ROUNDEL ROUND-UP
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, during a tour of Vintage Wings of Canada or at an air show: “Whaddya call that bullseye thingamajig there?” or “How come the bullseye on the wing has no white in it like the bullseye on the side of the plane?” or “Doesn't Canada have a maple leaf in their bullseye?”, I would be able to afford my own bullseye-emblazoned Spitfire. These curious neophytes, of course, are speaking about the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal Navy (RN) “roundels” which, for nearly a century, have identified aircraft in the service of the King or Queen of the realm. The truth is most people, even those who are knowledgeable about warbirds, have no idea where the roundel comes from, why certain roundels are used on aircraft of a certain vintage, or why there may be three different types of roundels on the same aircraft. This article tries to explain some of the history and demonstrate the use of the various roundel styles over the years. I do so at great risk of being labelled a seriously unbalanced, basement-dwelling aerogeek, lost in minutia and losing sight of the big picture. I also do so knowing that I actually don't know everything about the esoterica that is roundel usage and run an added risk of being ridiculed by those whose life work is the study of seemingly insignificant details. Despite the risks to my reputation and the possibility that I may be labelled a rivet-counting history whore, I do, in fact, find this very interesting stuff.
The Royal Air Force roundel of the Second World War is derived from the original Royal Flying Corps (RFC) roundel of the First World War, which was in turn derived from a traditional martial decorative device known as the “cockade”. The cockade is a knot of ribbon, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive national colours which was usually worn on a soldier's clothing, in particular on head gear. In the 18th and 19th century, various European states used cockades to denote the nationalities of their military. Even Union and Confederate soldiers of the Civil War often wore cockades or “rosettes” on their dress uniforms and for formal photographs. Along with NCO chevrons, brass buttons, ribbons, awards and epaulettes, the cockade was an item of military dress and distinction. More importantly, its colours were often those of the country it represented.
When the First World War started in 1914, it was the habit of ground troops to fire on all aircraft, friend or foe, which “encouraged” the need for some form of identification mark on all aircraft. At first, the Union Flag was painted under the wings and on the sides of the fuselages of RFC aircraft. It soon became obvious that, at a distance, the St George's Cross of the Union Flag could be confused with the Iron Cross that was already being used to identify German aircraft – particularly from below and against the glare of the sky. After a Union Flag inside a shield was tried unsuccessfully, it was decided to follow the lead of the French air force which used a circular symbol resembling, and called, a “cockade” (a rosette of red and white with a blue centre). The British reversed the colours and it became the standard marking on Royal Flying Corps aircraft from 11 December 1914, although it was well into 1915 before the new marking was used entirely consistently. The Royal Naval Air Service meanwhile briefly used a red ring, without the blue centre, until it was sensibly decided to standardize on the RFC roundel for all British aircraft.
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The roundel would undergo many changes before, during, and after the Second World War, all of which have caused much confusion in the minds of the uninitiated. By the end of the war, there were nearly a dozen official variations of the Royal Air Force roundel, and even variations of each of these. Most roundels were painted on at the factory where the aircraft was built, but they were not always executed to the most recent standards. Some roundels were applied as pre-made decals at the factory, while, after repairs in the field, other roundels were applied by hand and could have spurious diameter ratios or even additional outlines. There was an official drafted standard for roundel application, describing the type of roundel, its diameter and its exact position on the fuselage and wings for each aircraft type, but the exigencies of an air force at war caused many a roundel to be applied with only a nod to the rules. Roundel sizes are hard to understand. Some fighters had huge Type A-1 roundels wrapping the fuselage, while others in the Southeast Asia had tiny SEAC roundels applied. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Then, of course, there is the issue of colours. Before the war, the roundel colours were of a significantly brighter hue than those employed during the war. These brighter colours were known as Identification Red and Identification Blue. As the possibility of hostilities approached, the two colours were made more dull and therefore less visible. The new colours were called Identification Red Dull and Identification Blue Dull. For the purposes of simplicity, we will look at all roundels in the brighter of the hues.
