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Is Pope's, Barksdale, or Fort Smith \"nose art\" really nose art? I feel the 23rd shark's teeth may have been such in the begining but today all of the above are \"standard\" aircraft markings for that unit....your opinion?

DIce I went standard acft marking. I would feel nose art if each and every one was different, but as we know this isnt the case.

I think that it might have been a nose art thought with the \"original\" 23rd. but once standardized on every acft in the fleet, now we have to see it as a marking and not art.

Art is a 1 or 2 of a kind thing. You start getting 1 or 2 in standardized places and you start getting into the markings thought.

Isnt the 23rd still the only authorized standard marking for the teeth?
It seems to me that there not all marked at the other bases with the teeth. Its only a few here and there? Mqaybe I am wrong on that one.

I don't think they are the same. The teeth on the Pope jets are there because of unit lineage to the AVG. The markings on the Barksdale and Ft Smith (haven't seen those yet) jets are decorations by the unit.

Coach

As far as I am concerned only direct decendants of the AVG should have the \"Tiger Teeth\". Other units try and skirt that issue by calling them \"shark teeth\" but we know what they are doing. I have ( as have many of you ) seen the teeth on everything from C-130s ( Pope, but the AVG weren't trash haulers ) to F-14s to F-117s ( YUP!!! ) and I dont like it one bit

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The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

If you think it looks bad on those airframes, you should see it subdued on the helicopters here. Blech.

The Teeth on the 23rds jets are a category all their own.

Nose art would be like what was on aircraft during WWII. Every plane had something different and it was individual to the the crew be it a girl back home, a name for their aircraft or whatever.

As it fits best by definitions to the beloved and venerable A-10, I think that's where the door art is. Standardized markings do not qualify (by definition) as art to me. Just my humble opinion on the matter, from a long time fan.

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Just give me some ammo, a little water.....and some chips if you got 'em

Thanks for the opinions everyone.

Tiger teeth are cool but because only Pope has them, the teeth kind of suck by proxy. Sorry guys. I do really like Barksdales hawg faces though. The jurry is still out on Ft Smiths jets; except 166 because there is nothing you can do to make my jet ( Sorry Goose our jet ) uncool.

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YGBSM !

\"Teeth\" on a 23rd Jet was described to me when I was going to \"A-10 Dedicated Crew Chief Indoctrination\"Class as an \"Official Unit Marking \" with an order from TAC HEAD QUARTERS and it included the Teeth and Enlarged tail Code also. had a Official Order Number. I use to have a copy years ago .

The AVG got the idea for the \"Teeth\"from the Brits P-40's units in I think North Africa early in the 1940's. That was after the Chinese called the \"AVG\" TIGERS as how aggressive they were in a fight, and since the \"Tiger\" is Honored by the Chinese that gave the unit the idea after seeing the \"Brits P-40's\" to put it on there's with Modifications .

Now Wild Weasels, F-105's and F-4G's to me had to have teeth do to their mission , an A-10 NEXT to a F-4G was just DAMN AWESOME!
I saw 1 picture YEARS AGO with the 2 together and wish I still had it.

But No the \"23rds Teeth are a Official Units Markings and with the 74th,75th and the 76th joining up again at Moody History will be made again.

I like the \"Warthog Face\" but unless they have the Offical Orders Wavier then that would be \"Nose Art\" because unit markings have Official Command Waivers or Orders in detail How, Where and Who can have those markings .
Same as Patches, Tail Codes, Tail Flashings.


Goose

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\"Live Free Or Die\"

I thought the North African P-40's had the skull on the nose. I know that the headquarters were in Benghazi or Tripoli Libya but I cant find any pics of the Australian AF units that flew them.

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YGBSM !

I looked around a little bit, because I did remember there being a little more to the story of the shark mouths than what I first thought.
The AVG shark mouth was adopted from RAF 112 Squadron in North Africa, who had actually adopted it from Messerschmitt Bf-110's flying in Crete.

This site has a picture of one of the BF 110s with the shark mouth..

http://www.luchtoorlog.be/img/me110d/hai.jpg

Are these the ones you are talking about? I don't know of any Australian AF units, but the 80th FG had these skulls on them:

Yeah those are the ones. I thought (incorrectly) that they were on a North African unit. The Australians RAAF were the lead unit in North Africa according to my research. I incorrectly attributed the skulls to them. The skulls are pretty cool though.

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YGBSM !