8th AF Tracer Policy

[TonyJoey]

I was reading one of my Osprey books, Mustang Aces of the 8th Air Force, and I came across a quote by Kit Carson of the 357th FG that said "We don't use tracer as it gives a false sense of distance and direction, but when the steel cores hit home, they strike sparks which appear as winking lights so you'll know you're scoring." I was just curious about tracer policy in the 8th and if the decision to use them or not was on a group to group, or even squadron to squadron basis, or if this was throughout the whole 8th. Thanks in advance.

[GScholz]

Sounds like complete hogwash, which is what I've come to expect from Carson.

[Soulyss]

Bud Anderson makes a similar statement in book, while he liked and used them he implied that some pilots didn't like them.   i would guess that it was a decision left to each pilot.

[B3YT]

Some RAF squadrons did similar things in the far east  where they puts lots of tracer at the start of the ammo load to fool the JAF into thinking they were out of ammo then almost no tracer after .

[Shifty]

Gabreski of the 56th FG only loaded tracer in the last 100 rounds or so of each gun. This was to alert him to the fact he was getting low on ammo.

[Paladin3]

Well it may have truth to it. I know that tracers do not have the same ballistics as standard ammunition (ball) or incendiary. They actually fly "flatter" so out to two hundred yards I can see that your tracers would hit but the real damaging rounds (more mass, incendiary) would be falling below the target.