After a certain point in the roundel's development during the war, every roundel used on the fuselage was accompanied by a policy specified fin flash on the tail. This makes the discussion far too onerous, so throughout this article, I will only make mention of that complexity now and then... thank God.
Though there are several, slightly varying, versions of each roundel type, we will endeavour in this article to identify the main types of roundels, speak to the reasoning and history behind them and, where possible, to supply actual colour photographs of these roundel types on RAF and Commonwealth air forces aircraft during the Second World War and RCAF aircraft after the war. To do this, I have utilized the amazing collection of colour photography gallery amassed by Belgian historian Etienne du Plessis – nearly 500 rare colour images of the RAF during the Second World War. These will help us understand the seemingly complex world of the roundel. I hope.
The Type A roundel is essentially the same roundel or cockade that has come down through history, with variations, since the First World War. It can be found on the RAF home page today with minor changes to the proportions first delineated long before the Second World War, or even the formation of the RAF. Today, the RAF roundel is called the Type D. The modern Type D roundel has a diameter ratio of 1:2:3 for the red, white and blue circles, whereas the Second World War Type A roundel of the RAF, RCAF, RAAF and RNZAF, as seen above, had a ratio of 1:3:5. During and since the First World War, the ratio of red and blue to white almost seems to be up to the manufacturer, unit or even the painter, but all were at least trying to adhere to standards.
By the beginning of the Second World War, on 3 September 1939, RAF roundel sizes started to show more conformity. On 30 October, all commands were ordered to change upper wing surface Type A roundels to Type B (see below). Initially, all roundels were to be removed from beneath the wings, but for the sake of identification, further instructions ordered all but fighters and night bombers to have Type A under the wing tips. It wasn't long before it was clear that a Type A roundel's outer blue ring was not clearly enough defined against a dark green/brown camouflage fuselage and an outer yellow ring was painted to delineate the edge. By the beginning of the war, Type A roundels were mostly seen on surfaces upon which they would “pop”, such as the bright yellow paint of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) trainers. Type A roundels faded from fuselage use early in the war, but lingered on the undersides of some aircraft.
The Type A-1 roundel is essentially a Type A with an additional thick outer ring of bright yellow to allow the roundel to be more visible against a darkly camouflaged wing or fuselage. The three interior rings of this roundel maintain the same ratio of thickness as the Type A roundel, giving the proportions a diameter ratio of 1:3:5:7. This roundel was mandated for use on all camouflaged surfaces from 1937 until March 1939 and then just on fuselage sides from 1940 to 1942, until even these were superseded by the Type C-1 in July 1942. It is very rare to find a photograph of a Type A-1 roundel used on the top side of wings, but very common indeed to see it on the fuselages of aircraft during the first half of the war.
Given the amount of contrasting colours (yellow and white), some night bombers had the white ring painted out black or blue to reduce visibility to enemy night fighter pilots. Later, it was decided that the yellow ring was far too visible by day or night, and an effort was made to reduce the amount of yellow resulting in the Type A-2 roundel. This roundel was further reduced in visibility shortly after that when the white ring was reduced by half, giving us the Type C roundels. But I am getting ahead of myself... here, for your edification are a few colour photos showing Type A-1 roundels in action.
The Type A-2 roundel was an alternative ratio roundel used on some early Second World War aircraft, including Grumman Martlets purchased from the United States. The diameter ratio of ring sizes for the Type A-2 was 1:3:5:6. The idea of the Type A-2 roundel was to reduce the amount of yellow in the outer ring to reduce its overall visibility. The smaller outer yellow ring still had the benefit of delineating the roundel against the dark camouflage, but reduced its high visibility signature. Having searched both Etienne du Plessis' marvelous Flickr gallery of colour photographs of the RAF during the Second World War, as well as the web in general, it became obvious from the dearth of colour photographic evidence, that the Type A-2 was either infrequently used or was quickly superseded by the more commonly utilized Type C-2 roundel (see below).
The Type B roundel is, in fact, an early attempt at reducing the visibility of an identifier which, by virtue of its purpose, was designed to be highly visible – a strange paradox. It is essentially what we, today, would call a “low viz” variant of a bold symbol. By removing the white secondary ring and outer yellow ring from the Type A-1 roundel, the contrast was removed. When applied to the top surfaces of wings, the elimination of a bright white made it less visible to marauding enemy fighters from above. The diameter ratio of red to blue was a simple 2:5.
