Wasn't the swastika a symbol of the state building the aircraf

No, it was the symbol of the NSDP, the Nazi party. The state symbol
was the teutonic cross. Indeed, if you look at an authentic German
warplane of the era, you will notice that the swastika is fairly
unimportant, as compared to the cross, and sometimes is missing
altogether.

Interestingly, the hakristi -- a blue bent-leg cross -- was the symbol
of the Finnish air force, and shows much more prominently on Finnish
aircraft. If Pensacola ever succeeds in acquiring the Brewster Buffalo
recovered several years ago from Russia --
www.warbirdforum.com/372.htm -- there will presumably be a blue
"swastika" on display at the naval air museum.

That the symbol was used (sometimes facing to the left) by Finland,
Indians, Native Americans, and the publishers of Rudyard Kipling's
books doesn't alter in the slightest that for anyone alive in the
mid-twentieth century it is first of all the mark of an insane,
murderous cult that ruled Germany for twelve years and led the world
into the greatest man-made calamity in all of history.

all the best -- Dan Ford
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