. Most weren't quite so tame.

Bein an aviation guy, I love the WWII nose art too. Love them B-25's, add a little nose art of the sensual female category and name it "Miss Behavin". I understand that some crews got a little too explicit and their squadron commanders would have to tell them to cover up.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

It wasn't just critters. They were also hooked on leggy women.

I knew that the pin-ups were popular, in fact, that's what intially drew me to the nose art to begin with...

I recognized alot of the ladies on the planes as "twins" of pin-ups from artists such as Elvgren and Vargas (two of my favorite artists, by the way...)

They also had pics of the flight jackets that matched the artwork on the plane....those were soooo cool...

Miss-behavin was a plane, i think it was a b-17

There were several planes with this name:

http://64.225.109.119/hypercontinuum/vpb-118/Lodato.htm

• Also, there was a B17-G from the 37th Bomber Squadron / 301st BG, Lucera, Italy, 1944. The airplane lost altitude with one engine out and two on reduced power. The aircraft was set on autopilot, and the crew bailed out over Poland near Krakow. The Russians thought they were German paratroopers, but the pilot spoke polish and got them released they made their own way to Odessa. The caught a freighter and made their way back to their unit, thinking the plane lost. However, the plane flew on for several hours and belly-landed near Ostrow.
• Miss Behavin' B-24 S/N 42-52086 (717 BS / 449 BG) was lost over Steyr, Austria on 02 APR 1944 in a three plane collision over the target. 9 KIA, 1 POW. The other two planes were SUPERSTITIOUS AL-O-YSIUS and PEERLESS CLIPPER. The story is that the only survivor, S/SGT Mark Scheider fell 20,000 feet without a chute, crashed through some trees, landed in a snowbank and survived as a POW. ALthough this happened a couple of times in WWII, I cannot verify that S/SGT Mark Scheider's story is true.

Don't know if you knew or care, but you will still find some nose art on some US and British aircraft operating today. It kind of resurfaced during the current conflict, I think the Brits may have added it to only aircraft that were operating in the war. We had a few "decorated" 'birds during the Vietnam war, nearly all fighters, mostly F-100's and 105's, some were even featured in official Air Force publications.