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The first Eighth Air Force aircraft to receive unit markings were the Spitfires of the 4th and 31st Fighter Groups training with RAF Fighter Command in September 1942. The markings were two-letter fuselage squadron codes located on one side of the national insignia and a single letter aircraft code on the other side.
Of all the early operators of military aircraft, Germany was unusual in not using circular roundels. After evaluating several possible markings, including a black, red, and white checkerboard, a similarly coloured roundel, and black stripes, it chose a black 'iron cross' on a square white field, as it was already in use on various flags, and reflected Germany's heritage as the Holy Roman Empire.
Types of aircraft markings include: Aircraft registration, unique alphanumeric string that identifies every aircraft; Invasion stripes, alternating black and white bands painted on the fuselages and wings of World War II Allied aircraft, for the purpose of increased recognition by friendly forces
U.S. Army Signal Corps Curtiss JN-3 biplanes with red star insignia, 1915 Nieuport 28 with the World War 1 era American roundels. The first military aviation insignias of the United States include a star used by the US Army Signal Corps Aviation Section, seen during the Pancho Villa punitive expedition, just over a year before American involvement in World War I began.
Stripes were applied to fighters, photo-reconnaissance aircraft, troop carriers, twin-engined medium and light bombers, and some special duty aircraft.They were not painted on four-engined heavy bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force or RAF Bomber Command, as there was little chance of mistaken identity, the Luftwaffe having few such bombers (the Heinkel He 177 and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor being ...
Lt Col James H. Howard's P-51 Mustang with 12 kill marks for aerial victories over German and Japanese pilots. A victory marking (also called a victory mark, kill marking, or kill mark, or mission symbol) is a symbol applied in stencil or decal to the side of a military aircraft, ship or ground vehicle to denote a victory achieved by the pilot or crew against an aerial target.
Various WWII styles of the Balkenkreuz; also see Luftwaffe for official specification versions. The Balkenkreuz (lit. ' beam cross' or 'bar cross ') [1] is a straight-armed cross that was first introduced in 1916–1918 and later became the emblem of the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) and its branches from 1935 until the end of World War II.
Most RAF aircraft now had a silver finish (either bare metal or aluminium dope) so that the national markings were conspicuous enough without outlining. During the late 1930s RAF and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) aircraft were once again camouflaged, and a new outline was introduced, this time trainer yellow, and the same width as the blue and white rings.