Military aircraft national insignia.

[Manic Moran]

Just going through the photos from IPMS, and I'm wondering what was the origin behind a lot of the national insignia on combat aircraft.

 

Some of them make perfect sense, such as the roundels which are basically the national flags turned into a circle, or the Rising Sun or the Red Star.

 

But some are completely beyond me. Why the Maltese Cross for the Germans? (And why in WWII was it turned into a simple '+'?)

 

What on Earth was the symbol on the Italian WWII aircraft? (The three boathook things)

 

How about the Phillipines insignia?

 

What's the black diagonal cross on the white background on Spanish aircraft?

 

You get the idea. Any other weird ones anyone wishes to mention?

 

NTM

[Nicmk5]

Well I think the Italian one is the fasces (sp?). A bundle of sticks around an axe. The symbol of the fascist party. The idea behind it is strength in unity IIRC.

[T19]

We took the roundel we used for WW1 and WW2 and replaced the red inner dot with a red Maple leaf.

[Slater]

I thnk the original German cross insignia was that of the Hohenzollern family of Germany.

[p620346]

I believe that the ORIGINAL British WW I aircraft insignia was a Union Jack. However, it was easily mistaken for an Iron Cross and there were a number of "friendly fire" incidents. As a result the British adopted a version of the French roundel (same colors - different order) and the US, Belguim & Russia all adopted different color roundels.

 

During WW II, the USAAF/USN dropped the red circle from the center of the stars on their insignia dor fear that it might be mistaken for a Japanese "Meatball". For the same reason, RAF/RAAF/RNZAF aircraft operating in the Pacific adopted a roundel without a red center.

[Jim Martin]

The Italian Fascists also co-opted a lot of symbolism from ancient Rome. The fasces were a symbol of Senatorial authority, and were carried before a member of the Senate as a badge of office. The bundled rods with axe symbolized the force of the state, both to execute and to punish.

 

 

Well I think the Italian one is the fasces (sp?). A bundle of sticks around an axe. The symbol of the fascist party. The idea behind it is strength in unity IIRC.

205192[/snapback]

[yak_v]

What's the black diagonal cross on the white background on Spanish aircraft?

 

The cross on the spanish aircraft is the St. Andrews cross similar to the one on the Russian naval flag.

 

Another weird one is the Georgian red seven pointed star.

 

Vladimir

[RETAC21]

The cross on the spanish aircraft is the St. Andrews cross similar to the one on the Russian naval flag.

 

Another weird one is the Georgian red seven pointed star.

 

Vladimir

205333[/snapback]

 

The cross of St. Andrew was adopted by the Nationalists in 1936 during the civil war to distinguish their aircraft from the Republicans after some friendly fire incidents. The republicans kept the pre-war markings but added a red band around the fuselage and wings

 

Edited August 10, 2005 by RETAC21

[yak_v]

The cross of St. Andrew was adopted by the Nationalists in 1936 during the civil war to distinguish their aircraft from the Republicans after some friendly fire incidents. The republicans kept the pre-war markings but added a red band around the fuselage and wings

 

Was there some standard as far as the fuselage insignia goes? I've seen somple black circle, a hand hoding thunderbolts, swastika and so on:

 

 

Was it basically the choice of the pilot?

 

Vladimir

[Kellerkind]

Manic, it is no Maltese Cross but the Iron Cross on German airplanes. It had been the emblem of the Deutschritter order in the baltic through the dark ages but I have no idea why it was chosen as an aircraft marking in WW1. Later it was changed to the "Balkenkreuz" (+) to ease the painting of aircrafts. Nowadays we have the Iron Cross again as a symbol for the whole Bundeswehr. It was chosen because of its meaning as a symbol of merit in the wars against Napoleon and the reforms towards a more civilian Prussia back then. The "+" is used today in correspondece because there is no Iron Cross on the keyboard and it is easier to write.

[RETAC21]

Was there some standard as far as the fuselage insignia goes?  I've seen somple black circle, a hand hoding thunderbolts, swastika and so on:

 

Was it basically the choice of the pilot?

 

Vladimir

205337[/snapback]

 

It was supposed to be a black circle only, anything else was at the pilot's discretion. Post war, the national cockade was adopted.

[Corinthian]

How about the Phillipines insignia?

205130[/snapback]

 

Unfortunately, it seems the PAF website is down... But suffice to say, a ye olde relative of mine had a hand or two in designing the current insignia.

[ShotMagnet]

Any other weird ones...?

 

There's the yellow-bordered blue circle containing three yellow crowns on Swedish aircraft. Bringing my incredible powers of intuition to bear I'd guess that it has something to do with Swedish monarchy.

 

 

The Poles did (and maybe still do) fly a four-square red-and-white checkerboard which itself is/was bordered within another, larger square. This border alternated between red where the square it touched is white, and white where the touching square is red. Absolutely no idea what that one means.

 

 

Shot

Edited August 10, 2005 by ShotMagnet

[Jim Martin]

http://cocardes.monde.online.fr/v2html/en/alphabet.html

[BJE]

There's the yellow-bordered blue circle containing three yellow crowns on Swedish aircraft. Bringing my incredible powers of intuition to bear I'd guess that it has something to do with Swedish monarchy.

