all those Black Crosses

[pysonya]

Hi,

In another post on this forum I came across Dan-San's quote, "By the Iron Cross form we can date the photo. The white cross field was eliminated and Idflieg ordered the Iron Cross was to be displayed with a 50 mm white border. This order was issued on 29 October 1916."

I'd love to know how many different technical specs there were about the cross markings, their official names, and the dates of their inception. How many times and when did the cross design change? Did the orders require immediate overpainting, or allow a transitional period, or just require new a/c to be so marked?

And, that got me to thinking: does anybody know the "why" behind the changes (presumably all ordered by Idflieg) in the various forms of the German aircraft markings? During WWII the red dot in the center of the early US insignia (and the British roundel) was apparantly confused with the red Japanese hinomaru insignia, which possibly led to some fratricide incidents. So I can see a logical reason for that change in insignia design. But any of the variations of the black cross that I've seen are so different from any variety of roundel as used by the Western forces that I can't imagine confusion was the motivation for the changes.

Dan

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Pysonya:
In the original form the German marking just before the war was black band 500 mm centered on the wing panel on each side of the fuselage. These black bands were displayed on both Class A monoplanes and Class B biplanes.
At the out break of war Grerman units were instructed to paint a black cross on a white field full chord on the tops and bottoms of the wings of monoplanes and biplanes and both sides of the rudder.
The German aircraft manufacturers were instructed to paint the Iron Cross on a full chord white field at mid point on the tops and bottoms of monoplane or biplane wings and both sides of the rudder.
This directive resulted in a plethora of cross forms, each manufacturer had his own formula for the cross.
At some point, it was specified the black cross on a white field was to painted on both sides of the fuselage. Date not known.
25 July 1916, Idflieg, (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen, Literally, Inspectorate of Flying Troops,) specified the formula for the cross and size. Specified sizes were, 500, 600, 700, 1000, 1200 and 1400 mm. the formula is: height = H; width of the foot .4H; radiis of the arm, 1.3H.
On 29 October 1916, The cross field was eliminated and the cross was to be surrounder with a white border 50 mm wide. This width varied with some manufacturers, LVG for example was using 70 to 75 mm.
On 17 March 1918, the Iron Cross was eliminated and the balken (beam) cross was specified. Idflieg did not specify height and width of the arms or the width of the arms. The units in the field simply use the width of the foot of the iron cross and joined ends of the foot of the arms resulting in fot arms.
This situation cause considerable confusion and on 10 April 1918 Idflieg established specific dimensions for the length and width of the arms. The sizes were 400, 600 and 1000. The crossees were, width to length, 1:4. The crosses were surrounded with a 150 mm white border.
On 15 May 1918, Idflieg specidied the cro vertical arm was full chord and depth of the fuselage. The vertical to horizontal arms were to be a ratio of 5:4. The width to length of arm is ratio of 1:8. The width of the of the white border to the width of the arm is a ratio of 1:4. The ends of the arm are not bordered in white The white borders form right angle on the arme of the cross.
On 25 June 1918, Idflieg issued a directive changing the cross ration of the vertical and horizotal arms to 1:1. The width of the arm to length, 1:8 and the width of the white border to the arm was 1:4. The vertical arm of the crioss is full chord on the wings and full depth of the side of the fuselage.
This was tha last directive issued during the war and remained in affect to the end of the war.
This will aid in dating photographs
blue skies,
Dan-San

[pysonya]

Thanks, Dan-San. That's wonderful information. :-D

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Pysonya:
Copy it Dan, you will find quite useful. I have used that information for a long long time. It is more useful in 1918, than in other years. There were so many changes and the changes were distinctive.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Volker_Nemsch]

Enclosed you´ll find a photo with the earliest German marking Dan-San mentioned. Without any doubt he´ll have better photos concerning the various crosses...

[Cigogne]

Volker,

Nice photo. The plane is an LVG B-type. You can tell by the shape of the tailplane and the "kinked" ailerons (Querruder).

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Volker:
Thank you for posting that photograph. It is a LVG.B.I. The uniform darking coloring indicates it was acquired prior to the war, confirmed by the original national markings. The machine was painted grey as were all military vehicles prior the war. The national markings are 1 meter wide, instead of the 500 mm band used on most aircraft.
Blue skies,
Dan-san