The origins of the Type B roundel go all the way back to the last year of the First World War, when something similar was used on the top surfaces of British bombers employed in night bombing. It was not known as the Type B in this early application, but simply as the “Night Roundel”. From 1923, until phased out a few years later, it was also used on all surfaces of NIVO-coloured night bombers. NIVO was Night Invisible Varnish Orfordness, which was a dark green colour specifically formulated for use on the RAF's heavy biplane night bombers. The Type B was brought back into use in 1938 on camouflaged aircraft in all positions from summer 1938 until superseded shortly after by Type A-1 roundels.
The Type B roundel remained in extensive use on the upper surfaces of many aircraft until 1947. It was commonly used on fuselage sides and upper wings of overall PRU Blue (Photo Reconnaissance Unit Blue – sometimes called Robin's Egg Blue) photo-reconnaissance aircraft from 1940 to 1944 (e.g. photo-reconnaissance Spitfires) and aircraft with "High altitude" camouflage (e.g. de Havilland Hornet) from 1944–1947. As war loomed, the RAF began to paint all their aircraft in dark green/brown or green/grey camouflages on the fuselages and top sides. Overall use of the Type B roundel was found to cause identification problems, and that practice was discontinued in favour of Type A-1, Type A-2, and later, Type C-2 roundels for better visibility on the fuselages. The application of Type B roundels on the upper wings was a common practice right to the end of the war.
When the Type B roundel was used on the upper surfaces to reduce visibility from above, why, then, did the bottom surfaces generally carry roundels (Type A or Type C) that maintained the white? This can be explained by going back to the original purpose of the roundel, which was mainly to stop ground troops from firing on friendly aircraft. Generally (but not always) pilots and gunners were trained enough to distinguish friend from foe. Not so the foot soldier or anti-aircraft artilleryman. Looking up at an overflying aircraft from the ground, even on a grey cloudy day, would still produce a glare effect, reducing the aircraft to a silhouette. By maintaining the white circle, and its better contrast, in the roundels on the underside of wings, the device stood a better chance of being seen by ground forces.
The Type C roundel was a later development of the basic, or classic, Type A roundel. In order to reduce the conspicuousness of the old cockade roundel, the width of the white stripe, almost equal to the other colours in the Type A, is reduced on the Type C, introduced from May 1942. The standard application of this Type C scheme consists in the Type B on the upper surfaces, the Type C on the under surfaces, and the Type C-1 on the fuselage sides, and an accompanying Type C fin flash on the tail.
Type C roundels, essentially an altered Type A, were, as in the case of the Type A, rarely employed on the fuselage sides of aircraft unless these aircraft were also BCATP yellow, PR blue or any light colour. The diameter ratio was a much altered 3:4:8. Since most operational aircraft were of the dark camouflage variety, one rarely sees the Type C on the flanks of a camo aircraft. By the end of the war the Type C roundel and even the Type C-1 are seen in a much bigger size on the upper surfaces of aircraft until 1947, when the Type D roundel was introduced. After the war the RCAF went to a uniquely Canadian roundel featuring the maple leaf. The RCAF did not adopt the Type D roundel, so it is outside of this discussion.
By adding a thinner yellow outer ring to the basic Type C roundel, the RAF made the roundel clearer against the camouflaged backgrounds and changed the diameter ratio to 3:4:8:9. This is the most ubiquitous fuselage roundel of the later part of the war, used on aircraft sides from May 1942. Towards the end of the Second World War, very large Type C-1 roundels could be found on the topside of fighter aircraft. A perfect example of this late war topside application can be found in the Flight Lieutenant William Harper Supermarine Spitfire belonging to Vintage Wings of Canada.
