If you're not interested in RAAF colour schemes of 1942, delete this NOW.
> Brett
>> Recognition
> >procedures never have seemed to be a US strongpoint (let me tell
> you one day
> >about why Australian aircraft had to delete all red paint during 1942).
>
John Garcia
> That would be for the same reason the US removed *its* red paint
> (specifically the red circle inside the white star, and the red and white
> stripes on the tail) at the same time. Pilots would mistake the
> red circle
> for the Japanese "meatball" (the Rising Sun) and fire upon their
> own fellows.
>
Brett (belatedly)
Yep, that's the reason for removing the red. As at December 1941 the Royal
Australian Air Force carried blue/white/red roundels, much like those of the
British RAF style of 1937/38.
Even though the red centre spot in the roundel was rarely more than 6 inches
in diameter, it was mistaken for the much larger Japanese "meatball"
roundel.
The first RAAF Kittyhawks sent to Port Moresby (New Guinea) in April 1942
were greeted by flak from Australian Army gunners, who had not previously
had ANY allied fighters to identify, and who had started calling the
Kittyhawks "Neverhawks" because they had not appeared, unlike the Imperial
Japanese Navy Zeroes. After the afternoon Japanese reconnaissance plane was
shot down, though, no more Kittyhawks were shot at by Australian gunners.
Left to their own devices, the RAAF probably would have deleted the red spot
anyway - it was quickly removed from the fuselage but left on the wings for
a few more weeks. But the main impetus was the number of Australian aircraft
being attacked by US Army and US Navy aircraft. Now, I have yet to hear of
any of the major navies of WW2 that were good at aircraft recognition. It
seems to be a general Naval belief that "if it flys it CAN'T be one of
ours". Ergo the big black and white stripes painted onto every Allied
aircraft used in the Normandy landings of June 1944 - it was to stop the
Navy (British and US) shooting them down, as much as anything else.
Meanwhile, back in the Pacific, it wasn't so much that US aircraft kept
attacking Australian Wirraways - it was based on the AT-6/SNJ trainer which,
as seen in "Tora, Tora../Pearl Harbor" etc the AT-6 can quickly be made to
look like a Zero or Val. Hell, the one Wirraway that shot down a Japanese
plane did so cos the Japanese pilot thought it was one of HIS mates.
What clinched the need were the attacks by US fighters on Australian
DC2/DC3s, Beauforts and - unbelievably - a Catalina. BTW, there were
fatalities in some of these attacks.
I read a great book by an American P39 pilot from those early days,
"Nanette" by Edwards Park, where he writes that one of the pilots in his
squadron was called the Japanese Ace cos he'd shot down 5 aircraft - US or
Australian, of course.
Just to make recognition certain, all Allied single engined aircraft in the
Papua/New Guinea theatre were soon required to paint the entire tail
empennage (vertical and horizontal tail surfaces) white as a recognition
aid, plus the leading edge of the main wings. Tended to destroy the effects
of the camouflage a bit, but looks pretty neat on scale models.
As for the red and white stripes on the tail of US aircraft, one of the
early P-47 units reinstated these very early in 1944. Wonderful what a bit
of air superiority does. That was also when US aircraft were starting to
arrive uncamouflaged, although few RAAF fighters went into action without
paint on them.
Cheers
Brett
