Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of an aircraft, usually on the front fuselage. True nose art appeared during World War II, which is considered by many observers to be the golden age of the genre, with both Axis and Allied pilots taking part. At the height of the war, nose artists were in very high demand in the USAAF and were paid quite well for their services, AAF commanders tolerated nose art in an effort to boost aircrew morale.
The U.S. Navy, by contrast, prohibited nose art, the most extravagant being limited to a few simply-lettered names, while nose art was uncommon in the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force. The work is done by professional civilian artists as well as talented amateur servicemen. In the year 1941, for instance, the 39th Pursuit Squadron commissioned a Bell Aircraft artist to design and paint the ‘Cobra in the Clouds’ logo on their aircraft. Fascinating.
For the same reasons as the air and also the ground crews of WWII, these individual markings created unity between the crews who were operating far from home and relative safety. RAF Tornados and also Jaguars were seen with the shark teeth design and several pin-up style designs. Other than unity, the painting also would function to intimidate.
The so-called Nose Art also created such a powerful bond between man and also machine. Pilots wanted to see their own airplanes as almost human entities with which they could identify. Especially when they faced danger, they even wanted to endow their war-birds with superhuman qualities to protect them and also bring them safely back.
The famous ‘shark mouth’ insignia goes back to the 1940s during World War 2. 1st American Volunteer Group, also known as the Flying Tigers, painted the now-iconic shark mouth on the noses of their Curtiss P-40 Warhawks.
Sources: YouTube Simple History.