Early WWll US navy aircraft

Aircraft
1

Did early WWll US carrier aircraft (ie; Lexington at Coral Sea) have the red dot in the center of the star insignia?
:smiley: :canada:

2

It appears so.

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/naval-aviation-history/aircraft-markings.html

https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/02a.htm

3

Yes. These are aircraft in the debris field near the USS Lexington wreck at the bottom of the Coral Sea. Very well preserved.

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4

They were removed between Coral Sea and Midway. :wave:

5

Thanks. I got Flyhawk’s 1/700 USN carrier aircraft and the decals have blue circle/ white star, without red dot. I got them for Lexington (pre Coral Sea) so I will have to add a tiny red dot to the stars! :woozy_face: I guess Flyhawk was thinking Midway, although they could have included both varieties of stars.
:smiley: :canada:

6

Well, TBDs only flew in combat with the white stars at Midway. Before that, on all the carrier raids of early 1942 and at Coral Sea it was red center with tail stripes. But SBDs, F4Fs, and TBFs flew with the white stars at Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, and of course the Guadalcanal campaign. So lots of action.