OK, To help with learning more about aircraft markings a good place to start with is the very early days of World War 1 and the origins of different services markings so here is lesson 1
INTRODUCTION
The early aircraft of WW1 were covered with linen, flax or Egyptian cotton rendered air- and water-proof by covering with a thin acetyl cellulose film, that also tautened the covering, in an application process called doping. To protect this finish it was usually covered with a so-called clear varnish, which looked brown in bulk and gave a yellowish tinge to the fabric. No other colouring was considered necessary and the only marking was an identification number.
During 1912 delegates of flying clubs from 13 countries pressed for national identity letters on aircraft but only the French followed up on it.
The French, unlike other nations, had realised the need for national markings and in July 1912 the French Army decreed that its aircraft would bear on their wings an indication of French nationality using the colours of the Tricolour, the French national flag in the form of a roundel of 1 metre diameter based on the cockade of the French Revolution, with the red circle outermost. The markings were not worn on the fuselage. The rudder markings adopted were the three vertical stripes of the Tricolour with the blue stripe leading.
So the roundel form was introduced , later to be adopted by most countries in the world using their own combinations of national colours.
All French military and naval aircraft bore an indication of individual identity by a number or letter, but they went further and made it mandatory for their aircraft to bear letters designating the manufacturer as well as an individual serial. Also made obligatory was an indication of maximum load (Charge Maxima) to which the aircraft had been tested. Many nations were to follow suit by marking the maximum loaded weight on their aircraft. For all these functional markings, black was appropriate as contrasting with the light coloured finishes of the day.
Such were the main markings of the aircraft when the war started in August 1914.
Apart from the French, national markings were not used for some time after the outbreak of war.
Not until it became apparent that such markings were vitally necessary to prevent aircraft being shot down by their own side was any movement made in this direction.
One German Zeppelin, the Z.VIII, crashed in the forest of Badonviller in France on 23 August 1914, after having been damaged by French ground fire and then finished off by German ground fire. Over keen German troops mistakenly opened up on it as it drifted overhead, disabled.
The Germans were not the only ones to be fired on by their own infantry, During the retreat from Mauberge to Mons, the British Tommies, disgruntled by the continual retreating without having been beaten, vented their feelings by firing furiously at anything that flew over – British, French or German.
Such was the novelty of aircraft that untrained observers could not tell one from another.
The ground crews of the four squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps that reached France on 8 August 1914 quickly painted large Union Jacks on the bottom wings of all their aircraft in the hope of reducing the amount of British fire they were subject to. They also marked the national flag on the vertical surfaces as protection from their Allies on the ground. They were usually painted in the form of a shield: a directive went out in October altering this to a full-chord standard shaped emblem. The Union Jack framed by the outline of a shield was therefore abandoned. Forced landings were frequent and the absence of markings, plus the language barrier led those near to the landing to treat any stranded airman as potential enemy. So initially national markings were used to protect aircrew from their friends!
It was found that shape was more important than colour when it came to markings and, unfortunately, the Union Jack, except in the most favourable circumstances , was liable to resemble the German Cross. On October 26, 1914, two men named Hosking and Crean, of No 4 Sqdn RFC were shot down in flames by British troops who apparently mistook the Cross of St George in the Union Jack for the black Maltese style cross adopted by the Germans. With the ageement of the French allies the RFC adopted the French roundel, on 11 December 1914, but with the colours reversed.
Some form of roundel was the basis of the insignias of all the Allied air services. The French with their blue, white and red (reading from the centre), the British with red, white and blue, when the Americans finally arrived they used white, blue and red, the Belgians used black, yellow and red and when Italy entered the war in 1915, they also adopted the Allied practice of roundels and rudder striping, The peculiar aspect of the Italian system, however, was that the red and green circles were interchangeable in position, apparently at the whim of the unit. As no other country was using these colours, there was no risk of confusion.
The RNAS (Royal Navy Air Service) made it’s own ruling and, reasoning that the opposite of a black cross was a red nought, adopted a red circle as its national marking ..To have some form of unity amongst in the British forces, the red white and blue roundel was adopted as the standard British marking from 1 November 1915. When the roundels were adopted, so was the rudder striping but whereas the roundel colours were reversed this was not done with the rudder stripes.
When the British adopted the roundels the regulations were that they were to be placed at the center of the fuselage. The crews objected to the fact that they sat beside a marking that resembled a target (with the bulls-eye at their vitals) and this order was superseded by instructions to mark the roundels aft of the cockpit.
The Imperial Russian air forces used a variety of different markings during the course of the war. The wings and fuselage were marked with a square and a triangle respectively, each divided into white red and blue portions. There was an alternative to this, however, in the form of an optional roundel, with more rings than was usual on Allied aircraft (a white outer ring then red, white, blue and white again in the centre). The Imperial Russian Navy also used a rudder marking in the form of the naval ensign – a blue St Andrews Cross on a white background. The use of these markings was somewhat haphazard, with some large aircraft, for example, having two roundels on the fin, one above the other. The Russians were also unusual in painting a roundel on each side of the tailplane on some types of aircraft.
Rumania’s air force was equipped solely with French aircraft and as her national colours were red, yellow and blue, the white in the French roundel was replaced by yellow in the Rumanian roundel.
Serbia and Greek air forces both used the French insignia.
Japan’s war effort in the air was restricted to gunnery spotting at the siege of Tsingtao in 1914. The markings used were just the simple red disc of the hinomaru.
The story of the markings used by the United States goes like this.
The need for national markings first became apparent during the Mexican-American “war’ of 1915. As a result, a blue star in a white disc was adopted as the marking for aircraft accompanying the US expedition. There was still no ruling on the markings for aircraft at home.
On arrival in France, the air units of the American Expeditionary Force adopted the by- now standard roundel of the other Allies, but with the order of the colours altered to avoid confusion with the roundels of the French and British air forces. These were , from the centre, white, blue and red. The rudder stripes were red white and blue, in that order from the rudder hinge. These markings were always made as large as possible, the wing roundels often extending from leading to trailing edge. Late in 1917, these AEF markings were adopted as standard in the US as well.
Aircraft in the US were finished in a buff colour, while those destined for France were usually painted with a dope that produced a grey finish. The war experience of the Allies had shown camouflage to be vital, however, and the AEF’s air units thus started to use a version of the French system, although very considerable latitude was allowed to the various squadrons.
The US Navy opted for different markings. On April 21, 1917 the Navy chose a variation on the earlier star-in-a-circle motif. This was red-centred white star in a blue disc, while the rudder stripes were the same as the AEF. (In fact, it was the AEF which copied the stripes of the Navy.) In 1918, the Navy adopted the AEF roundel for it’s aircraft in the European theatre in place of the star, but the latter was retained for other areas. Before the war, the Navy’s standard finish had been plain finished fabric, but in mid 1917 a navy-green or navy-grey finish was adopted. The US Marine Corps’ aircraft were in the same finish as the Navy’s, and had similar markings, with the exception of the roundel on the fuselage side. This had an anchor across it.
A point to note is that sometimes the wing markings (especially the star insignia) were place at the root end of the wings as opposed to the normal tip position
end of Part 1
