Aces High

Just for reference, here is the chronology of US national insignia during the war. Images from a template by Jackpack44.


(https://s26.postimg.cc/655ajbz95/One.png)

When the US entered the war this was the standard national insignia applied to aircraft. It was used until just after the Battle of the Coral Sea at the beginning of May 1942.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/66f8cr12x/Two.png)

The first thing they changed was to remove the red dot which was problematic in the pacific with the japanese hinomaru. This was used well into the summer of 1943.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/nxqur7ghl/Three.png)

A variation of this with a yellow surround was used for aircraft participating in Operation Torch in North Africa. Strangely even Royal Navy carrier aircraft sported these US markings during the invasion in the hopes of making it appear to be mainly an american endeavour. Some US P-47s and spitfires in England also used the yellow surround at about this time, not sure why, but at least one of the units did transfer to the med later on.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/7f33ydt15/Four.png)

The next change occurred in the summer of 1943 when the white bars were added with a red surround. This marking was fairly short lived and often only partially applied in the pacific and CBI, some units objected to having any red on their insignia.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/kkn7i8cah/Five.png)

This resulted in alot of aircraft in the pacific and CBI using this insignia, which saw the addition of the white bars but without the red surround.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/4oydexlq1/Six.png)

The last change came in late summer/early fall of 1943 with the red surround being changed to blue. This would be used right through to the end of the war.

(https://s26.postimg.cc/40pivzn09/Seven.png)

One slight variation was late war US Navy aircraft that were already painted in an overall blue, some simply had the white portions of insignia painted on without applying blue over blue.


Changing markings was'nt always a high priority in a combat zone, so older ones often lingered for weeks or months on some aircraft while others had strange mixes of current and old insignia. There was also some variation between markings painted in the field and those applied at the factory, the latter being more by the book in terms of dimensions and positioning.

DW

Twenties new national insignia  :bomb-034: :bomb-034: :bomb-034:     hes the BOMB   :lol

Nerd :surprised-027:

Thanks Dee Dubb, excellent info

S!