Shark Bites

Extra to the usual Sharkmouth. ['Diego' & 'Domingo' IPMS Uruguay]

Over on the IPMS Uruguay board is a magnificent 40+ page thread on shark mouth decorated aircraft. It's a well known, well-worn topic, but this picture selection is a magnificent achievement with a much wider range than the usual 'Flying Tiger' P-40s.

The RAAF Museum's Pageant in 2008 was (as far as I'm aware) the only time three different warbird fighters, bearing original shark-mouth adornment, flew together. L-R the RAAF Museum's Mustang, the Temora Aviation Museum 'Grey Nurse' Spitfire and Alan Arthur's P-40. [James Kightly]

As is well known now, the AVG P-40s copied 112 Squadron RAF (and other, including RAAF Desert Air Force Kittyhawks) who themselves had copied the German's Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters, as seen here:

One of the earliest W.W.II types adorned with teeth was the Bf 110, here seen later in the conflict. [Via IPMS Uruguay]

Better still is a selection of other related aircraft decorations such as a Medusa head (what an interesting idea) from this post ...

More terrifying than a shark? The Medusa's head.[Via IPMS Uruguay]

... and a few odd items like our amusing heading image. (it's from this post, and the translated note says: "And thanks to the collaboration with Domingo, I present the father of them all, the Me 262.")

This Hurricane was a new one to me. The other image in the post (here) shows a US star and bar on the fuselage. [Via IPMS Uruguay] [Edit: It appears to be BP654, a hack used by the 346th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group in Italy.]

For those interested in finding something a it more specific rather than a general browse, there's a listing by page in this post.

James