[HN Gopher] The Polka Dot Assembly Ships of the Eighth
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       The Polka Dot Assembly Ships of the Eighth
        
       Author : goles
       Score  : 41 points
       Date   : 2024-03-12 11:29 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.vintagewings.ca)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.vintagewings.ca)
        
       | hnbad wrote:
       | TL;DR:
       | 
       | > In 1943, someone came up with the idea of selecting a war weary
       | bomber from each group and providing it with the means of clear
       | identification--additional navigation lights, pyrotechnics, and a
       | wild unmistakable group-specific paint scheme. Signal lighting
       | systems vary from group to group, but generally consist of white
       | flashing navigation lamps on both sides of the fuselage in the
       | form of the identification letter of the group. All armament and
       | armour has been removed. These ships will not go all the way to
       | the target, so they carry minimal fuel and a skeleton crew of two
       | pilots, navigator, radio operator and one or two flare discharge
       | men. A few groups require an observer to fly in the tail position
       | to monitor the formation. They are the first from each group to
       | take off and they orbit the assembly point, flashing their lights
       | and firing off coded flares until all their charges can find them
       | and form up on them.
       | 
       | So the assembly ships are called that because they serve as an
       | assembly point for the fleet and their garish colors are for
       | better visibility as they're not meant to be involved in direct
       | confrontations with the enemy and merely lead the way.
        
       | flohofwoe wrote:
       | Some of the skins look like dazzle camouflage on WW1 battleships,
       | or the false canopies painted on some modern fighter jets. I
       | wonder if that was at least part of the idea (e.g. confusing
       | German fighter pilots) besides giving the bombers a unique look.
       | 
       | (PS: apparently not, instead to quickly identify the special
       | 'assembly ship')
        
       | 082349872349872 wrote:
       | I wonder if the polish aristocracy liked colourful horses (as
       | opposed to later british units, which prized uniformity) for the
       | same reason -- to make it easy to form (and especially reform)
       | their squadrons?
       | 
       | eg
       | https://d-art.ppstatic.pl/kadry/k/r/1/c2/ce/63ee71cd24172_o_... ,
       | as opposed to
       | https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Sc...
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-14 23:01 UTC)