The term “pin-up girl” first came into mention in popular culture in 1941 and became even more popular in the years immediately after. The provocative drawing and photo spreads found in magazines of the glamorous models, movie stars, and starlets of the time were popular with the soldiers, sailors, airmen and grunts fighting in World War II. At bases, on ships, or in camps far removed from the dazzle of Hollywood, these images that were plastered to the insides of footlockers, tacked up on bunks, and taped up on the walls of the barracks were sometimes the only images of a woman these guys would see for months. It kept their blood pumping and reminded them of what was waiting for them when they got home.
Pin-up girls even found their way onto some of the chariots that took the guys into battle… as pieces of “nose art” on the bombers they’d pilot over enemy territory. Famous recreations of pin-ups from artists Alberto Vargas and George Petty among others found their way onto the aluminum skinned noses of countless B-17’s, B-24’s, P-51’s, and B-26’s along with many other planes from the smallest liaison plane to the largest cargo transports. Sadly, many of these artworks were lost when thousands of the bombers and fighters were scrapped at the end of the war. Luckily some panels were saved by some savvy-eyed scrappers and now hang in a gallery at the American Airpower Heritage Museum of the Commemorative Air Force in Midland, TX.
This awesome piece of pin-up girl perfection in front of a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair U.S. Navy fighter was created by artist Frank LaNatra of Eternal Ink Custom Tattoo Studio in Davie, FL.
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