Royal Air Force roundels
When the First World War started in 1914 it was the habit of ground troops to fire on all aircraft, friend or foe, so that the need for some form of identification mark became evident.
After the use of a Union Flag inside a shield was tried it was decided to follow the lead of the French who used a tricolour cockade (a roundel of red and white with a blue centre).
By 1917, a thin white outline was usually added to the roundel, to make the blue of the outer circle easier to distinguish from the dark PC.10 and PC.12 protective dope.
On squadrons operating at night there was not the same need to make the marking more conspicuous, indeed it became customary to overpaint the white ring of the roundel itself, either in the camouflage finish of the aircraft as a whole, or in red.
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.
Some aircraft – primarily seaplanes, had a white outline around the fuselage roundel, even on silver doped finishes however this application was inconsistent so was probably not official.
During the Munich crisis of mid- to late 1938, most RAF aircraft adopted green and dark earth camouflage with type B roundels of reduced sizes on all upper surfaces and the fuselage sides; though based on colour photos, these remained in the bright pre-war colours.
To illustrate the progression up to the end of the war the Spitfire will be used as a typical single seat-single engine fighter: 1938 – November 1939: The first production batches of Spitfires (aircraft registrations K9787-K9814) were built with 37.8 inches (96 cm) roundels on the fuselage sides-these were centred 39 in (990 mm) aft of the rear edge of the cockpit door.
This position for the fuselage roundel was subsequently standard on all Supermarine and Westland built Spitfires and Seafires.
By the beginning of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, RAF roundel sizes started to show more conformity.
[12] A decision was made to make roundels more conspicuous and, in May 1940, the yellow outer ring was ordered to be added back to fuselage sides (along with red, white, and blue stripes on the fin).
Where possible, the yellow should be the same width as the blue, but on Spitfires with their narrower fuselages a thinner ring was acceptable.
[14] Because of the pressures of front-line service there were always exceptions to the standards set by the RAF and that deadlines were not necessarily met.
11 Squadron Catalina was mistaken for a Japanese aircraft by a US Navy Wildcat in the Pacific Theatre[18] and attacked, the roundels on RAAF were modified, mostly in the field, by painting over the red with white.
Mk VC Spitfires used by the Royal Australian Air Force over Northern Australia in October 1943 had their 36-inch type C1 fuselage roundels modified to 32 inches (81 cm) SEAC roundels by painting out the yellow outer ring in the camouflage colours and over-painting the red centre in white.
The red fin stripe was also painted out with white and, in many cases the blue was extended forward 1 in (25 mm) making equal widths of 12 inches (30 cm).
In a situation similar to that of the roundels, the fin flash was also shared with the air forces of Australia and New Zealand.
The fin flash of RNAS, RFC and RAF aircraft of the First World War was applied with the blue stripe forward.
For the first six months there was no conformity in the width or height of the stripes and they were painted to cover as much of the fin area as possible.
The then-current RAF fin flashes were also adopted for USAAF aircraft operating alongside British and Commonwealth forces in the Mediterranean theatre in 1942, appearing on US Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters and North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, as well as on USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberators flying from North Africa on attacks such as 1943's Operation Tidal Wave.
The third standard (VB3 and VR3) would be used until the early 1930s when much brighter colours replaced the red and blue at the same time that rudder stripes were omitted.
Photo 2, a restored Bristol F.2 Fighter is a fairly good representation of the late interwar colours.
On fabric covered aircraft these were glossy (as was the general finish) until dulled with age, even during the First World War.
