Print Scale 72-413 Battle of France. 1940

Nationality markings (hereinafter: insignia) on French Air Force planes (at that time called Aeronautique Militaire) began to be used as early as 1912, so before the outbreak of World War I! However, even then, the insignia in the form of a circle was used, called the French roundelle with the colors red, blue and white. These colors were distributed on the surface of the roundelle in closely adjacent circles, the circle of the largest diameter being red. Of course, this insignia was a vivid reference to the French national ribbon used already during the Great French Revolution (1789-1799), but also to the national banner of the Republic. Sometimes it was also surrounded by a thin gold or yellow dust jacket. It is worth noting that almost at the same time, horizontal stripes in the same colors (blue, white and red) were applied to the vertical ballasts of French aircraft. These roundelles, as well as the markings on the vertical fins, were used in both world wars, the interwar period and the post-war period. They did not change much. Roundelle was also featured on the official logo of the French Air Force (French: Armee De L'Air) in operation since 2010. As a curiosity, it can be added that in the interwar period and at the beginning of World War II, roundelles with a black anchor were sometimes used on naval aviation planes.