here are some beautiful photos of a few… in color for reference from once upon a time… Thank you Life
Outstanding reference. Thanks.
Awesome pics. I forget, what are the ducks for?
Nice SP! Possibly my favorite twin-engine bomber of the war- such beautiful lines.
I believe the ducks represent decoy or diversionary sorties … They flew these to divert attention from the true maximum effort(s) of the day.
Thanks for the info on the duck decoys, I had been wondering about that for a long time.
Lee
Ah.
Thanks for the info on the ducks.
No, the duck markings were used to denote aircraft destroyed on the ground, aka “sitting ducks”. That’s why you see them most often on the low level medium bombers that attacked airfields.
Here is another photo from the same batch and the original caption
Lt. Clayton F. (“Lucky”) Allen, a bombagator on a B-26 Marauder (bomber) at base, with his missions painted on his flying jacket–bombs for missions, ducks for diversions, during WWII.
The ducks were for diversion missions. As the Germans had a large radar net along the French and Low Country coastlines, the duck formations were used as feints to try to draw the majority of the German fighters away from the formations of heavies.
Great reference pictures as usual, Stick! Thanks for posting!!
Thank you sir. I love to share the good stuff that I find.