Planes of Fame

Nose Art

Nose art was a popular moral builder, it ranged from tame cartoon characters to some really "RACEY" women. Our Nose Art Gallery is a collection of personal photo's, museum archives, and some taken from "Possum, Clover and Hades", by John Stanaway, and "Lightning Strikes", by Ronald Yoshino.

It must be remembered that these men were young, at war, and homesick at times. The names of mothers, girlfriends and colorful limericks were often the inspiration for this unique art form. These pictures and captions are published here for historical value, exactly as they appeared on the planes.

Chow Hound Camera Shy Ferdinand C. Hamson #160 :: Minidoka Miss El Tornado Rat's 166 Screamin Kid Capt. A. L. Peregoy's 159 :: Perry was with the 475th, 432nd sqdn from it's inception ad Amberly. He had two aerial victories. Capt. Elliot Summer's 143 :: Capt. Howard Hendrick's 141 :: Howard had 4 confirmed and 1 probable aerial victories Capt James C. Ince's 144 :: Ince nicknamed 'Impossible' was a six victory ace and a veteran combat leader in the 432nd Gresham Forster's Florida Cracker P.J. Dahl's '23 Skidoo' :: His nine aerial victory flags don't show in this photo.