_THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM'S Martin B-26 Marauder Flak-Bait still wears its original wartime paint, complete with chips, repairs, and patches testifying to the hard life of a combat aircraft. And it bears something else: invasion stripes-the black and white alternating bands on its wings and fuselage- applied for the D-Day invasion on June 6,1944. It may be the only remaining aircraft in the world to boast such markings. The first time markings were used to identify aircraft was at a bombing competition in Vienna in 1910, but it didn't become common practice until World War I, in response to the critical need to distinguish between allies and enemies. A tension existed, however, between making national symbols large enough to facilitate identification, but not so large as to draw unwanted attention. As a result, ground gunners had difficulty seeing the marks and tended to fire at anything in the sky. Advances in aircraft speed and altitude only compounded this problem in World War II.
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