Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a fantastic hand painted WWII Eight Air Force insignia AN Mark 4 Aircraft Night Signal Float Light. It was hand painted as a memento of this airman's time in the service during World War Two. The float light is painted with the 8th Air Force insignia and reads ENGLAND 43 - 44 - 45.

The float light was a smoke-producing flare designed to be dropped by an aircraft over open water for drift sighting during the day or night. This type would have been used from the late 1930s through World War II.

lights were were constructed of adhesive, aluminum, brass, and wood, around the smoke charge. Dimensions: 13” × 3” x 3”

Offered in very good/excellent condition these are exceptionally rare with an example currently on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum as seen at this link.

Ready to display!

AN-Mk 4 Specifications
Length: 13 inches
Diameter: 3 inches
Weight: 2 pounds

Burning time: 3 to 3.5 minutes
Time from impact to ignition: 8 to 12 seconds
Release altitude: Under 500 feet
Visibility: Night - 6 to 7 miles

Eight Air Force in WWII
Established on 22 February 1944 by the redesignation of VIII Bomber Command at RAF Daws Hill in High Wycombe, England, the Eighth Army Air Force (8 AAF) was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the European Theater of World War II (1939/41–1945), engaging in operations primarily in the Northern Europe area of responsibility; carrying out strategic bombing of enemy targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany;[4] and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft until the German capitulation in May 1945. It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment.

On 4 January 1944, the B-24s and B-17s based in England flew their last mission as a subordinate part of VIII Bomber Command. On 22 February 1944, a massive reorganization of American airpower took place in Europe. VIII Bomber Command and Ninth Air Force were brought under control of a centralized headquarters for command and control of the United States Army Air Forces in Europe, the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF).

VIII Bomber Command was redesignated as Eighth Air Force, with VIII Fighter and VIII Air Support Commands being brought under the command of the redesignated Eighth Air Force. This is from where the present-day Eighth Air Force's history, lineage and honors derive.

General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the Fifteenth Air Force to Major General Nathan F. Twining and took over command of the Eighth Air Force from Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker at RAF Daws Hill. Doolittle was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo Raider" and former air racer. His directive was simple: 'Win the air war and isolate the battlefield'.

Spaatz and Doolittle's plan was to use the US Strategic Air Forces in a series of co-ordinated raids, code-named Operation 'Argument' and supported by RAF night bombing, on the German aircraft industry at the earliest possible date.