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December 27, 2013
A New Thing Learned About World War II
The phrase was also used in World War II by the 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator crew members. Each bomb group employed a nearly worn-out bomber known as a formation, lead, or assembly ship. These aircraft were brightly painted with group-specific high-contrast patterns in stripes, checkers, or polka dots, enabling easy recognition by their flock of bombers to form up from various airbases over England and fly strategic bombing missions over Europe. After guiding their own combat bombers into the appropriate formation groups the assembly ships would return home --thus their poor condition and lack of camouflage and of weapons mattered little.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 27, 2013 3:09 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.