[303rd-Talk] Forwarded Nose art question

[Bob Van Pelt]

I have studied 8th AF nose art of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divsions for a number of years and there was no formal policy that I have seen from High Wycombe down to Division or Wing.  However, at the Group level, the Commanding CO had the final word.  With so many other important tasks at hand, most Groups were free to paint nose art as the artist saw fit, even semi-pornographic types of art, or at least pornographic art in the sense of the 1940s.  Society didn't take a nose dive until much later and most of the bomber boys had morals and ethics.  But some of the nose art could be considered lewd.

I have read where Groups who had the liberty of painting their planes as they saw fit were countermanded when a new CO arrived and some nose art was erased and replaced with something more in line with the CO's wishes.

I also think the pilots had good sense and were afraid of painting nose art that might be really offensive.  They would be held responsible, as well as the artist.

When Murder Inc. was shot down, a 351st BG B-!7 out of Polebroke, on 26 November 1943, Ken Williams was displayed in his flight jacket in periodicals all over Reich, SHAEF took another look at nose art, but I have found nothing to suggest a policy was handed down.  I did find one memo asking Group Commanders insure nose art could not be used by Hitler's propaganda machine if an a/c was lost.

Crews were damn proud of their nose art and it is reflected in the art itself.  I have stats somewhere that tell what percentage of nose art was of the female form versus anything else and the figure is above 50%.  (Don't have access to my books here.)
Hope this helps.
Bob




--- On Tue, 1/20/09, Bill Jones <wejones at eskerridge.com> wrote:

> From: Bill Jones <wejones at eskerridge.com>
> Subject: [303rd-Talk] Forwarded Nose art question
> To: 303rd-talk at 303rdBG.com
> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:30 AM
> Resending this, because the list seems to have killed my
> first attempt.
> 
> 
> I just received a question from Gerald Potts that I thought
> might be 
> answered here, so I'm including the message below.  The
> list does not
> allow attachments, so the photo he mentions can be viewed
> at:
> http://www.303rdbg.com/303rd-talk/303rd-talk-photos/Red-Ass-Logo.jpg
> 
> I have responded to him with my personal opinion (that
> based on other
> nose art examples, I doubt that there was any policy), and
> I'm inviting
> him to discuss the question on the list, but I'll
> forward any responses
> back to him if he doesn't. 
> 
> Message:
> ********************************************************************
> From: Gerald Potts <#############>  {I've deleted
> his email address}
> To: <wejones at megalink.net>
> Subject: B-17's
> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:01:22 -0800
> 
> Dear Bill:
>  
> My Uncle was a waist gunner on a 17 during the war.  He was
> part of 
> Pharis Brinkley's crew with the 360th flying out of
> Molesworth England.
>  One of the planes he flew on was "Red Ass,"
> (before it was lost) but
> he flew most of his missions in "Satan's
> Workshop."  His name was Guy
> Lance.  In recent years I've become very interested in
> what he did 
> during the war and I've had a very good time on the
> 303rd web page.  
> I'm hoping you can answer this question, albeit not an
> important one. 
> The nose art for Red Ass is a donkey kicking his feet
> backward, with an
> explosion where his feet are kicking.  Under the donkey
> there are two
> letters in morse code.  The first letter is "R"
> and the second is "A,"
> no doubt meaning  "Red Ass."  My question is, did
> the military have a
> policy about what they perceived in those days as
> profanity, not being
> allowed on the noses of their aircraft? Or is it possible
> the artist 
> for this logo was just being creative?  
>  
> Thank You,
>  
> Gerald Potts.
>  
> I copied the logo from the nose of a bomber and have
> included it here. 
> I cleaned it up in photoshop 5, as I had to remove the
> planes windows
> and color inconsistencies.  There are two attachments, both
> the same 
> picture.  The first can be opened with Adobe Photoshop and
> the second
> can be viewed with almost any program as it is in a Jpeg
> format.
>  
> Thank You Again.
> ***************************************************************
> 
> 
> Bill Jones         N3JLQ
> Sweden Maine
> wejones at megalink.net
> http://www.megalink.net/~wejones 
> 
> 
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