The Syrian airfield prepare for reception of military aircraft of China
The latest news about fast emergence in borders of Syria of navy of China encouraged Syrians and res[...]
LIGHTER-THAN-AIR
a. Organization insignia will be placed on each side of each lighter-than-air aircraft. The location for observation balloons will be on each side, halfway between the greatest diameter and the leading edges of the horizontal lobes. The locations for spherical balloons will be at points in line with and 3 feet from each end of the wording ‘U. S. Army.”
b. In no instance will the size of lighter-than-air insignia exceed 9 square feet. The insignia placed on each craft assigned to an organization will be uniform in size. However, this does not require that insignia of different organizations be of the same size.
c. The insignia for all lighter-than-air aircraft will be painted on two-ply envelope fabric, code No. 101, and securely attached to the envelope with rubber cement. Each sheet of fabric will be neatly trimmed to the minimum size required; and, to insure adhesion, corresponding areas of the aluminum finish will be carefully removed from the envelopes with suitable wire brushes.
3. MATERIALS REQUIRED, (omitted from this work – author).
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Consolidated B-24D-80-CO, 42-40169, of the 389th BG, 2nd BD, Eighth Air Force. It stilt carries the red outline to the insignia in late 1943. The aircraft letter Nr – indicates that it is the second one in the unit with that letter. (March AFB Museum) |
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Lockheed P-38H-1-LO, 42-66718, aircraft CY-T, of the 343rd FS, 55th FG, 66th FW, 3rd Air Div landing at its base of Nuthampstead, England in late 1943, (USAF) |
This concluded the AAF work on aircraft camouflage, markings, insignia and colors for 1943. The situation world-wide had changed to where the AAF was preparing to go on the offensive with massive strength in all combat theaters, particularly in Europe. The Allies intentions were to beat Germany first and then concentrate on Japan. Russia’s insistence on a “Second Front" in Europe played a key role in the planning for 1944: the US and British response was the planning of Operation OVERLORD, the landing of strong Allied forces on the north coast of France. This obviously required total air supremacy in that area, thus the destruction of the Luftwaffe’s capability to defend the Channel Coast was paramount in the plans for 1944.
The story of 1943 is one showing that the AAF was no longer worried about defending its airpower on the ground against hostile attack. This allowed them to concentrate on getting the maximum production of the required aircraft and getting every little bit of performance out of each type. The deletion of basic camouflage from its aircraft at the end of 1943 showed that these aims were being achieved, despite the heavy losses of the Eighth Air Force Bomber Command in the summer of 1943. In 1943, key problem in Europe had been shortage of aircraft, rather than crews. This was to change drastically in 1944. The arrival of the P-51 in England finally gave the Eighth AF the long-range escort fighter it needed to destroy German industry without suffering prohibitive losses.