Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Group. This is an amazing collection of photographs featuring the creative nose art of American Aircraft during the Korean War which often featured "pin up" girls and amusing names. Most of these look to be from B-29 Bombers, but it is possible some are from smaller fighter bombers. The photos are in excellent condition, some larger and some smaller, some close up and some far away.

There are 30 photographs total, with 27 showing nose art. Some of the names of the aircraft include Myasis Dragon, Fujigmo, Magic 8 Ball, Nip-pon-ese, Chief Spokane The Red Eraser, The Worry Bird Esmerelda, Mac’s Effort, Winchester ‘73 Red Raider, Lucky Strike, Peace on Earth (shown twice), Snake-Bit, Baby San, Loaded ‘Leven (shown twice), Beetle Bomber, Miss Spokane, Los Angeles Calling (two versions of this with different font), M.P.I., Destination Known, Heavenly Laden (shown twice), Tale of Miss Fortune II, Dreamer, one showing a unit DI “Force for Freedom”, and one with an Alaska Airlines logo. One shows a naked woman with a top hat but is unnamed, another is just a naked woman, unnamed. One photo shows men with parachute gear next to a plane with no artwork. 

Overall, it's an outstanding collection that any aviation history enthusiast would love to see. They are all of smaller sizes and shapes, with one larger image that shows nose art very far away. The sizes vary heavily. With some as small as 2 x 2 ½” and some as big as 3 ½ x 3 ½”.

Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of an aircraft, usually on the front fuselage.

While begun for practical reasons of identifying friendly units, the practice evolved to express the individuality often constrained by the uniformity of the military, to evoke memories of home and peacetime life, and as a kind of psychological protection against the stresses of war and the probability of death. The appeal, in part, came from nose art not being officially approved, even when the regulations against it were not enforced.

Because of its individual and unofficial nature, it is considered folk art, inseparable from work as well as representative of a group. It can also be compared to sophisticated graffiti. In both cases, the artist is often anonymous, and the art itself is ephemeral. In addition, it relies on materials immediately available.

Nose art is largely a military tradition, but civilian airliners operated by the Virgin Group feature "Virgin Girls" on the nose as part of their livery. In a broad sense, the tail art of several airlines such as the Eskimo of Alaska Airlines can be called "nose art", as are the tail markings of present-day U.S. Navy squadrons. There were exceptions, including the VIII Bomber Command, 301st Bomb Group B-17F "Whizzer", which had its girl-riding-a-bomb on the dorsal fin.

A wonderful assortment of photographs that come ready for further research and display.