Size: 19 x 25 inches

This original ‘RESTRICTED’ aircraft identification poster was published by the U.S. Naval Aviation Training Division April 1943. This poster was posted as a training tool as well as an in theater ID poster to help U.S. and other Allied pilots, bomber crews and Naval personal to identify Allied and enemy aircraft. W.E.F.T.U.P. or Wing, Engine, Fuselage, Tail, Undercarriage, Peculiarities was a system set up for the purpose of aircraft identification and recognition.

World War II saw some of the first introduction of these aircraft ID poster to prevent friendly fire and more accurate plane recognition in combat. It was believed these posters alone could save countless lives from friendly aircraft-on-aircraft or friendly anit-aircraft fire. These posters also could cut down precious second pilots, bomber gunners, and naval gun crews would have to ID a plane flying towards them intern saving their lives by shooting first.

Each poster provides the silhouettes, dimensions, and relevant information to educate both air and ground personnel in aircraft identification. Immediate identification of aircraft, friendly or not, was essential in order for the observer (whether in the air e.g., pilot, gunner, or patrol observer, or on the ground, e.g., anti-aircraft crew) to determine his next course of action (e.g., acknowledge, attack, evade, or report). Each poster details a large clean sky and background image of the specified aircraft located as the main top imagine on the poster. It also contains important ‘peculiarities’ such as where certain gun emplacements are located, other special aircraft features, as well as wing and length measurements.

The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was one of three British twin-engined, front line bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World War. Alongside the Vickers Wellington and the Handley Page Hampden, the Whitley was developed during the mid-1930s according to Air Ministry Specification B.3/34, which it was subsequently selected to meet. In 1937, the Whitley formally entered into RAF squadron service; it was the first of the three medium bombers to be introduced.Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Whitley participated in the first RAF bombing raid upon German territory and remained an integral part of the early British bomber offensive. In 1942 it was superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined "heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster.[2] Its front line service included maritime reconnaissance with Coastal Command and the second line roles of glider-tug, trainer and transport aircraft. The type was also procured by British Overseas Airways Corporation as a civilian freighter aircraft. The aircraft was named after Whitley, a suburb of Coventry, home of one of Armstrong Whitworth's plants.On 9 March 1937, the Whitley Mk I began entering squadron service with No. 10 Squadron of the RAF, replacing their Handley Page Heyford biplanes.[18][19] In January 1938, the Whitley Mk II first entered squadron service with No. 58 Squadron and in August 1938, the Whitley Mk III first entered service with No. 51 Squadron.[19] In May 1939, the Whitley Mk IV first entered service with No. 10 Squadron and in August 1939, the Whitley Mk IVA first entered service with No. 78 Squadron.[19] By the outbreak of the Second World War, a total of seven squadrons were operational, the majority of these flying Whitley III or IV aircraft, while the Whitley V had only just been introduced to service; a total of 196 Whitleys were on charge with the RAF.[18][19][20]At the start of the war, No. 4 Group, equipped with the Whitley, was the only trained night bomber force in the world.[19] Alongside the Handley Page Hampden and the Vickers Wellington, the Whitley bore the brunt of the early fighting and saw action during the first night of the war, when they dropped propaganda leaflets over Germany.[21] The propaganda flight made the Whitley the first aircraft of RAF Bomber Command to penetrate into Germany.[19] Further propaganda flights would travel as far as Berlin, Prague, and Warsaw.[22] On the night of 19/20 March 1940, in conjunction with multiple Hampdens, the Whitley conducted the first bombing raid on German soil, attacking the Hörnum seaplane base on the Island of Sylt.[2][23] Following the Hörnum raid, Whitleys routinely patrolled the Frisian Islands, targeting shipping and seaplane activity.