Invasion stripes

Invasion stripes were alternating black and white bands painted on the fuselages and wings of Allied aircraft during World War II to reduce the chance that they would be attacked by friendly forces during and after the Normandy Landings.

After a study concluded that the thousands of aircraft involved in the invasion (scheduled for June 6, 1944) would saturate and break down the IFF system, the marking scheme was approved on May 17, 1944, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commanding the Allied Expeditionary Air Force.

One month after D-Day, the stripes were ordered removed from planes' upper surfaces to make them more difficult to spot on the ground at forward bases in France.

Invasion stripes were painted on the aircraft of the 51st Troop Carrier Wing, already stationed there, to provide uniform markings during the operation.

[2] As a result, depending on the abilities of the "erks" (RAF nickname for ground crew), the stripes were often far from neat and tidy.

F-5 Lightning (P-38 Lightning reconnaissance version) participating in the Normandy campaign showing the D-Day invasion stripes
A Spitfire PR.Mk.XIX displayed at an air show in 2008 with the black and white invasion stripes
A British-captured He 177 German heavy bomber bearing Allied invasion stripes in 1945
Geoffrey Page , commander of 125 Wing, about to take off on a ground-attack sortie in his Supermarine Spitfire (1944). The roughly-applied nature of the invasion stripes painted on his aircraft can be seen
An early P-47D "razorback" Thunderbolt shows the "overlapping roundel" characteristic of their use on American aircraft's wings.