WWII bomber nose-art?

Question

I have seen a lot of WWII bombers with great nose art. How did the pilots get the pictures so good? did they hire a lot of artists or were a lot of pilots just good at painting?

Answer 1

You're right! There were many great and inspiring pieces of art that graced the aircraft of WWII, but it wasn't just the bombers! The larger aircraft had larger areas to work with so it was more noticable, but as far back as WW1 many fighters were emblazoned with distinctive logos.

They were painted and applied using many different methods. Some aircraft simply had the panels removed so that they could be done in a studio, but many were done "in situ".

Most were rendered by talented individuals within the outfit, but it was not unknown for artists (some of them famous) to paint these works of art.

Disney artisits, in addition to designing the logo's for MCAS El Toro and other air bases painted many bomber and fighter noses.

Answer 2

Remember during WW2, the media was not as "all pervasive"as they are today. Many of the aircraft had pretty "randy " messages above the (usually) naked women on the front of the aircraft! It got so bad the USAAC had to publish an order restricting the nose art on aircraft. Disney artists did many noses for free, others done by ground crew/chiefs, or local artists in many cases in both England and France would paint the allied aircraft "nose art". Many aircraft used photo's (as did Richard bong the highest scoring US fighter ace) of loved ones or girlfriends. Adolf Galland, perhaps Germany's finest ace, had a cartoon of Mickey Mouse holding an Axe! Late in the war, when camouflaged USAAC aircraft became rare, the Nose art could actually encompass most of the aircraft (see the restored B-24 'tail of the dragon" as an example) good question!

Answer 3

Walt Disney and Warner Brothers animators were "drafted" into the war effort.
Disney and Warner Brothers both made training films for the military, and also propaganda/war effort movies for the War Department. Artists were also asked to create nose art for the bombers.
Also, there were a large number of aviators and mechanics who had some artistic talent. Some of that art was amateur.

Answer 4

The RAF had nose art, although a lot were the "county of Glouster" type, these were morale boosting contests for people to "purchase" a spitfire/hurricane for 5000 pounds, and the county that raised that amount had it's name painted on the nose/front of the aircraft. Additionally, the "Shark mouth" on P-40's began in Africa by a RAF squadron,NOT the Flying Tigers, they saw a picture and copied it. German aircraft had unit insignia "the Green Harts" is one example. Several of the top aces (Adolf Galland had Mickey mouse holding an Axe!) had them, and several squadrons had unique markings (an ME-110 squadron had a "Wasp" painted on the nose, Stuka squadron with a snake painted down the side of the aircraft etc.) Axis fighters scored kills on their tails, until enemy fighters started targeting them! USN/MC fighters not so much on nose art, although Squadron badges themselves could be quite colorful and appeared often on Naval aricraft. USAAC =AF fighters nose art usually painted on by the Crew chief (or someone in the squadron that was talented), but the suggested names of the aircraft were given by the pilot. Chuck Yeager's "Glamorous Glennis" is but one of many. Bombers had many types of nose art and to get noticed late in the war, some were extremely "R" rated, and the air force had to step in and tone it down. One of the two B-24's flying today has an entire Dragon painted down one side, hence the name "Dragon Lady". The policy is never "officially" approved, but usually allowed in a combat zone, Korea,Vietnam, Iraq follow the same unwritten policy. Although P/C police have toned them down a lot! Transport, recon and Night Fighters/Bombers also had versions of "nose art".

Answer 5

Ground crews painted the planes mostly they would either use someone reasonably talented in there own ground crew or they would hire someone elses ground crewman to do the job. I don't think they were allowed to bring in outside artist.

Answer 6

In every outfit there is usually one or two people that can draw and fill in the blanks with color. Some used transparencies to project the image then simply traced the outlines.

Answer 7

Mainly I read they were maintence mechanics.Some had good artistic abilities.One I heard was givin his own hut to paint in.

Answer 8

Gregva2001: The ship you are referring to is "The Dragon and His Tail".
You must be into motorcycling too, "the tail of the dragon" is a section of road in "Deals Gap"