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Kuba --
I kind of figured that the "USAF" thing was a slip of the keyboard, but thought I would make the comment anyway.
With regard to your question about standard insignia: Over the years, the basic US national insignia for aircraft has been standard for all the services, but there are often variations among the services, or even within the services, based on unique requirements or compatibility of the insignia colors with the aircraft colors.
For example, since 1947 there has been one standard US national insignia: a white star inside a blue disk with blue-outlined white bars on either side and a red bar inside each of the white bars. It is used by the USAF, the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the US Coast Guard.
However, each service has sometimes used variations on that basic insignia. For example, when the Navy's aircraft were painted overall dark sea blue, they just stenciled the white star and bars, and the red bars on the airplanes, leaving the basic aircraft color to represent the blue parts of the insignia. And all the services have sometimes used black or dark gray stencils to represent the white and red parts of the markings for low-visibility color schemes or to avoid making the aircraft vulnerable to infrared-seeking weapons.
It's a complex topic, just for US insignia, but it also adds to the unique appearance of some aircraft and helps to identify when and where the airplane in question served.
Always keep in mind that when I make these kinds of postings, my comments should always be prefaced by the words, "As far as I know" or "According to the sources I have available to me." And if I am in error, one or more of the other friends in the Forum who are also interested in these things, like Charlie C. or Shrike or GreMir, will always weigh in with a friendly comment to set the story straight.
And none of my comments are ever meant to criticize another modeler. In the end, what is important is what pleases the model builder, regardless of historical accuracy or other considerations.
Don
Last edited by Don Boose; 02-23-2009 at 01:54 PM.
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