Fidd88 Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Lads, there's something that foxing me a bit at the moment. On the square "checker-board" Polish insignia, as painted on the starboard nose (pic attached) I've seen examples on film, on the internet and so forth oriented both so that the red squares on the marking are NE/SW as well as NW/SE. Can anyone cast light on why this is, and which do you consider correct? Was there, for example, a rule that has the marking in one orientation on the starboard side, and a different one on the port?? I'd really be grateful for a definitive answer here.... Are these right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 On December 1, 1918, the command of the Polish air force issued an order that defined the official insignia to be displayed on military planes. The document specified the size and shape of the checkerboard as well as the placement of the colours of the insignia – the white in the upper right and the lower left corners of the checkerboard. However, it took three years for the official insignia to be uniformly used across the air force. The insignia in that form was used until 1993 when a decision was made to turn the checkerboard by 90 degrees. As a result, the white colour has been placed in the upper left and the lower right corner ever since. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share Posted March 11, 2022 Thankyou SO much for clarifying that. So basically I've done it wrong for a 1940's Hurricane, and have applied the "modern" form of it. Am I correctly stating that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 I am afraid yes 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted March 12, 2022 Author Share Posted March 12, 2022 That's fine, You've probably just had us all looking through our display-shelves at models of Polish aircraft: "Wrong, right, wrong, wrong, wrong, right.." (et cetera ad Polonium) 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 and yet,,, (from circa 1940/1) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 The painter was either dyslectic or drunk :). Or both. I would follow the photograph of the actual plane. Deviation for the standard are common and adds even more polonium into the topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 I suspect that there's a "rule" to the application of these that we're not getting. I suspect that when both are visible at the same time, they're the same orientation, but, if they're in a position where they cannot be simultaneously observed, then the port-side one is done one way around the one on the starboard was done as mirror imaged. This might account for why WW2 era aircraft seem to have differing orientations of the Polish insignia when on the forward fuselage. This, in a sense, is merely a similar rule as that applied to RAF fin-flashes, where the red if always on the forward edge of the insignia, white in the middle and blue on the aft edge, ie the starboard fin flash is the reverse colour sequence left to right, as that of the port side fin flash, Maybe the Poles adopted an RAF "rule" and then came up with a more sensible one later? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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