fubar57
General
When asked why the aircraft were now grey instead of the flamboyant color schemes of the 60-70's, and Admiral/General said, "Better a boring aircraft than missing aircraft".
Geo
Geo
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You mean like this, Dave?
Serious question guys....many of the military colour schemes make them more visible rather than less, what is the thinking behind it?
Thanks, I think the D Day stripes started on the Typhoon because it looked similar to a Fw 190 from some angles. But by D Day there was so much striped paint I cant see why the little that was left was camo paint.Some of that would be to enable easier visual identification usually by anti-aircraft artillery defending ground troops etc. This is because very often ground forces would typically fire at any low enough aircraft if they could not be sure it wasn't one of their own.
Even then some gun crews and troops who had been stressed by attacking aircraft previously and the few trigger happy ones would shoot their own out of plane-shock/fear.
That is why things like the higher visibility designs were used in some areas, for example; the IJA IJN usually had long (upto 1/2 to 2/3's wing span) yellow wing leading edges, the RAF too used similar 'thinner' yellow strips, Luftwaffe had typically yellow (mainland Europe) or white (for the Med' Africa) 'theater of operation' and also as AAA ident' wing tips tail bands with full or under nose/engine panels, and also the allied 'Invasion Stripes' too were for aero ground forces ident' to aid in visual recognition between friendly and enemy A/C.
Thanks, I think the D Day stripes started on the Typhoon because it looked similar to a Fw 190 from some angles. But by D Day there was so much striped paint I cant see why the little that was left was camo paint.Some of that would be to enable easier visual identification usually by anti-aircraft artillery defending ground troops etc. This is because very often ground forces would typically fire at any low enough aircraft if they could not be sure it wasn't one of their own.
Even then some gun crews and troops who had been stressed by attacking aircraft previously and the few trigger happy ones would shoot their own out of plane-shock/fear.
That is why things like the higher visibility designs were used in some areas, for example; the IJA IJN usually had long (upto 1/2 to 2/3's wing span) yellow wing leading edges, the RAF too used similar 'thinner' yellow strips, Luftwaffe had typically yellow (mainland Europe) or white (for the Med' Africa) 'theater of operation' and also as AAA ident' wing tips tail bands with full or under nose/engine panels, and also the allied 'Invasion Stripes' too were for aero ground forces ident' to aid in visual recognition between friendly and enemy A/C.
The striped markings on the Typhoon were introduced in an effort to easily distinguish them from the Fw 190. There were instances of Typhoons being attacked by friendly aircraft, one case in which Canadian Spitfires shot a couple down springs to mind.
The 'special markings' for Overlord, also known as invasion stripes or D-Day stripes, are not the same size or configuration.
Despite the special markings many allied airmen were apprehensive about flying over the invasion fleet. RN gunners in particular had earned a reputation for shooting at anything that flew, even their own FAA aircraft.
Cheers
Steve