North American P-51D-25-NA Mustang 44-73304 'Blondie' 334th FS 4th FG piloted by Lt Marvin W. Arthur. This aircraft carried one of S/Sgt Don Allen's most famous pieces of nose art. This aircraft was later transferred to the Italian Air Force as MM4282 in 1946.
http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?132.130
http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/artist.php?artist=don-allen#.XO62xlVKiUk
Having graduated from Cleveland School of Art in 1941, where he majored in illustration, Don Allen was assigned to 4th Fighter Group's Spitfires on arrival in England. By March 1943, Sgt Allen became crew chief to Lts Pisanos and Stanhope. His first nose art was for Lt Aubrey Stanhope and portrayed a black panther with a fleur-de-lis, to honour Stanhope's French mother.
Allen's next pilot, Vic France, wanted "Miss Dallas" for his plane's title and the artist obliged with a design which became one of his own favorites. When the 4th Fighter Group exchanged its Thunderbolts for Mustangs a similar design was painted onto Lt France's new P-51B
Don Allen completed at least 39 nose art designs, several being painted on P47s and then repeated later on P51 Mustangs. As many as 16 additional airplanes were painted with only titling.
He was a crew chief at the American base at Debden in Essex – home of the “Mighty Eighth” – and painted more than 100 aircraft.
His sexy pin-ups were never blatant or crude and always covered -- albeit sparingly. Although inspired by Vargas, Petty and Elvgren his profilic imagination ensured original images that were not copied from magazine or calendar illustrations. His cartoon work was bold, colourful and apt. The average charge levied for his illustrative work was 8 Pounds (roughly $35 during WWII) but just 5 Pounds for lettering alone.
After the war he returned to the world of advertising and commercial art, rising to become a corporate president.
In recent years, Allen painted many of his wartime nose art designs again, following as closely as possible the originals produced almost half a century earlier. Better paint and working conditions almost certainly produced brighter crisper images than the originals which had been produced using paint scrounged from hangars -- blue, red, zinc chromate, primer, black, etc, and lacquer which dried too fast to achieve the smoothest of finishes. These beautiful reproductions were donated to AMC Museum, Dover, Delaware to be viewed by future generations.
http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/artist.php?artist=don-allen#.XO62xlVKiUk
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2013/01/don_allen_nose_art_artist_of_w.html
Allen is featured in a new documentary, "Nose Art and Pin-Ups," made by British filmmaker Gail Downey, who traveled across America in search of artists like Allen and the former U.S. flight crews of World War II.
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-filmmaker-gail-downey-launches-3019609
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