As D-Day unfolded, friendly fire incidents were thankfully few. ![]() In the early hours of June 6, thousands of aircraft, all bearing invasion stripes, headed for the skies over Normandy. For fear of the Luftwaffe getting wind of the scheme and confusing the issue by painting their own stripes, the plan was a closely guarded secret.Ī Lockheed F-5B Photo Reconnaissance Lightning of the 31st Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, photograph by James K. Tests showed that the stripes were easily visible on the ground and in the air - easier to see than the usual national markings that Allied aircraft bore, so a simple order - if it ain't got stripes, shoot it down - could be given out to Allied gunners and pilots. To avoid fratricidal incidents, the D-Day planners called for paint and brushes, and ordered that the aircraft of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force and supporting units be painted with alternating black and white stripes on wings and fuselage - 18 inches wide on single-engine aircraft, and 24 inches wide for twin-engined craft. The existing system for identifying friendly aircraft, Identification Friend or Foe ( IFF), would in all probability be overwhelmed by the sheer number of aircraft over the beaches. The planners feared friendly fire - anti-aircraft fire from Allied naval vessels and Allied troops - against their own air flotilla, and pilots mistakenly engaging in dogfights against their own comrades in arms. They were expected to be met by fierce Luftwaffe opposition. In 1944, in the months leading up to the invasion of Nazi occupied France, the Allied planners of Operation OVERLORD realized that on the day of the invasion - D-Day - the skies over the invasion zone would be filled with aircraft: waves of Allied fighters and photo reconnaissance planes, bombers, troop-carrying gliders and their tow planes. ![]() It's hard to spot the familiar US insignia of the white star on a blue circle, but the black and white stripes the Lightnings wear stand out easily - which is a very good thing. Seventy years ago, a formation of United States Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters was photographed as it roared over an unidentified foreign field.
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