Pretty Girls and Planes...

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby, Nose Art on WWII B-17, USAF Museum.

...two great things that go great together. It's called Nose Art and pilots and ground crews have been painting it on combat aircraft since the First World War. Nose art is not just pretty girls, although a lot of it is. There are cartoon characters, savage beasts, mythological creatures, slogans, names and sayings as well and I have lots more photos of it from the planes on display at the National Museum of the USAF

During WW II the plane's first crew originally gave named her - yes, fighter planes and bombers were given female gender - Shoo Shoo Baby after a popular song of the time made famous by The Andrew Sisters. A second crew added the third "Shoo" and the Vargas-style topless pin-up to the nose, and to this day the plane continues to be referred to as Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby. I couldn't find any information about who the girl is.

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby is the only survivng B-17G WWII bomber. She flew twenty-four combat missions over German occupied Europe (damned Nazis). She received flak damage seven times and on her last mission over Posen, Poland on May 29, 1944, engine problems forced her to land in neutral Sweden where the she and her crew were interned. Then in 1968, she was found abandoned in France and the French government presented the airplane to the USAF for a cost of one Franc (about twenty cents). In July 1978 she was moved to Dover AFB, Delaware, for restoration by the volunteers of the 512th Antique Restoration Group. The massive 10-year - 50,000 man hours - job of restoration to flying condition was completed in 1988 and the aircraft was flown to the USAF Museum in October 1988. She is on permanent display there and I photographed her while Jenne and I toured the museum back during Christmas week 2004 - my fifth time at the museum. I am such a geek for WWI and WWII aircraft.

Shoo-Shoo-Baby
Written by: Phil Moore
Originally made famous by: The Andrews Sisters
From the Album: Unheard, Vols. 1 & 2: 1942-1946
From the Film: Three Cheers For The Boys (1943)
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Shoo, shoo, shoo, baby
Shoo, shoo, shoo, baby
Bye, bye, bye, baby
Yo' pappy is off to the seven seas

Don't cry, baby
Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, baby
Your papa is off to the seven seas