Nose Art: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Nose art}}

So you have your [[Cool Plane]] and your [[Cool Ship]], but somehow, they're still not ''cool'' enough, truly not worthy of such a [[Badass]] [[Ace Pilot]] as yourself. You know what would help? Let's paint a freaking ''[[EverythingsEverything's Even Worse Withwith Sharks|shark face]]'' on the nose. ''That'' will get the [[Oh Crap|desired reaction]] from your enemies. Plus, it'll look great at airshows!

Can overlap with [[Ace Custom]], which is when the vehicle's ''design'', rather than it's decoration, is unique, often to give a particularly important hero (or villain) particular advantages. Nose art may display the ship or plane's [[I Call HerIt "Vera"|name]].

{{examples|Examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]] (and [[Robotech]]) had the "Skull Squadron" inspired by [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:VF-103 |VF-103]] the "Jolly Rogers" image [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_021014-N-1955P-004_F-14_Tomcat_assigned_to_VF-103_conducts_mission_over_the_Mediterranean_Sea.jpg here] via the other wiki.

** ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' has a healthy dose of all three, including the skull as a [[Shout -Out]] to the original [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]] on Ozma's VF-25S (and his car). The König Monster has A-10 style Type A nose art originally, then later Type B pinups of the protagonist females of the series. Type C occurs in the Variable Fighter air show special with full body paint jobs again featuring the two female protagonists.

{{quote| '''Kurtz:''' ''We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it's obscene!''}}

* ''[[Red Tails (Film)|Red Tails]]'', a 2012 film based on the exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen, takes its name from the highly recognizable paint job their planes featured. (See also ''The Tuskegee Airmen'' and the [[Real Life]] section below)

* ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'' shows that the ship's name is painted in a stylized seal on the bow of the ship, in [[Bilingual Bonus|both English and Chinese.]]

* ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' has the ''Ruptured Duck'', the main character, Captain Ted W. Lawson's aircraft. Based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruptured_Duck_<!--:Ruptured 28aircraft29Duck (aircraft)#Origins_of_the_nameOrigins of the name|real aircraft]] from the [[WorldWarIIWorld War II|Doolittle raid.]] -->

* ''[[Watchmen (Filmfilm)|Watchmen]]'': In the [[Opening Montage]] we see a bomber with nose art of Sally Jupiter.

* ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'': Trudy has a blue and white cheatline painted on her Samson helo in the film's climax, {{spoiler|matching the warpaint worn [[Friend or Foe|by her Na'vi allies]].}}

{{quote| "Giolitti winced as he took in the garish crimson and black hull. Some unknown artist had painted staring white eyes on either side of the stiletto prow, jagged-toothed mouths gaped hungrily about the muzzles of energy and projectile cannons, and lovingly detailed streamers of lurid flame twined about the engine pods."}}

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': The [[Space Fighter|Starfuries]] operated by the Earth Alliance feature a plethora of custom paint jobs on their upper wings, even on ships flown by [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]s and [[Mauve Shirt|Mauve Shirts]]s. Usually it will just be a distinctive pattern, but some of the fighters include custom artwork, occasionally taking up the entire top wing.

* Several ships and watercraft operated by the [[Animal Wrongs Group|Sea Shepherd Conservation Society]] on the [[Animal Planet]] series ''[[Whale Wars (TV)|Whale Wars]]'' feature this; their rigid inflatable boats and the ''Bob Barker'' sport shark mouths on the bow, while the ''Gojira'' had a picture of the titular monster before being rechristened the ''Brigitte Bardot'', whereupon the nose art changed to that of a woman bearing a trident and the organization's flag.

* In the TV series ''Riptide'' the boys use a custom painted helicoptor called [https://web.archive.org/web/20070329052541/http://www.rotaryaction.com/pages/riptide.html "Screaming Mimi."]

* ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'': [[Red Baron|Chiggy Von Richtofen's]] [[Super Prototype]]: A human skull painted on the nose with ''Abandon All Hope'' written on the side.

