“The Lucky Lady of B-17 Juliet” — Devon, England (1944, WWII)

Lieutenant Harris Cole flew bombing runs out of RAF Ridgewell in eastern England. His B-17 Flying Fortress, Juliet, carried a hand-painted pinup art, specifically a pinup girl known as “Lucky Lady May,” a pinup model style illustration on the nose art.

After surviving multiple missions over Bremen, the crew began treating the pinup portrait as more than decoration. During one raid, flak tore through the cockpit but failed to detonate. Ground crews later pointed out how the shrapnel scars seemed to frame the pinup illustration perfectly, as if protecting it.

Cole never admitted superstition. But Juliet always flew with “May” repainted fresh before every mission.