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A-24 Banshees - Louisiana manoeuvres temporary markings


Blimpyboy

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Hiya all,

 

Small numbers of A-24 Banshees participated in the US GHQ Manoeuvres in Louisiana in 1941.

I want to make an Accurate Miniatures A-24, representing one of these aircraft; however, I have only found one picture of aircraft from this activity:

 

245783893_10223239691634831_417875999556

 

 

Does anybody out there have any more information on A-24 markings, relating to the use of these aircraft in the Louisiana manoeuvres?

If so, my chief questions are:

1. Did these aircraft have white (or red) crosses on the wings? If so, where on the wings?

2. Did these aircraft have 'US Army' titling across the underside of the wings?

3. What tail markings did these aircraft have (size and colour of serials and unit designators, etc.)?

4. Does anybody have any other photos of these aircraft? If so, can you please share?

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help,

BB

 

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I can answer no. 2 for you.  At the time period of the Louisiana Manuevers, they most definitely would have had the U.S. Army under the wings.  That did not go away until sometime after the U.S. got into the war.

Later,

Dave

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Regarding your question no. 1 -

 

The colour of the crosses denoted the combatant to which the aircraft/unit belonged - white or red forces (sometimes green depending of the manoeuver year). When the fuselage crosses were white as in your picture the wing crosses were obviously white, too. Pictures of other participating aircraft types show them in 4 wing positions inboard of the national insignia, usually a tad larger than the insignia. On the wing underside they were painted over the 'U.S. Army' inscription.

 

There are several photos of aircraft with manoeuver crosses on the net - search for 'Louisiana manoeuvers' and the like.

 

The right person on this forum to ask would be @Dana Bell

 

Michael

 

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Yep- as I recall, Dana covered the wargames maneuver aircraft markings with photos and text in his three-part series on Air Force Colors. See if you can find volume 1, which covers 1926-1942.

Mike

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spacer.pngOne additional note - for  some aircraft assigned to the 'red' forces, the wing undersurfaces were painted with temporary white water-based paint.  I suspect this was to insure the red crosses on the undersurface stood out.  The pattern of application varied.  On P-38's, the undersurface of the fuselage nacelle in line with the wings was also painted white )but oddly, not the engine nacelle).  On the P-43 unit in the photo above, the whole undersurface was white, leaving bits of the Neutral Gray/OD dividing line visible at the margins.  For the P-38's, the red cross on both wings was the only marking visible (until the white paint got wet): no insignia, no U.S. ARMY.  No idea about the P-43's undersurface. Obviously, the white-wash was not applicable to the 'white' force, and Navy F4F's were already Light Gray which provided sufficient contrast.

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