Description
This double-sheet set clearly shows the impressive breadth of markings applied to 9th Air Force B-24Ds in the 98th and 376th Bomb Groups (and some of the 8th AF Libs as well).
I know your modeler’s “eagle eye” has already picked up the slightly yellowed stars and bright white bars of the national insignia. Many clear color photos clearly show the white US star applied at the factory—or at the depots where the factory Dark Olive Drab 41 upper camouflage was replaced with Sand 49—very quickly acquired the slightly yellowish tinge you see on the decal sheets.
For whatever reason, this happened very quickly, so even new 9th AF B-24Ds (in Sand or Dark Olive Drab) had yellowed stars. Furthermore, and unexpectedly, the underwing stars acquired this yellowish tinge as well. All this is well documented in the many clear color photos.
By contrast, the white side bars were not added to the simple star/blue disk national insignia until a few days or a week prior to the TIDAL WAVE attack—although many TIDAL WAVE ships did not receive the side bars until after the mission. Because the white of the side bars was only a few days old, and possibly because the paint itself was “whiter and brighter” than the white paint used at the Consolidated factory in San Diego, there was a very clear visual difference between the stars and the bars.
Operational B-24Ds left the factory with two wing stars: above the left and below the right wings. Apparently in response to RAF regulations, 9th Air Force added two additional stars (also 45” diameter) to display the insignia above and below each wing. Therefore four wing insignia are provided.
Note the 8th Air Force B-24s retained the original two stars, and there’s no photographic evidence two additional wing stars were added after the three 8th bomb groups (44th, 93rd, and 389th) arrived in North Africa.
You’ve also noticed there are two sizes of Insignia Blue “U.S. ARMY” markings for the wing undersides. Only a few TIDAL WAVE B-24D-COs (i.e., prior to Block 1, written as B-24D-CO-1) had U.S. ARMY under their wings, and some of these ships will be included on later releases in this series of TIDAL WAVE PYN-up Decals.
Why two sizes? While the graphic structure of the “U.S. ARMY” was established by Army regulation, the size was not, and both 18” and 24” tall letters have been documented on early B-24s. This marking can be very difficult to see because most photos leave the wing bottoms in deep darkness. So, to be safe and to give you the maximum chance at complete accuracy, I’m giving you both sizes. The PYN-up Decals nose art instruction sheets will suggest what size we think you should use, but you’ll have the final say—as you should!
Finally, the set includes a plethora of sizes, shapes, and colors of RAF fin flashes. Per Royal Air Force Middle East regulations, all 9th Air Force B-24Ds had the flashes since they were based in a British-controlled area and flew all their missions prior to TIDAL WAVE in support of the British 8th Army. Many—but by no means all—8th Air Force Liberators that deployed to the desert also received RAF fin flashes.
RAF Identification Blue and USAAF Insignia Blue were very similar colors, but RAF Identification Red was very brownish compared to the much brighter red of the USAAF’s Insignia Red. A fundamental question is when American paint stocks arrived at 9th AF bases. Certainly early on, the 98th & 376th would have had to use British paint—even American bombs had not yet made it to the Middle East, and bombs were a tad more important than marking paint.
Were they using American red paint by the summer of 1943? Who knows? Even in good quality color photos, and even with this fairly obvious color difference, it can be quite difficult to determine whether the flashes were RAF or USAAF red—so of course I give you both options.
You’ll notice I also give you six different sizes and proportions of fin flashes. These cover most of the TIDAL WAVE ships, but a couple had fin flashes that were so outlandish I must give them to you separately on the PYN-up Decals nose art sheets that accompany that specific plane’s special markings.
Are you wondering what those bright white rectangular thingys are? Some TIDAL WAVE ships had the white bars added to the simple star/blue circle insignia, but without the red outline around the whole marking. These decals let you replicate that variation.
This set also includes the two styles of red fire extinguisher doors painted on all B-24s. I give you both a red “door” with white markings and also the white markings alone in case you want to paint the kit doors red yourself.
Finally, you’ve noted the different widths of the yellow rings around the star insignia.
Although wide yellow rings had been dictated for all American aircraft participating in Operation TORCH (the Allied landings in northwest Africa) in November 1942, 9th Air Force did not directly participate since it operated purely in support of the British 8th Army in the so-called Western Desert (well, it was west of Cairo!), and apparently few if any of their B-24Ds received the yellow rings at that time.
However, the RAF eventually stipulated 9th Air Force aircraft were to receive yellow rings around the simple star/blue disk national insignia, purportedly in May 1943, about three months before TIDAL WAVE. Either this directive did not specify a ring width, or stipulated a proportional width based on the insignia diameter, or whatever the Brits’ instructions were miscommunicated to the heavy bomb groups.
Whatever, several ring widths were seen on 98th and 376th BG Liberators. Most and probably all 9th AF B-24Ds received these yellow rings on all star insignia. After evaluating hundreds of photos of 8th Air Force B-24Ds that deployed to North Africa for TIDAL WAVE, I can say I’ve never seen a yellow ring on an 8th bomber deployed to TIDAL WAVE.