The Type C and type C-1 SEAC roundel was designed specifically for use in combat zones where aircraft were likely to come into contact with aircraft and units of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (phonetically the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūtai) or the Japanese Imperial Navy Air Service (the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Koukuu-tai) during the Second World War. Quite simply, this is a basic Type A, Type C or Type C-1 roundel with the red centre removed for a pretty obvious reason – to avoid confusion with the Japanese single red disc roundel called the hinomaru. It was used by units under the South East Asia Command (SEAC) and in the China Burma India (CBI) theatre of operations from 1942. These types of red-removed roundels were not used for very long before being replaced by light blue/dark blue SEAC roundel (see below). Trigger happy pilots, aerial gunners and anti-aircraft gunners, upon seeing red, were likely to shoot first and apologize later.
A blue/white roundel, sometimes with US-style white bars, was also used on Fleet Air Arm aircraft. American-built naval fighters and bombers would come from the factory with white stars and bars on a Shipyard Blue overall paint. The Royal Navy simply overpainted the star with the simple white and blue roundel, omitting the red centre of the British roundel, but keeping the white extending bars of the American insignia. This kept a red circle from appearing in the gun sights of overzealous Allied gunners and added the reassurance of American-style white bars. Some aircraft like FAA Seafires obviously did not arrive from a factory with the bars painted on. They were added to the Seafires and other non-American-built assets for the sake of RN consistency. This was only used in the SEAC. Blue and white roundels were also used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which simply overpainted the red dot in white, regardless of previous proportions.
The RAF Third Tactical Air Force (Third TAF), which was formed in South Asia in December 1943, was one of three tactical air forces formed by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was the air force unit of the South East Asia Command. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF and the air forces of the British Commonwealth. Third TAF was formed shortly after the establishment of South East Asia Command to provide close air support to the Fourteenth Army.
It was first formed on 19 December 1943, designated the Tactical Air Force (Burma), and renamed as the Third TAF on 28 December 1943. Along with parts of the USAAF Tenth Air Force, it was subordinate to Joint Allied Eastern Air Command which was also formed in December 1943. The official roundel of the SEAC was the elegant dark blue/light blue roundel, which was used by units under South East Asia Command and in the CBI theatre mid-1942–1946. As with earlier SEAC roundels, the red was removed to avoid confusion with the hinomaru. Initially, as in the case of the RAAF units, the red was overpainted with white but this compromised the camouflage and the normal roundel blue was mixed 50:50 with white. Many aircraft in the CBI theatre used roundels and fin flashes of approximately half the normal dimensions, perhaps because the amount of white in the normal sized roundels, when seen against a dark green jungle canopy, was too obvious to the enemy above.
Though the RCAF had been an independent service for many years, Canada used standard British roundels and fin flashes on all of its aircraft until shortly after the end of the Second World War. The RCAF had distinguished itself on operations around the globe. At its peak during the war, the RCAF had a total of 78 squadrons, including 35 serving overseas, and 215,200 personnel. Of the 43,099 Canadian killed in action during the war, 13,500 served with the RCAF. It was now time for a unique roundel and identity that spoke to the essence of being Canadian. The first design took the serrated silhouette of a leaf from the ubiquitous, and very Canadian, leaf of the Silver Maple and substituted this for the red circle in the centre of the venerable RAF Type B roundel. This would last only a short time as it was not distinct enough from any distance. This then led to the now familiar "Silver Maple" roundel employed by the RCAF for nearly two decades and the “Sugar Maple” roundels found on RCN aircraft for 22 years. On 15 February 1965, a stylized 11 point maple leaf was introduced on the new Canadian flag and this leaf has been the central proud element of all Canadian aircraft roundels to this day. Let's look at the lineage of the modern Canadian roundel.
The first attempt at an all-Canadian roundel was not entirely successful or distinct enough, especially against the all aluminium, or white-topped aircraft of the RCAF in those early postwar years. It was decided to keep the serrated “silver maple” leaf but bring back the white tri-coloured roundel of the RAF known as the Type A. At the end of the Second World War the RAF had a new roundel of its own – the Type D, a modified Type A. Like all roundels in history, the new Silver Maple roundel seemed to be slightly random when it came to proportions, despite all policies. It came in two basic types – one using a small leaf and another, far more common one, employing a larger silver maple leaf silhouette.
