Morale, on occasion. Whenever a Admiral caught the clap (likely more often than a General was in the doghouse).
If I recall correctly, Curtis E. Lamay and Jimmy Doolittle had both encouraged the "big wigs" to allow this as it served two purpose's:
1 It was a morale booster for ground crews!
2 It was morale booster for the "folks" back in the states, especially the aircraft manufactures...some aircraft left the factory with a nose art already painted on the nose and the ground crews would put a "quote" on the aircraft when it reached the field of use!
