Nose Art: Lockheed P-38L Lightning "Marge"
Though personalized art appeared during World War I, and occasionally grew to incorporate the entire aircraft, most pilots carried a saying or a slogan, or a family crest, or squadron symbol. Some were named, but nose art was not common. During World War II, nose art not only saw its true beginnings, but its heyday.
No one knows exactly who started nose art first--it appeared with both the British and the Germans around the first time, with RAF pilots painting Hitler being kicked or skulls and crossbones on their aircraft, while German nose art was usually a personal symbol, named for a girlfriend or adopting a mascot (such as Adolf Galland using Mickey Mouse, something Walt Disney likely didn't approve of). It would be with the Americans, and a lesser extent the Canadians, that nose art truly became common--and started including its most famous forms, which was usually half-naked or completely naked women. This was not always true, but it often was.
The quality of nose art depended on the squadron or wing artist. Some of it was rather crude, while others were equal to the finest pinup artists in the United States, such as Alberto Vargas. For men thousands of miles away from home and lonely, a curvaceous blonde on a B-17 or a P-51 made that loneliness a bit easier. Others thought naked women were a little crude, and just limited themselves to names, or depicted animals, cartoon characters, or patriotic emblems, or caricatures of the Axis dictators they were fighting.
Generally speaking, there was little censorship, with squadron and group commanders rarely intervening on names or pictures; the pilots themselves practiced self-censorship, with profanity almost unknown, and full-frontal nudity nearly nonexistent. After the loss of a B-17 named "Murder Inc.," which the Germans captured and used to make propaganda, the 8th Air Force, at least, set up a nose art committee that reviewed the nose art of aircraft--but even it rarely wielded its veto. For the most part, nose art was limited only by the crew's imagination and the artist's ability. The British tended to stay away from the lurid nudes of the Americans, though the Canadians adopted them as well. (The Axis also did not use nose art in this fashion, and neither did the Soviets, who usually confined themselves to patriotic slogans on their aircraft, such as "For Stalin!" or "In the Spirit of the Motherland!")
When World War II ended, so did nose art, for the most part. In the peacetime, postwar armed forces, the idea of having naked women were wives and children could see it was not something the postwar USAF or Navy wanted, and when it wasn't scrapped, it was painted over. A few units (especially those away from home and family) still allowed it, but it would take Korea to begin a renaissance of nose art.
Though American top ace Richard Bong flew several P-38s--some named and some not--most of his 40 kills were flown in P-38L 44-532236, named "Marge" in honor of his fiancee (and later wife), Marge Vattendahl. Bong had the name on his P-38 for that time period, though I've heard conflicting reports on whether or not Marge's portrait was on the aircraft the whole time, or it was added later as a public relations tool. (A similar thing happened to Erich Hartmann, who is often photographed with the kill score on his rudder--but according to Hartmann, he never flew with the score operationally, as "the Russians hated me enough already.") Certainly no one would've begrudged Bong for having her portrait--Marge was a very attractive woman!
This P-38 is not the real "Marge," which is believed to have been wrecked or scrapped soon after the war's end. (Though Bong was killed on August 6, 1945, he was flying a P-80 at the time.) This is 44-53087, a former P-38M that did see brief combat in 1945, before becoming a warbird after World War II and ending up in the EAA AirVenture Museum in 1981. I photographed this version of "Marge" in 2018 when we visited Oshkosh. It's marked with 24 of Bong's kills, so this is how "Marge" would've looked around late 1944.
Nose Art: Lockheed P-38L Lightning "Marge"
Though personalized art appeared during World War I, and occasionally grew to incorporate the entire aircraft, most pilots carried a saying or a slogan, or a family crest, or squadron symbol. Some were named, but nose art was not common. During World War II, nose art not only saw its true beginnings, but its heyday.
No one knows exactly who started nose art first--it appeared with both the British and the Germans around the first time, with RAF pilots painting Hitler being kicked or skulls and crossbones on their aircraft, while German nose art was usually a personal symbol, named for a girlfriend or adopting a mascot (such as Adolf Galland using Mickey Mouse, something Walt Disney likely didn't approve of). It would be with the Americans, and a lesser extent the Canadians, that nose art truly became common--and started including its most famous forms, which was usually half-naked or completely naked women. This was not always true, but it often was.
The quality of nose art depended on the squadron or wing artist. Some of it was rather crude, while others were equal to the finest pinup artists in the United States, such as Alberto Vargas. For men thousands of miles away from home and lonely, a curvaceous blonde on a B-17 or a P-51 made that loneliness a bit easier. Others thought naked women were a little crude, and just limited themselves to names, or depicted animals, cartoon characters, or patriotic emblems, or caricatures of the Axis dictators they were fighting.
Generally speaking, there was little censorship, with squadron and group commanders rarely intervening on names or pictures; the pilots themselves practiced self-censorship, with profanity almost unknown, and full-frontal nudity nearly nonexistent. After the loss of a B-17 named "Murder Inc.," which the Germans captured and used to make propaganda, the 8th Air Force, at least, set up a nose art committee that reviewed the nose art of aircraft--but even it rarely wielded its veto. For the most part, nose art was limited only by the crew's imagination and the artist's ability. The British tended to stay away from the lurid nudes of the Americans, though the Canadians adopted them as well. (The Axis also did not use nose art in this fashion, and neither did the Soviets, who usually confined themselves to patriotic slogans on their aircraft, such as "For Stalin!" or "In the Spirit of the Motherland!")
When World War II ended, so did nose art, for the most part. In the peacetime, postwar armed forces, the idea of having naked women were wives and children could see it was not something the postwar USAF or Navy wanted, and when it wasn't scrapped, it was painted over. A few units (especially those away from home and family) still allowed it, but it would take Korea to begin a renaissance of nose art.
Though American top ace Richard Bong flew several P-38s--some named and some not--most of his 40 kills were flown in P-38L 44-532236, named "Marge" in honor of his fiancee (and later wife), Marge Vattendahl. Bong had the name on his P-38 for that time period, though I've heard conflicting reports on whether or not Marge's portrait was on the aircraft the whole time, or it was added later as a public relations tool. (A similar thing happened to Erich Hartmann, who is often photographed with the kill score on his rudder--but according to Hartmann, he never flew with the score operationally, as "the Russians hated me enough already.") Certainly no one would've begrudged Bong for having her portrait--Marge was a very attractive woman!
This P-38 is not the real "Marge," which is believed to have been wrecked or scrapped soon after the war's end. (Though Bong was killed on August 6, 1945, he was flying a P-80 at the time.) This is 44-53087, a former P-38M that did see brief combat in 1945, before becoming a warbird after World War II and ending up in the EAA AirVenture Museum in 1981. I photographed this version of "Marge" in 2018 when we visited Oshkosh. It's marked with 24 of Bong's kills, so this is how "Marge" would've looked around late 1944.