The planes the Japs bombed on Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor wore an identifying emblem that had marked U.S. warplanes since World War I, and was as familiar to air-minded Americans as the national flag: a white star superimposed on a circular blue background and carrying a red disc in its center.
The early weeks of war proved that the traditional emblem had a bad drawback: from certain angles on the wing of a plane diving or turning in the sun, the red heart of the star could be confused with Japan's plane marking—a...
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