A memorable girl on the side of a plane let you know who made it home before they even landed, so a \u201cMemphis Belle\u201d or a \u201cMarine\u2019s Dream\u201d was an early indicator of a serviceman\u2019s safe return. Surprisingly, nose art wasn\u2019t an American innovation (I guess I just assumed we were pioneers of all things porn and explosions?).<\/p>\n
Italians and Germans were decorating their military vehicles in non-standard ways as early as 1913.<\/p>\n
The nose art I\u2019ve curated below is not featured for its cheeky sexuality, but rather the explicitness<\/em> of some of the work; note the placement of the hand on the \u201cin the mood\u201d pin-up two images down? Obviously the majority of aviation pin-ups were a little more coy, but there\u2019s something really comical about the artists who dispensed entirely with subtlety, sometimes without much actual artistic talent.<\/p>\n
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