Commemorative Airforce Museum. Santee, CA

[sksvlad]

This is the world's smallest airforce museum, they have only one (1) plane, it is a WWII trainer, and it flies. But they have something unique, a picture of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, so I'll place it first for you to see.
Question:
The museum guide said that the real WWII trainer was equipped with machine guns and that they dipped ammo into red paint before firing at targets during flight to see how many red dots would be on the target. Many red dots=good shooting, few=bad shooting. Can anyone confirm this type of home made post manufacturing paint dipping?

 

[Taber10]

Vlad,
Yes, the "after manufacture" dipping of bullet tips was a standard practice. and there has been documentation provided some time back either here or on the IAA website, showing coils of belted/linked rounds being dipped point first into shallow trays of the coloring media. However, the explanation given to you for the reason is different from how I understand the requirement for dipping: When multiple aircraft e.g. a "four-ship" of F-86s, were scheduled to fly against a towed canvas "dart" each aircraft had its bullet tips colored differently, e.g. blue, red, black, etc. to indicate which pilot had scored the hits when the tow aircraft and the dart were recovered after the mission. I believe that an "ink" was used that did not dry very fast, and I know that the maintenance procedures required unexpended rounds to be cleaned before return to storage. Hope this helps,
Taber