Pilots began to paint their planes even before the First World War; the main goal, which was pursued at the same time, was the identification of a specific pilot, both for his own and for opponents. Flight units had their own official insignia applied to the fuselage. Despite this, the pilots sought to add their own drawings to the obligatory design elements of the fuselage in order to give their aircraft more individuality. In turn, the command did not interfere with the violation of uniformity, believing that decorating the aircraft with drawings distracts pilots from the routine and monotony of military service. In addition, it was reasonably believed that the drawings on the planes reflected warm memories of home and peacetime, which was a good psychological defense against the deadly dangers of war.

The championship in the field of nose art belongs to Italian and German pilots. In 1913, pilots of the Italian Navy adorned the nose of a flying boat with the image of a sea monster. Following this, German pilots during the First World War began to depict a bared toothy shark mouth under the propeller. The German ace pilot Manfred von Richthofen simply painted his plane red, which is why he received the famous nickname "Red Baron".
The pilots of the 94th and 95th American squadrons, who fought on the European front during the First World War, depicted identification marks on their aircraft: a hat in a circle and a kicking mule, respectively. Then, during the First World War, the most famous images of nosart appeared on the planes of the American Volunteer Pilot Group - grinning shark muzzles. Thirty years later, German pilots painted the same image on their planes.

As a rule, at that time, not the pilots themselves, but members of the ground handling team were engaged in painting aircraft.
The "golden age" of the genre, however, is considered the years of the Second World War. There were even artists specializing in painting aircraft, and they were well paid for the work they did. I must say that the US Navy banned the artistic painting of aircraft and ordered aircraft to be marked with two-digit numbers; the command of the British Air Force and the Canadian Air Force went the same way. The main motives of the drawings were frightening: in addition to the shark's mouth, the planes painted a stinging snake, a flying Bengal tiger or a dragon.
Especially popular was the painting of aircraft in parts of the bomber aviation, which suffered heavy losses. The crews of the bombers consisted of several people who formed a close-knit team. The plane, on which life depended, seemed to become one of the crew members. Therefore, it was decorated with a pattern that was considered to bring good luck.