Nose Art gallore****

[Von Hoth]

My mom's uncle was stationed in Phillipines, he just happened to like photography as a hobby and he had the foresight to take pictures of all the different nose art.

he died a few years ago and 2 years ago his wife died. So imagine my surprise when i came home from college and my mom had these for me. I didn't know they existed until then.

does sudek13 like nose art?
QUESTION... what is the story with the lucky 13 girl with the 8 balls. is this a famous plane or was this girl as nose art copied?
are any of these planes famous? they are b-24's, right? too small to be b -17's.
they might be due to the airport size? wish i knew more details about where this was.

[NormandieCamo]

GUS' JOKERS:

B-24-M
CO 44-41848
31st Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force

[NormandieCamo]

DRAGON LADY:

B-24-M
FO 44-49753
23rd Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force

[NormandieCamo]

FLAMING AMIE

44-42392
31st Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force


LADY LUCK:

44-49845
31st Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force


TOP O' THE MARK

44-42245
23rd Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force

[NormandieCamo]

STREAMLINER (bottom picture on the right):

B-24-J
CO 44-40543
23rd Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force

[NormandieCamo]

Some answers to your questions:

--Yes, sudek13 does buy some nose art photographs. Whoever he has bidding on these auctions knows very little about nose art.

--Yes, these are all B-24's.

--The names DRAGON LADY and LADY LUCK were commonly used during WW II. For instance there were B-24's named DRAGON LADY in the following units:

5th Bomb Group
11th Bomb Group
308th Bomb Group
446th Bomb Group
449th Bomb Group
454th Bomb Group

There were B-24's named LADY LUCK in the following units:

5th Bomb Group
44th Bomb Group
308th Bomb Group
380th Bomb Group
446th Bomb Group
448th Bomb Group
458th Bomb Group

Plus there were B-17's painted with the names DRAGON LADY and LADY LUCK.

[NormandieCamo]

LADY LUCK:

B-24-L
FO 44-49845
31st Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force

[NormandieCamo]

You can find out more about the 5th Bomb Group by clicking on the following web sites:

www.31stbombers.org

www.5thbomberbarons.com

[PZIV]

I don't know if that guy would buy your pictures, but I wouldn't sell them.

[NormandieCamo]

SMOOTH SUE:

I'm not sure, but this might be B-24-CM, 42-64168 which flew with the 6th PR Group.

[NormandieCamo]

Nose art is a specialty area of collecting, and there are several serious nose art collectors in the United States, Europe and at least one I know of in Australia.

[Von Hoth]

thanks for helping me identify the units, so most if not all of these are from the 13th, huh? that's a lucky number for warfare.

how did you look this up? you have a book on it? was I correct that they were in the phillipines?

thanks again, and I was kinda of joking about the sudek13 guy, I don't think i'd sell these unless i got into real financial trouble, which could easily happen though seeing as i'm going to graduate school soon.