Japanese aircraft leading edges?

[n8452x]

Greetings,
Something I've noticed and which caught my eye, Japanese aircraft seem to always have yellow leading edges to about half span on the wings. Why is this? I've been wondering and can't come up with a decent answer, although I'm sure there is one.
Thanks,
Ryan

[gian paolo]

Originally Posted by n8452x

Greetings,
Something I've noticed and which caught my eye, Japanese aircraft seem to always have yellow leading edges to about half span on the wings. Why is this? I've been wondering and can't come up with a decent answer, although I'm sure there is one.
Thanks,
Ryan

Hi Ryan


As far as I know the yellow band was for identification purposes and part of the camouflage introduced during the war .

Cheers


gian paolo

[Ruy Horta]

To quote Aero Detail it is indeed a "tactical recognition marking" or "indentification band", depending on which one you check. BTW not limited to camouflaged aircraft.

[Pilot]

Leading edge could be yellow or red.

[Graham Boak]

but red is rare....

The reason is to improve identification in a head-on pass. The RAF in Western Europe had yellow leading edges on the outboard wing for the same reason. The FAA used yellow in the invasion of Madagascar and for Operation Pedestal. The Desert Air Force had red spinners on their fighters - a different approach but the same reason.

[Ruy Horta]

Any reference/sources to the red tac markings? As in leading edge, not the no step area marking.

I could image some form of yellow orange being misinterpreted as red, but again, new to me.

Just curious, since I don't recall ever coming across such an example in my reference work (but it certainly is not my expertise and I can't read most of my Japanese material...so easy to miss some detail like that).

[Skyraider3D]

From a similar discussion on the J-aircraft forum:

The official regulation was dated 12 September 1942 but the bands may have appeared before this and the bands first introduced in the homeland, possibly following the Doolittle raid, may have been red.

On 18 April 1942, the Japanese HQ discovered that the US insignia with the red dot confused Japanese AA gunners. They began to place large white squares and 'bandages' behind/around the Japanese national insignia for "Homeland Defense" aircraft. Some of these "Homeland Defense" white markings found their way to the South Pacific.

Head on tests revealed they needed some other quick identification of who was who...and both the Japanese Army and Navy tested RED leading edge stripes on aircraft.

On 11 Sept 1942 the official order came from Imperial Headquarters for the IJA-IJN to have YELLOW leading edge stripes. The order was sent out on 12 Sept 1942 according to the date stamp below. Japanese researcher "Summer" located this order recently, in the Japanese equivalent to the US NARA.

Applications of yellow stripes were noted in the 'field' in October 1942.

The yellow bands were 20cm wide and indeed spanned from the wingroot to exactly half the wingspan.

[Ruy Horta]

Interesting, which leads to hunting for those rare images of red marked a/c.

[Pilot]

Japanese Bf109 had red leading edge but I have note on images other also have but very very rare.

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,
Thanks for quoting my post:
"On 18 April 1942, the Japanese HQ discovered that the US insignia with the red dot confused Japanese AA gunners. They began to place large white squares and 'bandages' behind/around the Japanese national insignia for "Homeland Defense" aircraft. Some of these "Homeland Defense" white markings found their way to the South Pacific.

"Head on tests revealed they needed some other quick identification of who was who...and both the Japanese Army and Navy tested RED leading edge stripes on aircraft.

"On 11 Sept 1942 the official order came from Imperial Headquarters for the IJA-IJN to have YELLOW leading edge stripes. The order was sent out on 12 Sept 1942 according to the date stamp below. Japanese researcher "Summer" located this order recently, in the Japanese equivalent to the US NARA.

"Applications of yellow stripes were noted in the 'field' in October 1942."

The document was again posted at: http://www.airwarfareforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=7881

Of interest, the width varied...the REX was quite narrow, only two inches!