Paint Locker Magic: A History of Naval Aviation Special Markings and Artwork

Naval Aviation special markings and ‘nose art’ is a field that has been largely ignored, primarily due to the lack of coverage in mainstream aviation history publications. Research into archives, feedback from veterans, and personal photographs by the authors have documented thousands of previously unknown individual aircraft with these markings. The book covers markings on US Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard aircraft over the 100 year history of US Naval Aviation. The book includes illustrations of special markings and nose art on early canvas covered airplanes through the World War II era when nose art flourished and on into the jet age, the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts and up to the present war on terror with aircraft marked to commemorate the 9-11 attack. This coverage includes the fighters and attack aircraft of the carrier navy and the patrol aircraft, transports, blimps, research and test aircraft and helicopters. Markings include personal nose art and pin-ups, shark mouth and similar markings, cartoons depicting special missions, Christmas and similar markings, and tributes.