Davie Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Napalm delivered by bats???????? Absolutely bizzarre! You couldn't make some of this stuff up in your wildest dreams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Almost as bad/crazy as the Japanese idea of floating incendiary (or worse) bombs across the pacific on little balloons to attack America's homeland..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I think the US operated Photo Recon Mosquitos from Mount Farm. They started out overall PR blue, but many allied pilots mis-identified the Mossie with the Me410, so the horizontal and vertical tails were painted bright red as an ID feature. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 - Napalm was indeed used in WW2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 - Napalm was indeed used in WW2. I think the Indian Army still uses it in Curry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 - Napalm was indeed used in WW2. The British Government always strenuously denied that British forces had Napalm in the stockpiles. Then along came Torrey canyon in 1967, and guess what the Buccaneers got filmed dropping? :schocked: :oops: :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I have a picture of Mossie (a PRXVI) in Overall Blue and red tail operated by 25th (Reconnaisance) group 8th US Airforce at Watton in Norfolk, so the answer is yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 If I remember correctly the US operated a number of armoured Cobras as targets for air gunnery schools. The cockpit had armoured glass and the leading edges of the wings, the nose etc had fairly heavy steel armour and other vunerable area lighter protection. The Air gunners fired frangible bullets from unmodified aircraft ( I beleive they carried a dye also). (somewhat like early paintballing) If I remember, there were shutters over the radiator which were closed before each target "attacked the gun training aircraft, and opened as soon as each attack was over. I don't beleive any were ever damaged enough to be shot down, but it must have been a bit hairy for the pilots. I think part of the decision to use the Cobra was the engine being behind the pilot was extremely unlikely to be damaged in a frontal attack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Almost as bad/crazy as the Japanese idea of floating incendiary (or worse) bombs across the pacific on little balloons to attack America's homeland..... Yes but this worked! They also sent a submarine with aircraft inside to bomb the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 The Americans also used Phosphorus bombs against the Japanese, equally as ungentlemanly as Napalm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Napalm, and FAE (Fuel Air Explosive) were German invetions. Napalm was first used in the Great War, as part of flamethrower development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Napalm was first used in the Great War, as part of flamethrower development. Great information Tony :schocked: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 No just a very weirdly spent youth. :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I think the US operated Photo Recon Mosquitos from Mount Farm. They started out overall PR blue, but many allied pilots mis-identified the Mossie with the Me410, so the horizontal and vertical tails were painted bright red as an ID feature. Steve Come to think of it, the Mossie in question was in full invasion stripes with US white star / blue circle markings on top of these on the rear fuselage, but the period being discussed was well in advance of the invasion, so maybe these were an extra identification aide. My memory suggests there was another aircraft where this happened, possibly Typhoon because its silhouette looked more like an Fw 190 than anything else. Of course none of this proves anything: on two occasions in the last fortnight on Hell's Battlefield on satellite I have seen the same clip of a T34 brewing. One of the programmes was about The first week of the Ardennes Offensive; the other was Omaha Beach. Ho hum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 To the best of my knowledge, no allied aircraft carried any markings similar to the Invasion stripes prior to D-Day. Most were applied the day before. The footage was probably being used out of its correct time period. Unlike most modern warbirds that wear invasion strips which are all very neat; wartime stripes were all over the place. They were painted with everything from a 4 inch brush to yard brooms, and the edges were anything but straight. If I ever had the money to operate a warbird, it would be painted to look scruffy, chipped, worn and generally abused. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 To the best of my knowledge, no allied aircraft carried any markings similar to the Invasion stripes prior to D-Day. Most were applied the day before. The footage was probably being used out of its correct time period. Unlike most modern warbirds that wear invasion strips which are all very neat; wartime stripes were all over the place. They were painted with everything from a 4 inch brush to yard brooms, and the edges were anything but straight. If I ever had the money to operate a warbird, it would be painted to look scruffy, chipped, worn and generally abused. Steve I stand by my previous. ISTR invasion stripes were applied universally on D-1 because they had worked so well saving Typhoons - I am pretty sure - from blue on blues. But I cannot remember where I got the snippet from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Many aircraft had the upper surface stripes over painted with camo about a month after D-Day, just leaving the underside stripes as identification. You can often see the dark shade of fresh paint on B&W pics, compared to the lighter faded older paint Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Just found on Wiki ( haven't seen any other evidence of this, but I'm going to keep my eye open from now on ) - 'An earlier use of black and white bands was on the Hawker Typhoon and early production Hawker Tempest Vs. The aircraft had a similar profile to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the bands were added to aid identification in combat. Promulgated 5 December 1942. At first they were applied by unit ground crews, but they were soon being painted on at the factory. Four 12 inch wide black stripes separated by three 24 inch white, underwing from the wingroots. Officially abandoned 7 February 1944.' So not the same as the invasion stripes, but a similar idea. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 If I ever had the money to operate a warbird, it would be painted to look scruffy, chipped, worn and generally abused. Steve sounds like my jeep :-D :-D Ashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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