Aircraft Nose Art

This weekend saw the 70th anniversary of the start of the USAAF heavy bombing offensive against Nazi Germany in World War II. The Eighth Air Force, known as the Mighty Eighth, consisted of bomber and fighter groups manned by 200,000 US servicemen, mostly based in East Anglia. What has this to do with art? The nose cones of the aircraft were painted with customized artwork. Here is Ill Wind? by Don Allen, a nose artist and crew chief with the Fourth Fighter Group, based at Debden in Essex. He created 100 such morale-boosting designs. A documentary film about WWII aircraft artists - Nose Art and Pin Ups - has been published on DVD, price £15.99 ($25) plus p&p (CLICK). BBC Norfolk has published an article about this collection of cheeky art and has included video clips and a slide show (CLICK).