"Invasion stripes - when?" Topic

6 Posts

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Johnny Boy	22 Aug 2009 10:11 a.m. PST
What planes had these? Would a B24 late 44 – early 45 still have these markings, if they had them in the first place? Would the long range fighter escorts still have them at this time? Thanks. John
miscmini	22 Aug 2009 10:55 a.m. PST
B-24 no. US escort fighter, probably not and if it did they would likely only be on the bottom of the aircraft.
Wyatt the Odd	22 Aug 2009 3:43 p.m. PST
I think that only the medium and attack bombers – A-20, A-26, B-25, B-26, etc., fighters and transport aircraft actually bore the stripes. Heavies (aside from 1(?) initial attack) weren't major participants in the tactical situation (or at low-level) so they did not carry stripes. Wyatt
Johnny Boy	24 Aug 2009 2:10 a.m. PST
Great stuff, but why would the escort fighters only have the stripes on the bottom of the wings? Surely if they had a 'milk run' with the bombers they would head home looking for targets of opportunity like trains, convoys and other military equipment. Doing this they would be at low level and surely would require the stripes on the top of the wings as well. John
Doms Decals	24 Aug 2009 7:17 a.m. PST
Doing this they would be at low level and surely would require the stripes on the top of the wings as well. Not really – they were mainly of use for helping ground troops identify friendlies – anyone looking down on a US fighter is (a) almost certainly an allied pilot, and (b) aware that just about everyone else still flying is also an allied pilot…. Anyway, whatever your opinions on the reasoning, stripes on top were being painted out by July '44, while many units carried stripes underneath until September or later. (Transport aircraft tended not to have them painted out – C-47s in invasion stripes were still common at Arnhem, and I believe there's even the odd photo or two of invasion stripes still on transports during the Berlin airlift….)
Johnny Boy	24 Aug 2009 12:32 p.m. PST
Great stuff. John