Pre WW1 insignia

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
John Mullen wrote:

Stephen Harding wrote:

JDupre5762 wrote:

Just when did various nations adopt the various cross and cockade or
roundel insignia? Was it after WW1 started and the need for
recognition
became apparent or did some nations adopt an insignia before WW1?

The US actually used a red star (like the Soviets) for a
short period of time before US entry into WWI.

Really?

It surprised me too. The source for this is the New England Air
Museum which had a photograph of a red star marked US plane and
an info card stating this was the national marking for a brief
time. I checked their page and a general Google search and can't
find any more about this, but the source and photo was definitely
seen during my last visit to NEAM a few years ago.

But:-

1) I always thought the US didn't have much air power until after WW1

I think the first US military aircraft dates to about 1909, and red
star emblem dates to pre-1917, in fact pre-1914 IIRC.

You have to careful calling that a "national emblem": pre 1917 there
were no national emblems, each service had it's own. The Navy used a
blue anchor from late 1916 until the May 1917 adoption of the red
circle on white star on blue circle emblem.

2) The Soviet Union certainly didn't exist until 1917, the same year the
US joined the war.

Right. The US red star emblem had been replaced by the roundel by
then.


SMH

Andreas Parsch wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote:


It surprised me too. The source for this is the New England Air
Museum which had a photograph of a red star marked US plane and
an info card stating this was the national marking for a brief
time. I checked their page and a general Google search and can't
find any more about this, but the source and photo was definitely
seen during my last visit to NEAM a few years ago.


The USAF museum confirms the 1916 red star:

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/insignia.htm

This site also confirms that I got my facts back-asswards - it was Billy
Mitchell who got the red-blue-white (outside to inside) roundel adopted,
for similarity to our allies' roundels (blue-white-red for the Brits,
red-white-blue for the French.).
Andreas


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