15 Awesome Examples of Military Nose Art

Nose art is an enduring military tradition. Air crews today still decorate their aircraft with customized designs—though the images may be a bit more politically correct than the racy pinups of yesteryear. And the trend dates back well beyond the classic World War II designs that made up the golden age of nose art.

These days even drones have nose art. This pattern by Staff Sgt. Michael Middleton, painted on an RQ-4 Global Hawk, honors Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Lee Archer, one of the first African-American military aviators.

Aric Lassegard, seen here, got his name added as an honorary pilot beneath the Dakota Posse nose art of a B-1 bomber. Aric was an honorary member of the 34th Bomb Squadron during their Aircrew for a Day program at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.

Here’s an A-10 Thunderbolt at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan sporting eyes and shark teeth. According to the Air Force, the markings symbolize the legacy of this squadron dating back to the Flying Tigers of WWII. The Flying Tigers got the shark motif from the German Luftwaffe, but the fashion for painting faces dates back even further.

Another shark-themed A-10.

The side of an AC-130 gunship based at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

Nose art on an FB-111 at March Air Force Base, California, as seen in 1988.

Aircraft still have mission completed symbols—usually in the shape of a bomb—to commemorate a mission completed. Here, the B-2 Spirit of Arizona gets a decal for each Operation Iraqi Freedom mission added alongside the OAF decals (Operation Allied Force) it earned in the former Yugoslavia in 1999.

For a more classic example, check out the WWII Halifax bomber Pinocchio, seen here with bomb symbols for missions over Germany and ice cream cones for raids on Italy—and a key for the 21st mission.

The U.S. Navy and Marines banned nose art, but under Army Air Force Regulation 35-22 of August 1944, it was permitted for morale purposes so long as it was painted with a “sense of decency.” The new regulation did little to stem the tide of scantily-clad females, as on the B-17 Flying Fortress Liberty Belle.

Here, the B-17 that portrayed the famous WWII Memphis Belle in the 1990 film.

Bock’s Car was the punning name given to the B-29 Superfortress originally commanded by Captain Frederick Bock. This plane dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, an occasion commemorated on its nose art.

At the start of WWI, European aviators decorated their aircraft with distinctive designs like the all-red plane of German Baron von Richthofen. And there were more elaborate artworks, often based on classical themes such as Medusa—or, in the case of this Belgian Farman F40, Charlie Chaplin.

Of course, the idea of nose art predates aircraft, of course. In the 18th century elaborate ship figureheads, often in the shape of naked women, were in vogue. Women were said to be bad luck on board, but there was supposedly a superstition that the image of a naked woman could calm a storm. At least, that was the excuse they used.

Before the days of figureheads, the prow of a ship sometimes carried a carved ornament representing an animal or a monster to scare off evil spirits and frighten enemies. Though the sight of a fast Viking dragon ship carrying a raiding party of 100 warriors was probably at least as terrifying to villagers as an actual dragon.

Greek Triremes, so-called for their three banks of oars, dominated naval battles in the Mediterranean from the 8th century B.C. forward. Many had painted designs such as snakes or boars, but almost all had painted marble mounted above the ram to make a face. It was perhaps the earliest known example of nose art.