[Azimuth]

Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of a military aircraft, usually located near the nose, and is a form of aircraft graffiti.

While begun for practical reasons of identifying friendly units, the practice evolved to express the individuality often constrained by the uniformity of the military, to evoke memories of home and peacetime life, and as a kind of psychological protection against the stresses of war and the probability of death. The appeal, in part, came from nose art not being officially approved, even when the regulations against it were not enforced.[1][2]

Because of its individual and unofficial nature, it is considered folk art, inseparable from work as well as representative of a group.[1] It can also be compared to sophisticated graffiti. In both cases, the artist is often anonymous, and the art itself is ephemeral. In addition, it relies on materials immediately available.[1]

Nose art is largely a military tradition, but civilian airliners operated by the Virgin Group feature "Virgin Girls" on the nose as part of their livery. In a broad sense, the tail art of several airlines such as the Eskimo of Alaska Airlines, can be called "nose art", as are the tail markings of present-day U.S. Navy squadrons. There were exceptions, including 8th Air Force B-17 "Whizzer", which had its girl-riding-a-bomb on the dorsal fin

[Azimuth]

some more

[Azimuth]

Several F-16's in Iraq: These aircraft completed over 250 bombing runs in Iraq split amongst them. Recently :)

If you were curious, the F-16 is built by Lockheed-Martin the same contractor that built the P-3 which I worked on. 'Code One' Candy refers to Lockheed's magazine they send to operators of their aircraft.

[spudigitti]

Very cool...

[vagabond]

[Kel007]

I absolutely love this form of art. The Dayton air force museum in Ohio was a favorite place of mine to visit for more on this. In my opinion these paintings humanized the essence of war and the war machine. They provided mental "pep rallyism" (my own made up term) and pride amongst military members in a war time and environment that did not cater to humanity and mental health. I prefer the non-pornographic displays of the art form as seen during WWII. I am aware that during the Iraqi War jaunts current day military frowned upon this traditional art form due to the heightened hard core pornography tinge it seemed to take on during this time. I do wish it was allowed again in its traditional version. It is a missed historical element of our military's history.

[bob351]

More than the art I love the bombing mission paint... The trains, the completed bombing missions, the swastikas for fighter jets shot down etc etc etc. There are two battle ships and a steam roller on the one.

[bob351]

[bob351]

[GregK]

Awesome