Nose Art

RCAF Nose Art

THe RCAF Nose Art is not actually on display, Over the years a few examples have been on sporadic display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
In May of 2005 ,the New Canadian War Museum wil open in Ottawa. It is a very impressive facility.
All of the RCAF nose art will be displayed for the first time. A section of wall space will be devoted to the whole collection, which I think is 14 examples. This will be the first time that they will be all displayed together.
THe CAF has a nose art gallery at its facility in Midland Texas.
Doesn’t the Imperial War Museum in London have a couple of examples of nose art on display, I seem to remember there were a couple of examples on display, when I was there last year.

MRP

I remember seeing the original Halifax “Friday 13th” nose art panels stuck halfway up a wall at Hendon, uncaptioned. 🙁

I think there were some panels at Duxford in one of the small buildings used by one of the archeology groups? Essex Aviation Group?

Regards,

Paul

RE: Nose Art

Ok can we get back to the original question and get off of the Monty Python lingo…?
I recieved this reply from a nose art specialist…….

“The pilot was in charge of each aircraft and crew, in most crews the pilot approved or sometimes picked the name or painting, and wanted it painted near the pilot position. There is no set rule to follow but most art was painted on port side, and my feeling is this was also for picture taking so you could sit in the pilot window. Pilot, air or ground crew most photos show someone in the pilot seat. The RAF had no co-pilot like the Americans, so it ment more to RAF types.”

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Seems like I’ve resurrected a dead parrot here!! And yes the theory is thin at one end, fat in the middle and thin at the other end….

Re: driving on the left – there are quite a few countries that still do it the proper way.
The rest are all Henry Ford’s fault – when he first built his Model T he said to his designer put the wheel on the right side, but the designer was drawing the car from the front!! The rest is history……..

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“We want…ANOTHER shrubbery!!!”

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I believe your theory to be very thin at one end and much fatter in the middle and then very thin at the other end, am I right?

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WTF? Open the sherry on CHRISTMAS DAY!

Now , where the hell is that corkscrew?

I’ll be outta here tomorrow lunchtime – anyone need anything photographed in Brest, France? I’m heading for a cemetery at Kerfautras.

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“Where did you get those coconuts??”
“The swallows may fly south for the winter,yet they are not strangers to our land.”
“Are you suggesting Coconuts migrate??!”
“They could be carried.”
“A swallow?Carryin’ a coconut??!”
“It could grip it by the husk!”
“It’s not a matter of grippin’ it,it’s a matter of wieght ratios…”

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“I blow my nose at you and ffff#rt in your general direction!”

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“If you do not go away, I shall taunt you again!”

Ah, for a good, solid air war in the Seventies-think of all the Python nose-art we’d have had!!!

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Besides, “It’s only a model!”

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“… on second thoughts let’s not go to Camelot, it is a silly place”.

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“why does the rest of the world drive on the right?”

Because they lost. Sword was in the wrong hand.

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Bob- would that be the knights who say “nee” by any chance?
Thanks for all the replies chaps. Curiosity satisfied- one thing though, and its getting slightly away from the scope of this forum- If we drive on the left because of the old horse mounting business-why does the rest of the world drive on the right?

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Horses?!! Beastly creatures, they **** everywhere and never win when you bet on them. No, surely it’s simpler than that-it’s because the pilot sits on the left!!!

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It goes back to the days of Knights on horseback. The knight would carry his shield, bearing his coat of arms, on his left arm thus leaving his right free to dispatch his enemy. Same reason we drive on the left!
Also the aircraft captain sits on the left and the aircraft was invariably named by him, so the artwork was on the port side.

As Ann Elk said “It is my theory, and mine alone…” (apologies to non-Python fans!)

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609 (West Riding) squadron used the starboard side on all pics I have seen. For names, White Rose, victory tallies.

But then they always were a law unto themselves!

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Hi Der,
I think one reason for the nose-art being on only the port side is that this was traditionally the side from which you would mount a horse.This sounds crazy at first,but the majority of early military pilots were also horse riders,and so mounting from the left was a habit ( I know what you’re thinking you sordid lot!).This meant that the left hand side of the machine would be the most visible to a pilot,and so this became the logical place for mission marks,kill tallies etc.The left hand side became the ‘pilot’s side’,but on a number of aircraft you can see nose art applied to the right aswell,and often a different name to the one chosen by the crew or pilot.This is usually the ground crews’ name/nose art for their machine, and it’s well illustrated on Gulf War Buccaneers for example,
a number of which had several names,including the brand names of various Scotch Whiskeys.
Perhaps this doesn’t explain things fully,but I hope it helps.

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Now theres a skill testing question. I will consult with my nose art friend and see if he knows for sure… I would think it would have something to do with the port side being the side that the groundcrew monitor during startup etc and most of the photos of lancasters in the air and ground are all shot from this s
ide??