Living in uncertainty and tension, wartime servicemen found value in naming their aircraft. During World War II, the practice evolved into creating an image to accompany the name. Two of its benefits were self-pride and psychological fortification. Since men's lives depended as much upon a well-functioning airplane as upon able fellow crew members, it is easy to understand why they personalized these inanimate machines. Gary Valant writes, "The difference is not in the tail number.... The difference is in the imagination and talent of the crew. Few crew members would talk about 24763 or 34356, but many tales would be told about 'Sack Time' or 'The Dragon Lady'" (Valant, p. 9). World War II veteran and psychologist George R. Klare notes that the ground crew, as well as the air crew, identified with a ship as they would another human being, because they felt responsible for its performance (Ethell, p. 13).
Nose art has been credited with increasing morale in dismal times. Men in combat found security in attaching the name and image of a well-known personage such as Rita Hayworth, or a protective symbol such as mother to the machines that carried them in to danger. The choice of ferocious or protective names and decoration -- Brute Force, Sioux Warrior, Hellsadroppin, Ragin' Red, & Rolling Thunder -- as well as the Flying Tigers' shark toothed mouths, is a ritual to guard against bad luck and to strike terror in the heart of the enemy (Ethell, p. 14). At its best, the art is the crew's expression of self-pride, a release from the anonymity and uniformity of military life, and an antidote to the dehumanization of war. The images are personal icons for servicemen (Cohan, p. 70).
Part of aircraft art's attraction for crews has been its slightly illicit nature. For the most part, even though nose art may be unofficially condoned, it was undertaken with the knowledge that there are regulations against decorating military equipment with anything but officially sanctioned markings. Official markings include national insignia (the white star within the blue circle denoting the American Army Air Force), service and squadron icons such as a coiled cobra, and unit insignia, such as the black crow insignia of the Army Air Corps 27th Pursuit Squadron (Dorr, pp. 9-13). According to Robert Dorr, it was always "a struggle between uniformity and individualism," a battle between the pilot who wanted to identify his plane and the "Top Brass" who wanted conformity to signify precision and discipline (Dorr, p. 9). Not just nose art, but even some squadron icons such as the skull and crossbones of the "Jolly Roger" VF-17s went against orders (Dorr, p. 13).