205398[/snapback]

The three crowns is a symbol for Sweden that dates from medieval times. It has nothing particular to do with us being a monarchy.

[Stephan]

But some are completely beyond me. Why the Maltese Cross for the Germans? (And why in WWII was it turned into a simple '+'?)

205130[/snapback]

 

The Iron Cross goes back to the Teutonic Order of the 14th century, which wore the "Malteser-" or "Johanniter-" cross during the crusades. There have been earlier uses of the then used form of the cross by the Malteser and Johanniter congregations, however only from the late 14th century on, the church allowed the use of the cross on the clothing of the knights.

The cross is used primarily as the symbol of Christ, with the eight outward pointing tips standing for the eight virtues (another interpretation says they stand for the eight blessings of the sermon of the mount), while the four inward pointing tips stand for the four cardinal virtues (prudence, justness, courage, temperance).

 

"So sollen die Ritter vom Hospital, indem sie mit frommem Eifer sowohl die eine als auch die andere dieser Pflichten erfüllen, auf ihrem Gewande das Kreuz mit acht Spitzen tragen, damit sie eingedenk sind im Herzen, das Kreuz Christi zu tragen, geschmückt mit acht Tugenden, die sie begleiten.“

 

Some form of this cross has been used by the german military and other organisations (the Hanse comes to mind) ever since. The Iron Cross received its current form in 1813, when King Friedrich Wilhelm III. issued the Iron Cross as a military medal for exceptional duty during wartime without consideration of class and rank. Besides the use as a medal, since the late 19th century it was common to use the Iron Cross as a national emblem on military equipment.

The Bundeswehr sees itself as keeping the tradition of the german military reformers of the 19th century and symbolises this with the use of the Iron Cross on large military equipment, not just airplanes.

[yellowjacket]

 

Current Irish Air Corps, the previous version, used till the 50s, was pretty much an orange/green yin-yang symbol, on a white background. The current version is called a "celtic boss" apparently, but I'd live to know how they came up with the original.

[KingSargent]

For the US, the first Navy a/c insignia was an anchor. The US Army's first markings were red stars. When we went to France in 1917, we adopted a roundel so we would be familiar to Franco-British a/c. The roundel was red on the outside, blue in the middle ring, and white in the center - which was the roundel of the Imperial Russian Air Service.

 

So we "borrowed" the Russian insignia, and the Soviets took our red star.

 

Dutch insignia was an Orange triangle, for the House of Orange.

 

Belgium used roundels, IIRC in yellow, green, and black.

[Matt Urbanski]

The Poles did (and maybe still do) fly a four-square red-and-white checkerboard which itself is/was bordered within another, larger square. This border alternated between red where the square it touched is white, and white where the touching square is red. Absolutely no idea what that one means.

Shot

205398[/snapback]

 

It has no particular meaning aside from being in the Polish national colors - it was picked (one Polish pilot was using it in 1919 - without the border, at that point - as his personal symbol, someone in charge saw it and liked it) because it's distinctive and easy to paint.

 

[TonyE]

The Norwegian naval and army airarms adopted the national flagstripes as insignia in 1915, it was used until 1941 atleast:

 

A roundel applied over the british ones was adopted in 1945, most likely to simplify the remarking process and because anything that seemed british was considered ultra kewl. After some standarization and altering (the outer white circle was dropped) it has remained the same until today:

 

An odd variant was seen on this Norseman just after the war , it had arrived in Norway in US markings :

Edited August 10, 2005 by Tony Engelsen

[Garth]

http://cocardes.monde.online.fr/v2html/en/alphabet.html

205399[/snapback]

 

Holy sh*t, Jim ... I've been looking for a site like that for-ever. Apparently I made the mistake of Googling different variations of "National Insignia", instead of using roundel.

 

This is going to be a big help to me in my hobby (I've posted the link over on the modeller's forum). Thanks!

 

--Garth

[Manic Moran]

Well I think the Italian one is the fasces (sp?). A bundle of sticks around an axe. The symbol of the fascist party. The idea behind it is strength in unity IIRC.

205192[/snapback]

 

Hmm.. if this is a bundle of sticks around an axe, I don't see it.

 

 

NTM

[Grant Whitley]

The cross of St. Andrew was adopted by the Nationalists in 1936 during the civil war to distinguish their aircraft from the Republicans after some friendly fire incidents. The republicans kept the pre-war markings but added a red band around the fuselage and wings

 

Interesting that they had it in black, considering that the medieval era Spanish flag was sort of a modified St. Andrews cross.

[RETAC21]

Interesting that they had it in black, considering that the medieval era Spanish flag was sort of a modified St. Andrews cross.

205476[/snapback]

 

???

 

Medieval+Spain don't go into the same phrase

 

What flag is that?, I reckon my ignorance...

[Hans Strelow]

Hmm.. if this is a bundle of sticks around an axe, I don't see it.

 

 

NTM

205472[/snapback]

 

Could you not post a picture of a 108A instead - I like BIG guns

 

Cheers

 

Hans