* [[Battle TechBattleTech]] has [[Legacy Character]] "[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Bounty_Hunter The Bounty Hunter]". His Mech is painted a bright green with various currency symbols all over it.

* A staple in the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series, from about ''[[Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere]]'' onwards. Shooting down certain enemy [[Ace Pilot|Ace Pilots]]s allows you to slap their paint jobs onto your planes of the same model. Other special paint jobs were unlocked by completing certain plot missions. ''[[Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation]]'' also introduced downloadable custom paint jobs.

* ''[[X (Videovideo Gamegame)|X2: The Threat]]'' allows you to import an image file from your computer that would be applied as nose art to all your ships and stations. It could be a pin-up, a coat of arms, whatever. ([[Game Spot]]'s reviewer used a character from ''[[The Simpsons]]''.)

* The A-10 Warthog ground attack planes in ''[[Battlefield Series(series)|Battlefield 2]]'' have a warthog face on the nose of the aircraft.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' features a rather half-assed variant on the payload carts. It seems that the Heavy vandalizes them; they all have something he says scratched into the paintjob or spraypainted on them. For example, the one that's used most often says "CRY SOME MORE" on it. One of them also happens to be designed like a mechanical shark's head.

* ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'': the ARC troopers paint a shark face (or some sort of monster) on their ship.

* During [[The Vietnam War]], it wasn't unusual to see [http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4126/5092256785_f8ae531916_z.jpg shark faces] painted on Huey Cobra helicopter gunships.

* Up till quite recently, most prototypes of new fighter aircraft were painted in bright colours not too dissimilar from those that might be found on the title mecha of a [[Humongous Mecha]] series. Example [https://web.archive.org/web/20111104071343/http://www.sci.fi/~fta%7Efta/f16073.jpg here]. Of course, a prototype would have none of the practical concerns of a production aircraft destined for the battlefield, and indeed, being highly visible would be considered a plus given that the whole purpose of a prototype is to demonstrate whether or not it works.

** During the United States' bicentennial, a number of squadrons celebrated with a custom paint scheme for one (or all) of their aircraft. The Florida Air National Guard's 159th Fighter Squadron [http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n143/fsmbw3945/F106/159FISBicentennial.jpg used this paint scheme]. Other aircraft were painted in schemes resembling those used by the Thunderbirds, such as [http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/tomcatterf14/159616.jpg this F-14]{{Dead link}} and [http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f139/jabrad/F-15B71-291.jpg this F-15].

** In honor of the centennial of Naval Aviation, the United States Navy has adorned various jets with [[World War II]]-era [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524005026/http://parrotheadjeff.com/blog/archives/16027/retro-cool-plane-pr0n/ paint jobs].

** During the 50th anniversary of [[World War Two|D-Day]] (the invasion of Normandy), a number of NATO squadrons painted invasion stripes on their aircraft. [http://www.f-16.net/gallery_item284506.html Here's an F-16] from Belgium, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050226031524/http://www.mindspring.com/~salted1/images/34/34_thomastye_2.jpg and a few U.S. Navy] A-6 Intruders painted up.

* NATO squadrons have an annual tradition known as the "[http://www.natotigers.org/ Tiger Meet]," which involves [https://web.archive.org/web/20131103020713/http://www.natotigers.org/tigerunits/index.php any squadrons that thematically involve tigers] or other kinds of big cats (either in their name, or their unit patch/coat of arms). In addition to being a joint military exercise, Tiger Meets also involve a [[Nose Art]] painting contest, in which the squadrons compete to make the coolest tiger (or big-cat) themed paint job they can. These schemes [http://www.haf.gr/media/a7_tiger_meet_1.jpg run the gamut of types], from [http://h7.abload.de/img/d101001as1180_tcm46-17zu1p.jpg nose art or tail fin flashes] to [http://www.milspotters.nl/forum/userpix/2053_J015__kopiekopie_1.jpg full-body paint jobs].