The most ubiquitous roundel used after the war up until the introduction of the modern era flag maple leaf roundel, was the classic Big Leaf roundel of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Like the Small Leaf version, it is a silhouette of a silver maple leaf. Canadian pilots and aircrew were justifiably proud of this bold Canadian identity. Canada was the first of the Commonwealth air forces to adapt the old RAF roundel to make a powerful national identity statement. The RCAF was using maple leaf inspired roundels since the late 1940s and were employing this red, white and blue maple roundel before the end of that decade. It was not until 1956 that the Royal Australian Air Force stopped the usage of the standard RAF roundels and adopted the silhouette of a kangaroo to replace the centre red circle. The Royal New Zealand Air Force did not employ the kiwi bird-centred roundel until the end of the 1960s. There is no doubt that the beautiful and proud practice of adapting an RAF roundel with a national symbol silhouette comes from the Royal Canadian Air force.
The Royal Navy followed the lead of the Royal Air Force in the design and application rules regarding roundels on aircraft. So too did the Royal Canadian Navy follow the Royal Canadian Air Force... but not quite. After the RCAF introduced their first red and blue maple leaf roundel, they went through a period of change to create the fully accepted tri-colour Silver Maple leaf silhouette roundel. The RCN felt the need to design and apply its own roundels – distinctly Canadian, as was the RCAF, but simultaneously distinctly Navy. Instead of the silhouette profile of the heavily serrated Silver Maple, they chose instead the simpler silhouette of the Sugar Maple leaf from the tree that gives us the distinctly Canadian treats known as maple sugar and maple syrup. The RCN went one step further and created a relatively smaller white centre on which to place the red leaf, giving the RCN roundel its thicker looking blue ring. Oh, my... now I am really sounding like a geek.
At the beginning of its use, the Sugar Maple roundel of the RCN employed a yellow outer ring, even when the roundel was used against a light grey paint such as many carrier aircraft had in the 1950s. By 1952, this had disappeared. When the Navy was merged with the Air Force and Army, the use of the Sugar Maple roundel disappeared... or had it. In fact, the modern, stylized maple leaf of the new Canadian flag, introduced in 1965, and now a part of the Canadian roundel forevermore, looks more like a stylized sugar maple leaf than a silver maple leaf. It bears a close resemblance to that found at the centre of the RCN roundel... now the Royal Canadian Air Force is wearing the Navy roundel!!!
From a simple identifier, designed to stop the wrong people shooting at us, to one of the proudest national symbols extant, the roundel has come a long, long way. Today, the aircraft of the RCAF proudly display the classic modern era roundel on their surfaces, but there was a time when many RCAF members were reluctant to change over from their old roundel.
For one year, and one year only, the RCAF chose to use a special variant of the roundel in celebration of Canada's Centennial Year – a remarkable and memorable year of national pride – and to celebrate the recent re-flagging of the country. The new Canadian flag, the one we know and love today, did not have the universal support and acclaim that it enjoys today. Many reviled it, especially older folks, who had grown up under the Red Ensign flag flown throughout the Second World War. Many of its detractors were in the ranks of the RCAF, for it was under the Red Ensign all of them had fought in three wars and many had died.
To show allegiance to the new flag and to wave it even more vigorously, the RCAF and DND chose to use only red in the roundel in 1967, Canada's 100th birthday year. It was employed, as far as I can tell, only on VIP and personnel transport aircraft such as the Canadair Yukon and the CC-109 Cosmopolitan. It was a special year. It was a special roundel.
That year, everyone in the country chose to execute a "Centennial Project”. It was sort of your national Centennial duty. Myself and 5 of my buddies set out to drink 1967 beers. We ranged in age from 16 to 19. Needless to say we didn't make it.
Canadian Forces CF-104 Starfighters dominated the skies of Western Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s. In service over there they went through a number of different paint schemes. One of them utilized a type of roundel that simply removes the inside circle of white to allow the camo to play through. I may be wrong here, but this roundel was used only on the CF-104 and only with this particular paint scheme in Europe. At least, I have only seen it displayed on “Zippers”.