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Nose Art

Pre-VisitIt’s important to get your students talking about nose art before they even get on the bus to come to the museum! Here are some suggestions to talk about before your visit:

If your school has a motto or emblem, have students talk about what it represents and why most schools have one. If your school doesn’t have one, but has a mascot, you could talk about that instead

Have students think about and create a motto, emblem or mascot for your class. Ask them to share why they picked that design or creature

Materials Provided By the Museum Laptop with Nose Art PowerPoint Presentation loaded on it Projector White board and markers Paper Writing utensils

Materials Teachers Should Consider Bringing If your students have journals they keep for class, they are an excellent tool to help record their

nose art creations and ideas

Doing the Nose Art Program at the Museum The projector and laptop will be set-up and ready for you in the Lancaster Room; this is most

likely the room you’ve already spent a bit of time in, and have kept your belongings in Present the Nose Art PowerPoint to students (a copy of the slides and accompanying notes are

listed below); make sure to take time to have discussions when prompted by slides, after finishing the PowerPoint, or whenever a student has a great observation or question.

Our nose art collection is exhibited on the mezzanine level of the museum (the staircase is located across from the bathrooms). If you haven’t been up there yet, let your students take a few minutes to choose a piece of nose art that inspires them, sketch it and write about why they chose it or why they would want it on their aircraft. Some of the ideas that were generated during your PowerPoint discussions could make excellent answers during this exercise!

Back in the Lancaster Room, have students create their own piece of nose art. Afterwards have students share their creations and why they chose the symbols they did.

Depending on time, students may have extra time to have another look at some of the other artifacts on the mezzanine level while also gaining a good view of the aircraft below. If another group is being toured around on the main level, please make sure that students use indoor voices – sound travels fast in the hangar!

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Nose Art PowerPoint PresentationThis image appeared in the London Daily Mirror in 1939 just before Hitler entered the war. The meaning is that an eclipse is coming with Winston Churchill.

The use of nose art began with the introduction of military aircraft in WWI and has been used, to some extent, ever since then. It reached its height during WWII when thousands and thousands of planes were produced. Aircrews did what they could to personalize their aircraft. Pre-Nose Art: Doodles, Graffiti and TattoosFrom the pre-historic era onwards, humans have had the desire to sketch, doodle, draw, and graffiti. Sometimes pictures can be used to show what you see, or would like to see (like the top two pictures of cave paintings that show animals and a good hunt), and sometimes they can express a thought or opinion (like the bottom two pictures of graffiti from ancient Rome and Greece)Talking points here include:

• What imagery do you see in these pictures?• What do you think they represented?

Graffiti, Doodles and Tattoos

Even in modern times, humanity still has the need to draw on things!

The pictures on this slide show examples of sketching/doodling, graffiti/street art, and tattooing

Heraldry and Family CrestsHeraldry and family crests have been used for over 900 years and have been used for many reasons:

• To distinguish one armoured knight from another in a battle or competition

• To tell what family you are from• To show traits that you or your family have, i.e.

courage, strength, etc.Some talking points here could be:

• What animals or symbols do you see here? • What traits do you think they are representing?

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• What do these family crests make you think of? Do you see anything like these today? – This question acts as a great seg-way into the next slide to talk about….

Before coming to the museum you had a chance to talk about your school’s motto, emblem or mascot. Just to get you thinking again, have a look at these mottos.

Do these look like they resemble the family crests on the previous slide? What do they say about each of the schools? What do the graphics symbolize?

So now a good question to ask would be: Why would pilots paint pictures on their airplanes?This is a good time to pause the presentation and write down some of the student’s answers to this question.

The Germans created very cocky nose art, making fun of the British. The Germans called Winston Churchill Old Fart Pants (Hosenbrummer).

However, after the Battle of Britain, the Allies got their nose art revenge.

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And when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, much of the nose art reflected it.

Who painted the nose art? 75% of the men who painted nose art were ground crew. Many of them had no artistic training. They did it in their spare time. These men were of the lowest rank but it made them important.

Let’s see how fast the students can guess who this famous nose artist is! Let’s begin with his humble beginnings…In 1859, a boy named Elias was born to a poor Canadian family living in Bluevale, Ontario. After he graduated high school, Elias trained as a carpenter and in 1882 decided to immigrate to Chicago. In 1892, Elias married a woman named Flora.On December 5, 1901, their fourth son, Walter was born.World War I broke out in 1914, and by 1918 Walter wanted to join in the fight. He was too young to enlist, however, so he joined the Red Cross and went to France where he drove ambulance.

He painted French badges on the back of leather jackets for about 75 francs. He began painting American images on airplanes.

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When Walter returned to the US he began creating cartoons. In 1939 the USS Wasp was built in San Diego. Walter created the crest for this (the picture with “VF7” at the bottom). Surrounding this pictures are some of his other crests commissioned for squadrons throughout the war. After WWII, Walt and his team of artists had completed over 1200 insignias, never once charging the military a cent. It was clear that they had created a whole new system of heraldry, comparable to the ancient knightly arms we looked at before.

Walter created crests for all Canadian provinces except Quebec, NB, and PEI. Donald Duck was frequently used. Why? (Donald was known as having a in your face attitude, and as a fighting spirit)Now is a good time to ask students if they can guess who Walter really is. Do some of his characters give it away?

Walter is better known as Walt Disney!

The two graphics on the right are Seawolf insignia created for Canadian Squadron by Disney.

Wetaskawin squadron used the Bulldog insignia.

In 1938 the Canadian government built an airfield in Calgary at Currie Barracks. The 316 Hurricane was flown from Vancouver to Calgary on June 2, 1939. Have a look at the crest for the 401 squadron. What is it? Why do you think they used this? (Bighorn sheep - maybe because it was flown over the mountains.)

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Crests were originally created for jackets and then found their way onto nose art. Matt Ferguson painted over 30 fighters. He always drew a maple leaf behind his nose art. Ferguson painted this bomb, “An Easter Egg for Hitler”, which was later dropped on a German oil refinery.Note: A sortie is 1 plane.

Do you recall traveling along McKnight Boulevard on your trip to the museum today? It is named in honour of Flying Officer William Lidstone McKnight, another Calgarian, who was killed in action in 1941. McKnight painted skeletons on his planes. You can read more about him on the road signs on the mezzanine.

Note the squadron number on the crest (242). 242 Squadron was actually a RAF unit comprised solely of Canadians. This is because when WWII first began, Canada did not have enough aircraft to send troops over; to compensate, the RAF started squadrons of Canadians. Noel Barlow, who Barlow Trail is name

It is not a 400 number because this squadron was enlisted in the RAF. Picture on left is Noel Barlow, who Barlow Trail is named after. He died just recently (2007). The picture of the 242 squadron giving Hitler the boot appeared on all Hurricanes in 242.

So now that you know a bit more about nose art, you should understand some of the reasons why those who served during the war painted it on their airplanes. Take a minute now and add on any more reasons you may have thought of during the presentation.Afterwards, if they aren’t already said, here are some other answers that you can add:• To show that they were on the same side, or from

the same squadron• To show what values they believed in• For intimidation or to make fun of their enemies• To boost morale to feel a part of a team, and help to

laugh at circumstances• To show off• They believed they would give them good luck

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• To remind them of what was waiting at home for them when they returned

• To feel as strong and courageous as the images painted on their planes