Invasion Stripes
Many may be familiar with the wide black and white stripes that appeared on Allied aircraft during the summer of 1944 - but when were the stripes were first used and for what reason?
Early Trial
Early in 1942 the RAF had introduced its new fighter, the Hawker Typhoon. It was faster and carried more armament than previous aircraft, but there was a problem. From the ground it looked very much like the Focke-Wulf FW190, so they were at risk of anti-air fire from friendly gunners. To solve this problem, the Typhoons had black and white stripes added to the underside of the wings to aid in identifying friendly or enemy aircraft. This idea was eventually abandoned in early 1944 – only to reappear again months later for D-Day.
The Big Show
The invasion of D-Day, codenamed 'Operation Overlord', would again see the concept of striping in a memorandum issued by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force on the 18 April 1944. It stated that Allied aircraft taking part in the invasion would have five stripes on both wings as well as on the rear fuselage without covering national markings.
The size of the invasion stripes varied according to aircraft size. Single engine aircraft would have stripes 18-inches wide while twin-engine aircraft would have 24-inch wide stripes. Night fighters, four engine bombers and sea planes wouldn't need to have the stripes added. Though tactical reconnaissance aircraft which were operating at low level were excused from painting the stripes on the top of the wing. The idea was simple and allowed gunners to make quick decisions on whether the aircraft flying over was friend or foe.
On 17th May 1944, the Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory gave the go-ahead on the notion of striping aircraft for the invasion. However, the order to paint the stripes would not be given just yet. This was so the Axis powers would be unaware of the action and attempt to paint them on their own aircraft. To test whether the stripes added to the aircraft would work and to allow gunners on the ships to proper identify friendly aircraft, on the 01 June 1944, a few painted aircraft flew over the fleet involved in the invasion of France.
With 'Operation Overlord' due to launch on the 05 June, but delayed in the end until the 6th; security around the idea was tight. It wouldn't be until the 03 June that the order to paint troop carriers was given whereas other aircraft received their orders the following day.
Aftermath
The stripes were deemed a success in days following Operation Overlord. However, it became apparent that having the black and white bands on the top of the wings made the aircraft extremely visible from the air when they were on the ground. This made them an easy target for Axis pilots, so the top wing stripes were soon painted over in the normal camouflage that the RAF planes carried - while the USAAF planes also got their normal wing-tops back.
