Invasion Stripes

[branch37]

A post in another thread got me thinking.  Were the invasion stripes unique to the Normandy invasion, or were they used earlier?  I know the idea came along after friendly paratroopers were shot down by friendly fire while inbound to Sicily, so were they used elsewhere like Anzio, or Southern France?

[Guppy35]

There were different variations used.  An example was on the Typhoon which had black and white stripes under the wings as an added identifier as they were getting mistaken for 190s.  During different operations there were different ID markings.  Not always black and white stripes but something to make them stand out.  Operation Starkey in 1943 had specific ID bands.

The MTO Recce Mossies ended up with 'invasion stripe' markings as they were getting mistaken for Me-410s I believe.

The D-Day stripes on everything that flew over the Beaches may have been as a result of things like the Sicily friendly fire stuff, although I believe those goonies were shot down at night over the fleet so the bands wouldn't have helped much.

[Soulyss]

The D-Day stripes on everything that flew over the Beaches may have been as a result of things like the Sicily friendly fire stuff, although I believe those goonies were shot down at night over the fleet so the bands wouldn't have helped much.

Not a quote, but found the following info from "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944".


The friendly fire incident on Sicily was at night.  Paratroopers were being flown in to reenforce the 1st Infantry Division, Patton cut the orders aboard USS Monrovia at 8:45am but due to congestion in the signal room the orders didn't reach the units on shore till 4:20pm, Vice Admiral Hewitt later testified that despite being on board the Monrovia did not know of the operation till 5:47pm.  It also appears that none of the three regiments operating to the east where the planes would first make landfall knew of the operation till after 10:00pm.  

By the time the shooting stopped later that night 23 C-47's had been shot down, 37 were damaged and casualties were finally pegged at 410 although there was some disagreement.

[M0nkey_Man]

all this talk of friendly fire made me remember my favorite quote"there is no such thing as friendly fire"
or Murphy's Law: Friendly fire isn't

[Scherf]

The MTO Recce Mossies ended up with 'invasion stripe' markings as they were getting mistaken for Me-410s I believe.

You may also be thinking of the "barber pole" getup on the Mossies of 680 Sqn and 60 Sqn SAAF.

[Guppy35]

Yep, with the fuselage "D-Day" stripes

[skorpion]

not invasion stripes, but the p47c models up to the d11 had a white nose because they were being mistaken for 190's. not so sure about normandy thing tho.

[Scherf]

Yep, with the fuselage "D-Day" stripes

Yes indeed, I confess that little point had escaped my recollection.

Strange thing is, I've no record of any loss to friendly fire in either of those two units, though I've plenty for other units. Perhaps the Mossies got away to tell the tale and prompt the re-paint.

[wil3ur]

We laid off all our drivers at work and are selling off our fleet...  but we had a Ford Ranger w/ Invasion stripes and a P40 sharkmouth w/ rivits vehicle wrap for a year or so.  I loved the piss out of it.

[Guppy35]

not invasion stripes, but the p47c models up to the d11 had a white nose because they were being mistaken for 190's. not so sure about normandy thing tho.

8th AF Fighters had white ID bands and noses into about the Spring of 44 when they started using different colored noses for different groups.  When the OD/gray paint was stopped and birds came NMF they had black ID bands on the wings and tail.   RAF birds had different ID markings going back to 39 with one wing black underneath, one white.  Then the single color.  When they started going on the offensive they added fuselage bands and nose color.  Then it was yellow leading edge stripes.  It was an ongoing thing from the beginning.

[AWwrgwy]

The white stripes were applied on 4 July 1942 for ”Operation Rutter”, a planned preparatory invasion operation/exercise towards Dieppe but which was subsequently cancelled (the actual ”repeated” Dieppe raid on 19 August, ”Operation Jubilee” had no distinctive markings applied to the aircraft).

wrongway