The plane pictured above doesn't quite look like an essential World War II military plane. The B-24D Liberator started out as a bomber out of Algeria named Thar She Blows Again, then was transferred and renamed Bucket of Bolts. After sustaining a lot of damage, she was converted to a lead assembly ship named First Sergeant. Lead assembly ships, also called Judas goats (meaning goats that were trained to lead herds to the slaughter), were planes that assembled and led squadrons of bombers on their way to their targets. At some point, they would turn back for home. These planes were bombers past their prime, often too disabled for bombing missions, painted with bright colors, polka dots, and stripes to be extra visible to the planes they were leading. In addition to goats, they were compared to rodeo clowns, and they looked the part.
Read about the lead assembly planes of World War II and see a gallery of photographs at Vintage Wings of Canada. Seeing the photographs together will remind you of a circus, but these are planes that worked past their retirement to ensure victory. -via Metafilter
(Image credit: U.S. Army Air Force)