Aircraft Recognition Card
This file appears in: Eyes to the Sky
Cards like this were used by volunteers to learn what enemy planes looked like. Additionally, the military provided playing cards with plane silhouettes. This idea would be revisited years later when the US military provided soldiers with "most wanted" playing cards in the wake of the 2003 Iraq invasion.
This file appears in: Eyes to the Sky
Eyes to the Sky – Plane-Spotters in the San Juan Islands During WWII
The boldness of the Japanese surprise attack in 1941 shocked Americans, and some wondered if the West Coast itself was vulnerable. In the days before radar, only human observation could detect an incoming aerial assault. The US government mobilized…