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APRIL 2017 -
SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE
Most common of these mascots,
were the images of women. Beau-
tiful, vibrant, sultry women. Some
of these ladies portrayed were
fictional sensationalized vixens,
simply the idea of a woman and
her feminine beauty. This take was
especially popular among planes
that had 2 or more men in their
aircrew (up to 10 men on the B-17
Flying Fortress). They collectively
agreed on a woman along with a
tongue-in-cheek tagline like “Mem-
phis Belle”.
The nose art on single-pilot fighter
planes on the other hand, was
usually of a specific woman. A
sweetheart back home across
the Atlantic... a wife, a girlfriend,
or maybe the one that got away.
Whichever the case, this deep-
rooted personal emotional connec-
tion was between the pilot and the
muse in which was painted on the
fuselage’s front end, just beneath
his cockpit glass.
Though often these portrayals of
women showed quite a bit of skin,
they were more often than not, still
covered up. Nudes existed, but
were rarer. Mr. Allen, mentioned
above, recalls that he “tried to
keep the necessary parts covered”,
while still trying to make a “tease
out of it”. Well Don, it looks like
the carrot at the end of the stick
worked.
Despite the deadly hardships these
aviators dealt with on a daily basis,
these beautiful ladies (whether real
or completely fictional) helped give
these pilots a red-blooded incen-
tive worth fighting for.