The 10 Most Popular Pin-up Girls That Drove Soldiers Crazy During The War

Here are the ten most requested pin-up girls of World War II.

Published 10 years ago

Here are the ten most requested pin-up girls of World War II.

1
The Art Frahm girls. Art Frahm was known for his cartoonish depictions of pretty girls caught in uncomfortable situations such as having their panties hit the floor while they were carrying groceries.

2
Veronica Lake and that hair. That long luscious hair killed it for Lake in the 1940s. She had the most famous hair in Hollywood and was also a hit with American G.I’s fighting for ‘Merica. She starred in a range of film noirs and was considered one of the most bankable stars of her time – she was also partly the inspiration for look of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

3
Gil Elvgren made fly-boy art. Elvgren is the artist that launched 1,000 B-17 bomber planes with her designs painted on the side. These designs were regularly named after those ladies who would fly into battle with the airmen on the side of their aircraft.

4
Ava Gardner. Gardner was more famous in the 50s then she was in the 40s. During World War II she was a contract player for MGM but that didn’t stop her from becoming one of the most popular pin-up girls of the war.

5
Your fighting for the Victory Girls. Zoe Mozert was a female illustrator who would use herself as a model to show the boys what they were fighting for back home. She made a series of calendars called Victory Girls.

6
Petty Girls fly into battle. George Petty was an illustrator for Esquire and True Magazines, when the war broke out he knew he had found his true calling by creating desirable cartoon girls that would feature at the nose end of bomber planes. ‘Memphis Belle’ was one of these planes that had a Petty girl, she completed 25 missions in France and Germany before doing a tour of America to raise war bonds.

7
Alberto Vargas and his girls. Alberto Vargas was a prolific artist in the war for Esquire magazine between 1942 and 1946. 9 million copies of his magazine were sent overseas to soldiers who were more than happy receive them.

8
Jane Russell is an outlaw. This iconic starlet blew up all over Hollywood after her debut film The Outlaw in 1943. The film was actually made in 1941, had a limited release in 43 and was not released nationally until 1946 because censors worried about the effect that Russell’s figure would have on audiences. It didn’t stop her from being one of the most requested pin-up girls of the war though for those very reasons.

9
Rita Hayworth was many a soldiers redemption. Rita Hayworth posed for this picture in 1941 and for the first two years of the war it was the most requested pin-up picture. She was one of the most famous movie starlets of her time and you might remember that her pin-up was used in The Shawshank Redemption movie which was based on a Stephen King short story called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption due to her popularity at the time with both soldiers and prisoners.

10
Betty Grable takes the cake. This image by Betty Grable was the most requested pin-up of the entire war even surpassing Hayworth. Apparently soldiers were loving the one piece bathing suit and the over the shoulder shot.