Archived Feature:
World War II Nose Art
One of the most unique and interesting art displays you'll find anywhere resides in an aircraft hangar in west Texas. At the Commemorative Air Force (formerly the Confederate Air Force) you can enjoy a collection of illustrations painstakingly preserved on aircraft fuselages.
The illustrations were created by our WWII flying men, often as direct copies of pinup artwork by famous illustrators such as Petty, Vargas, and Elvgren, whose work was often found in such magazines of the day as Esquire. The sample pictured below is a latter-day creation rendered for the sake of publicity, but at the gallery you'll see the original artwork, still clinging to pieces of airplane bodies which are suspended on gigantic easels.
The nose art gallery is at the headquarters of the Commemorative Air Force, between Midland and Odessa, Texas, on old US 80.
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