The Artists of WWII Nose Art
They were classified as mechanics, draftsmen, and crew chiefs. The Army had no category for what they actually were. These are their stories.
Featured Artists
The Men Behind the Art
The United States Army Air Forces had no Military Occupational Specialty for “artist.” The men who created the most recognizable visual culture of World War II were officially classified as mechanics, draftsmen, and crew chiefs. They painted between shifts, during off-hours, at the request of crews who wanted their aircraft to carry something personal into combat.
Four of these artists left enough of a record to tell their stories. Their fates after the war reveal something about how America treated the men who made art under conditions of existential terror: one gave up painting and disappeared into a warehouse for thirty-six years. One was killed in a car accident at forty-nine. One built a successful advertising career. One painted murals in Florida until he was eighty-four.
Dozens of others remain anonymous. Their work survives only in photographs. Their names were never recorded.
Painted for War
The Stories Behind WWII’s Most Famous Nose Art
Nobody told these stories. The mechanic who painted the Memphis Belle and spent the rest of his life in a warehouse. The RISD-trained muralist whose masterpiece was scrapped for two thousand dollars. The junkyard manager who sent his workers with axes to save pin-up girls from the smelter. Narrative nonfiction by Christopher Scott Lannon.