AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST
WORLD WAR ERA
French Escadrille Insignia
The French had some of the most colourful, elaborate and, in many cases,
playful insignias of the war. These were used as both personal and unit
markings. The former can be found throughout the various pages on this
CD, while the latter are collected below.
In the late 1960s, Commandant E. Moreau-Berillon produced a limited edition
folio of French insignias entitled "L'Aviation Francaise1914-1940:
Ses Escadrilles - Ses Insignias". This is a series of eight folders
containing hundreds of handpainted (!!!) insignias as used by the French
up to 1940. The illustrations themselves are somewhat crude in many regards,
but the information on colours and what unit to attribute them to is an
amazing resource. On top of which, there are also summaries of the various
escadrilles. So, all-in-all, it is a very useful volume and many of the
illustrations in the French section here are partially based on the folio,
and it is to this set that the phrase "French Markings Folio"
refers to in the source section of many profiles.
There is a new book, put out by another French publisher, that covers
this subject as well. I haven't seen a copy yet, so I can't comment on
how it compares to Moreau-Berillon's work.
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