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National insignia on original aircraft that ferried to England

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paddyoB26
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National insignia on original aircraft that ferried to England

I have the aircraft history card for B-24H-1-FO, 42-7488. It was an original aircraft of the 578BS that went to England when the 392BG transferred to the 8AF. This aircraft was picked up at Topeka, KS. on August 6, 1943 and arrived at Wendling, England on August 22, 1943.  I know that during that time frame the official national insignia was a white five pointed star inside a blue circle with white recognition bars and a red surround along the edges of the entire insignia. Can anyone say for sure which form of national insignia was painted on these original aircraft?
This aircraft was shot down on October 8, 1943 during the Vegasack mission shortly after rallying away from the target. Capt. John Buschmann's crew, MACR 880, 2 KIA, 8 POW.
 
Thank you,
Patrick
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    buckeyeuk
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    Hi Pat         couldn't find any photos of their B-24Hs on arrival, but certainly some aircraft deliveries to the Eighth in August still had the old barless insignia ( like P-47s docked in Scotland in August , then had the insignia up-dated at Depots here). There are several photos of 392BG B-24Hs with red outlines on their early missions, ie. Sept. onwards so there was some overlapping.
    A photo in Steve Birdsall's "Log of the Liberators" shows 392nd B-24Hs with post-14 Aug. blue outlines but the wingtip seen above (presumably another H ) has the old star-in-disc. And B-24s on the August Ploesti mission had a mixture of markings, but they would have been done "in-the-field".
    Where possible any revisions to national insigniae would have been done at the factory before delivery, the style and size depending on manufacturer.
    The red outlines were specified from June 29 so it really depends when these Hs were completed. If 488 was a new aircraft on August 6 I think you can reasonably assume the markings were up-to-date with red borders.
    The spec. referring to red borders ( Army-Navy AN-1-9a) was dated 29 June 1943; the revised blue outlines ( AN-1-9b Aug. 14 for aircraft IN PRODUCTION and 14 Sept. for those IN OPERATIONAL UNITS ) followed.
    Nick
     
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