Fighting Colors

Fighting Colors
Author: Gary Velasco
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 689
Release: 2010-07-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1596529989

Since the early days of flight, military pilots have personalized aircraft with artistic creations, giving each plane a unique identity and aircrews a sense of pride in ""their war bird."" This comprehensive volume covers the technical aspect on how nose art was applied to vintage military aircraft, with hundreds of fighters and bombers pictured. The uses of materials, supplies, and development of nose art designs are discussed with surviving nose artists. The author examines and analyzes WWII–era photographs and reveals their content along with numerous photos never before published. Recreating step-by-step flying war bird nose art restorations is outlined for the first time. Fighting Colors is an enjoyable read for military personnel and a graphic tool for all enthusiasts of pinup and vintage aircraft nose art.

Fighting Colors

Fighting Colors
Author: Gary Velasco
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2004
Genre: Airplanes, Military
ISBN: 1563119870

This new book by Artist/author Gary Velasco is an illustrated history on the creation of military aircraft nose art. This comprehensive volume covers the technical aspects of how nose art was applied to vintage military aircraft and the uses of materials, supplies and development of nose art designs as researched through discussions with surviving nose artists. The author examines and analyzes the WW II era b/w photographs and reveals their color content along with many never-before-published photos, thereby recreating step-by-step actual flying warbird nose art restorations for the first time. Fighting Colors is a graphic tool for all enthusiasts of pinup and vintage aircraft nose art. For artists, this book will outline what the masters knew when the age of sign painting, along with a little bit of imagination and brushes, was a common trade. For veterans and their families, Fighting Colors will serve as a source of reflection and inspiration for years to come.

Vintage Aircraft Nose Art

Vintage Aircraft Nose Art
Author: Gary Valant
Publisher: Zenith Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2002-01-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0760312087

The unique art that graced military aircraft in World War II and the Korean War. Applied by amateurs or professional artists like Vargas, the art typically featured alluring women whose charms belied the deadly cargo the crew hoped to deliver to its targets. Hundreds of examples are shown in a combination of archival photos from the wars and current photos of artwork in museum collections.

The Liberator Legend

The Liberator Legend
Author: Philip A. St. John
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 172
Release: 1990
Genre: B-24 (Bomber)
ISBN: 0938021990

Those Who Flew

Those Who Flew
Author:
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 1563118114

B-17 Nose Art Name Directory

B-17 Nose Art Name Directory
Author: Wallace R. Forman
Publisher: Specialty Press
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN:

A product of years of statistical research, this detailed listing of over 7,800 Consolidated B-17s in all their variations from the WWII era, provides the aircraft's name and, where available, group, squadron and serial number.

P-61 Black Widow Units of World War 2

P-61 Black Widow Units of World War 2
Author: Warren Thompson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782007407

The first aircraft to be purposely designed as a radar-equipped nightfigher, Northrop's P-61 Black Widow was heavily influenced by early RAF combat experience with radar-equipped aircraft in 1940/41. Built essentially around the bulky Radiation Laboratory SCR-720 radar, which was mounted in the aircraft's nose, the P-61 proved to be the largest fighter ever produced for frontline service by the USAAF. Twin-engined and twin-boomed, the Black Widow was armed with a dorsal barbette of four 0.50-in Browning machine guns and two ventrally-mounted 20 mm cannon. This volume features all the frontline users of the mighty P-61, and includes many first-hand accounts from pilots and gunners who saw action in the Pacific, Mediterranean and Western Europe.

Aircraft Nose Art

Aircraft Nose Art
Author: Andretta Schellinger
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2016-03-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1476619328

Since World War I, nose art has adorned military aircraft around the world. Intended for friendly rather than enemy eyes, these images--with a wide range of artistic expression--are part of the personal and unit histories of pilots and aircrews. As civilian and military attitudes and rationales for war change from one conflict to the next, changes can also be seen in the iconography of nose art. This analysis from a cultural perspective compares nose art in the United States, Great Britain and France from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

September Hope

September Hope
Author: John C. McManus
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 514
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 045123989X

Acclaimed historian John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die, explores World War II’s most ambitious invasion, Operation Market Garden, an immense, daring offensive to defeat Nazi Germany before the end of 1944. “A riveting and deeply moving story of uncommon courage.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The First Wave August 1944 saw the Allies achieve more significant victories than in any other month over the course of the war. The Germans were in disarray, overwhelmed on all fronts. Rumors swirled that the war would soon be over. On September 17, the largest airborne drop in military history commenced over Holland—including two entire American divisions, the 101st and the 82nd. Their mission was to secure key bridges at such places as Son, Eindhoven, Grave, and Nijmegen until British armored forces could relieve them. The Germans, however, proved much stronger than the Allies anticipated. In eight days of ferocious combat, they mauled the airborne, stymied the tanks, and prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine. September Hope conveys the American perspective like never before, through a vast array of new sources and countless personal interviews to create a truly revealing portrait of this searing human drama.