Nose art on aircraft
has been around almost as long as airplanes have. The first recorded nose art was a sea
monster painted on an Italian flying boat in 1913. Aircraft
squadrons and groups also had insignia, mascots and symbols
to separate them from other squadrons and groups. There was
a short-lived resurgence of nose art in the mid-1980s in
Europe, but the days of the bold colorful nose art like on
WWII bombers is gone today.
