Insignia

8 July 2003, 08:14 PM

I have seen before, but can not find now, a photo of a WWI fighter (Nationality unsure) that featured the profile of an American India Chief in full head dress on the fuselage. Within the head dress, on the ear pieces, was a symbol of war, later to become known as a swastika.

Werner Voss had this same item within a wreath on his Diii, along with his Heart design. Voss being a big childhood fan of Amer. Ind. stories and lore.

Anyone seen this photo of the Chief, I think it is French aircraft, but unknown...

Any help is appreciated greatly.

StephenLawson · 9 July 2003, 06:48 AM

Greetings wvoss48; Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do. The insignia you are looking for is from the 'Escadrille Americane' better known as the 'Lafayette Escadrille' N.124. The French organization/unit comprised of American volunteer pilots. Welcome to the Areodrome. Maybe our member 'Lufbery' can supply the image here?

Rick · 9 July 2003, 07:34 AM

Stephen,

* *First, not to create the wrong impression, I agree with the Lafayette description. *But there was an old C&C which contained an article on indian head insignia used by American squadrons, which included (among others), Sioux, Seminole, and I seem to recall some others. *Perhaps others more knowledgeable will jump in here and save me. * *R.

Lufbery · 9 July 2003, 12:38 PM

Hi guys, I heard my name and thought I'd stop by.

There were two Indian head logos. The first was a copy of the Savage Arms logo. The second (the one to the left) had a different origin that I forget right now. They were both used for the Layfayette Escadrille -- N. 124 (when they flew Nieuports), Spa. 127 (when they flew Spads, and finally the 103rd U.S. Aero Squaron.

I've got some info saved somewhere that I can post later.

Regards,

9 July 2003, 05:37 PM

Lufbery, Stephen, Rick,

It looks like I'm hanging with the right crowd!!

D*mn, that was fast, and nice posts too, and I do have a lot to learn and catch up on.

Thank you so much, if you have a larger pic, you can send it to webmaster@wetracing.com, and I thank you all!!

This is a great site, and of course, like any association, is only as good as those that make it up... I hope to help make it good.

m

Quote:

Hi guys, I heard my name and thought I'd stop by.

There were two Indian head logos. The first was a copy of the Savage Arms logo. The second (the one to the left) had a different origin that I forget right now. *They were both used for the Layfayette *Escadrille -- N. 124 (when they flew Nieuports), Spa. 127 (when they flew Spads, and finally the 103rd U.S. Aero Squaron.

I've got some info saved somewhere that I can post later.

Regards,

Gregvan · 9 July 2003, 06:57 PM

Hi,

The so-called "Sioux headdress" of the Lafayette/Esc. 124 was designed by Harold Willis and Edward Hinkle of the Escadrille. They thought the first (so-called "Seminole" head) was bland and hard to recognize, so they re-designed the insignia which would resolve into distinct areas of red, white and blue from a distance.

The swastika, of course, was simply a non-political good luck symbol at the time, and was used in a large format on an escadrille Spad VII as a personal marking. The Spad was flown by several pilots, including Henry Jones and Lufbery (the actual one

. There are dozens of examples of the swastika (both 'male' and 'female') being used as an emblem in the French, German, British and American air forces in WWI.

As mentioned, when the Esc. 124 became the American 103rd Aero, the "Sioux" insignia was retained. The 103rd became part of the 3rd Pursuit Group, and the other 3 Squadrons in the group - the 28th,93rd, and 213th - all adopted a form of an Indian head as an emblem, though theirs all looked quite different from the classic "Sioux" head. They all chose representative Eastern Woodland-style Indians with shaven heads, scalplocks, and lots of war paint.

I'm no expert, but I believe the "Sioux" insignia was retained in the US Air Corps, and by a unit in the French air service, for many years.

Greg

Lufbery · 9 July 2003, 08:04 PM

All,

Here's a big version of the Sioux head insignia. I snapped this photo when I was at the Smithsonian's Garber Restoration Facility. They had a whole bunch of hand painted squadron logos mounted throughout their main building. This image was about 1 square foot in size.

Regards,

Lufbery · 9 July 2003, 08:07 PM

Here's the Savage Arms logo from a 1910 catalog. Apparently a couple pilots from the Lafayette Escadrille saw this logo on a box of ammo and decided it would make a good squadron logo.