[Note that our answer might be considered offensive, so please reveal it at your own risk.]
Q: Why have fighter pilots historically paint naked women on the sides of their craft? (A seafaring vessel is more appropriate for a womanly mascot, as water/the ocean and the containment of a ship are age-old symbols of femininity. The phallic missiles of a war jet are wholly masculine in nature.)
A: [Highlight to view.] In the male-dominated military, the pilots wish to be able to say that they were "inside a woman."