The Flasher

The practice of putting personalized decorations on fighting aircraft originated with Italian and German pilots with the first recorded piece of nose... more

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

The Flasher

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture

Description

The practice of putting personalized decorations on fighting aircraft originated with Italian and German pilots with the first recorded piece of nose art was a sea monster painted on the nose of an Italian flying boat in 1913. This was followed by the popular practice of painting mouths underneath the propeller spinner, initiated by German pilots in World War I. The cavallino rampante or prancing horse of the Italian ace Francesco Baracca was another well-known symbol, as was the red-painted aircraft of Manfred von Richthofen.

The American Volunteer Group in China decided to paint shark mouths on their P-40B's after seeing a color photo in a newspaper of a No. 112 Squadron RAF P-40 fighter in North Africa with the shark mouth painted on it.

Similarly, when in 1943 the 39th Fighter Squadron became the first American squadron in their theater with 100 kills, they adopted the shark-face for their P-38 Lightnings. The shark-face is still used to this day, most commonly seen on the A-10 Thunderbolt II with its gaping maw leading up to the muzzle of the aircraft's GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon, especially those of the 23d Fighter Group, the AVG's descendent unit, and a testament to its popularity as a form of nose art.

Canvas print orders from this image will ship free to the UK or Europe.

Uploaded

December 5th, 2014