Yellow-Wings Decals 1/72 US National Insignia Part 4 - Operation Torch Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Yellow-Wings Decals has pushed out of their niche of 1/72 scale pre-war US Navy/USMC subjects. They've expanded into 1/32 and 1/72 scales and with this release, has entered World War II.

Operation Torch would be the first major operation between the US and British forces. Numerous obstacles had to be overcome as the two leaders, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill sorted out the differences in war strategy. In the end, North Africa would be the first joint theater and their initial opponent was their mutual 'ally', the French.

One of the problems that the US forces experienced was recognition of friendly aircraft. The red dot at the center of the US roundel had been removed in the Pacific to eliminate confusion over the red of the Japanese Hinomaru. This practice was applied worldwide by May 1942. With only blue and white in our roundel, gunners were concerned that it would be hard to distinguish friend from foe. For Operation Torch, it was decided to add a yellow surround to the roundel which provided enough definition for the gunners. This surround would be removed again from US Navy aircraft after the invasion, but would remain on aircraft stationed in theater.

Yellow-Wings Decals has offered this three-sheet set of roundels in the Torch configuration in a variety of sizes: 24", 35", 40", 45", 50", 55", and 60". What is nice about these decals is all three colors are printed together, not separately as other decal manufacturers are starting to do. This results in a smooth, thin marking rather than the mound of decal film that results from applying decal layers atop one another.

Yellow-Wings Decals can be purchased directly from their website at www.yellow-wingsdecals.com.

My sincere thanks to Yellow-Wings Decals for this review sample!