Aircraft Recognition Slides [Kahn]

Download Image

There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

1 Images

To view items in this collection, use the Online Finding Aid

Recognition slides were one of the methods used in the 1940s and 1950s to train service personnel in the identification of aircraft types, as well as ship types. This collection consists of 102 glass-mounted black and white 35 mm recognition training slides with related documents issued by the Office of Naval Research Special Devices Center in Port Washington, New York.

In a combat situation, the ability to identify an aircraft quickly and accurately as friend or foe is of paramount importance. In World War I, national insignia were used for the first time to identify military aircraft used by the combatants. These insignia could be hard to spot when an aircraft in flight was seen silhouetted against a bright sky, so visual aircraft recognition training materials began to emphasize the shape of an aircraft as seen from different angles. The WEFT system, based on study of the shapes and locations of an aircraft's Wings, Engines, Fuselage, and Tail, was developed by the British just prior to and during World War II and made extensive use of three-view (bottom, front, side) silhouettes of aircraft. The WEFT system of recognition training was adopted by the US Navy and the US Army Air Corps in 1941. In 1942, a different approach to training was developed by Samuel Renshaw of Ohio State University; Renshaw's concept presented students with a brief "flash" view of an aircraft on a screen, forcing them to concentrate on the overall shape of the aircraft (whole image) rather than studying individual components (image analysis). Still picture film slides could be used both for initial identification training based on the WEFT system as well as for Renshaw-style "flash" viewing to improve recognition speed. Film slides created specifically for recognition training were typically produced with a printed cardboard frame identifying the subject of the slide sandwiched between thin glass sheets designed to both protect the film image from repeated handling and from the intense heat produced by the incandescent light sources used in slide projectors. The Office of Naval Research Special Devices Center in Port Washington, New York, produced several slide-based recognition training devices for the US military during the Cold War period following World War II.

Identifier

NASM.2023.0022

Creator

United States. Office of Naval Research

Date

1947-1951

Provenance

Mark Kahn, gift, 2023, NASM.2023.0022

Extent

0.2 Cubic feet (1 slim letter document box)

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 102 glass-mounted black and white 35 mm recognition training slides with related documents. The material was issued by the Office of Naval Research Special Devices Center in Port Washington, New York, as "Device 5-QQ-2a, November 1951 Slide Supplement, to Devices 5-QQ-1, and 5-QQ-2 Recognition Slide Kits." Included with the unused replacement slide set is a booklet of perforated gummed stickers and a form in the shape of a mailing card. The user was expected to remove each sticker from the booklet, wet the back of the sticker to activate the gummed adhesive, then place the sticker over the outdated image in the basic recognition training set's printed material. Instructions on the sticker booklet note that 'Slides having the prefix "x" are replacements for obsolete slides in the basic kits. Obsolete slides should be removed and destroyed.' Pages of gummed paper stickers in the booklet are separated by glassine pages; the gummed side of the stickers have adhered to the glassine. The last page of stickers is detached from the booklet and has become adhered to one side of the "Special Devices Maintenance Report" form; the two stickers originally at the right side of the page appear to have been torn off and were not received as part of the donation. While the contents are officially listed as "100 Recognition Slides" the collection was received with 102 slides; several slides are duplicates.

Arrangement note

Materials are grouped by format. Slides are arranged in numerical order.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Citation

Aircraft Recognition Slides [Kahn], Acc. NASM.2023.0022, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Aeronautics
Aeronautics, Military
Airplanes
Cold War -- 1950-1970

Type

Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (35mm transparencies)

Visit

One museum, two locations

What's On

At the museum and online

Explore

Dive deep into air and space

Learn

For teachers and parents

Give

Be the spark