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.


 

Escadrille 1

Escadrille 2

 

Escadrille 3
Escadrille 11

Escadrille 14

 

Escadrille 18

Escadrille 19

 

Escadrille 21 Escadrille 24   

Escadrille 28  

 

Escadrille 32 Escadrille 33
Escadrille 34

Escadrille 36

 

Escadrille 44
Escadrille 46

Escadrille 56

 

Escadrille 58
Escadrille 59

Escadrille 62

 

Escadrille 65
Escadrille 66

Escadrille 79

 

Escadrille 81

Escadrille 83

 

Escadrille 87 Escadrille 89
Escadrille 94

Escadrille 107

 

Escadrille 110
   

Escadrille 111

 

   
Escadrille 117

Escadrille 124
"Lafayette"
November 1916 - Spring 1917

 

Escadrille 124
"Lafayette"
Spring 1917 - January 1918
Escadrille 124
Jeanne d'Arc'

Escadrille 150

 

Escadrille 152
Escadrille 154

Escadrille 156

 

Escadrille 207

Escadrille 210

 

Escadrille 212 Escadrille 216
Escadrille 220 Escadrille 240 Escadrille 284