Christopher Scott Lannon
Christopher Scott Lannon
Christopher Scott Lannon writes narrative nonfiction that tells the human stories behind WWII’s visual culture and military aviation fiction that brings the air war to life.
The WWII Visual History project began with a question: why does nobody know the name of the man who painted the Memphis Belle? Every existing WWII nose art book is a photo collection with captions. Nobody had told the human stories behind the art. Nobody had explained how a mechanic with no art training became the most prolific painter of the Eighth Air Force, or why a RISD-trained muralist’s masterpiece was scrapped for two thousand dollars, or how a junkyard manager saved thirty-four panels from the smelter with axes and stored them in a barn for twenty years.
The series tells these stories as narrative nonfiction in the tradition of Hampton Sides, Erik Larson, and David Grann. Every factual claim is supported by National Archives records, military unit records, museum archives, published primary-source histories, or named interview subjects. No invented dialogue. Reconstructed scenes are sourced. The evidence earns the emotion.
Writing as C. Scott Lannon, he is also the author of the Wild Banshees series (WWII military aviation fiction) and multiple other fiction series. His work spans military history, espionage thrillers, and speculative fiction.
The WWII Visual History Project
This is not a photo book with captions. The WWII Visual History series is a five-book franchise spanning the full visual culture of WWII aviation. Each book addresses a distinct medium: nose art, flight jacket art, military insignia, aircraft markings, and wartime propaganda posters. Each is a self-contained narrative nonfiction work that can be read in any order.
The companion content hub you are reading now is designed as an authority resource for researchers, enthusiasts, modelers, and anyone who has ever looked at a WWII photograph and wondered about the stories behind the art. The site will grow to include hundreds of aircraft profiles, artist biographies, unit histories, and searchable galleries drawing on the National Archives public domain collection.
5-Book Series Plan
- 1.Painted for War— The stories behind WWII’s most famous nose art (in production)
- 2.Leather and Paint— The secret art of WWII flight jackets
- 3.Wings of Disney— How Walt Disney armed America with cartoon characters
- 4.Invasion Stripes— The visual language of WWII aircraft
- 5.The Posters That Won the War— How WWII propaganda art invented modern persuasion