AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ERA

France


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.

The Flying Machines Press book "French Aircraft in WWI" by James Davilla and Arthur Soltan is the best English language source on French aircraft in the Great War. As always with such a massive work, there are some minor errors, but these in no way detract from its usefulness in cataloguing the multitude of French aircraft used, and has been one of my sources. FMP French book refers to this volume.

A more recent source on French aircraft is the website http://albindenis.free.fr. This is a treasure trove of photos and illustrations of the various French escadrilles and has been extremely useful in filling in holes in my collection.


 

INDEX BY ESCADRILLE


 

Escadrille 102