Aircraft canvas with lion emblem

[Sturmvogel262]

Hello,

A friend of mine recently got this original canvas that presumably was removed from a WW1 airplane, most likely a German plane. It may show a unit emblem or an individual emblem and may also be British, American, etc.

Does anybody recoginze the emblem?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Roger

[Doc]

Originally Posted by Sturmvogel262

Hello,

A friend of mine recently got this original canvas that presumably was removed from a WW1 airplane, most likely a German plane. It may show a unit emblem or an individual emblem and may also be British, American, etc.

Does anybody recoginze the emblem?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Roger

It's not an exact reproduction, but it looks a lot like the old coat of arms of Brabant, which has been modified and reproduced in many coats of arms in Belgium. I would bet it was Belgian. You may want to bounce it off the Brussels Air Museum and see if they recognize it. Doc

[Froggy]

Bonjour

This insignia , iinspired by the ' Lion des Flandres' coat of arms ,was used by French escadrille N° 20- (may be by another Belgium squadron too ??)
L'escadrille_20

Bruno

[Rod_Filan]

In heraldry, this is what is called a "Lion Rampant", and quite common all over Europe. The flag of Scotland for instance, and even used (twice) in the Canadian Coat of Arms. Seems to me the colours may be a clue. For it to be symbolic to a specific region I would imagine it needs to be done in the correct colours. For example; it can't be Scottish because the Scots lion rampant is always red on yellow.

Just my 2 cents...

Cheers

[SCMc]

I am no expert, and it is hard to tell from the picture posted, but the fabric looks like it could be canvas, as stated, in which case it did not come from a aircraft. A lighter fabric, made of linen was used for covering planes.

Steve

[Sturmvogel262]

Hi Doc, Bruno, Rod and Steve,

Many thanks for your posts. It looks indeed like the insignia of escadrille No. 20 (on the link you posted there is a pint that has a red background although it seems that the standard background color was blue).

But then again, I think it is canvas and not a ligher fabric, so maybe it was not from an airplane.

It's good to have some leads to follow (e.g. Belgian emblem).

Cheers,

Roger

[Sturmvogel262]

I have some better photos that also show the fabric or canvas in more detail.

Any thoughts? It definately looks old and original, but did it belong to an airplane once? If not, what else would have carried such an emblem?

Thanks!

Roger

[Sturmvogel262]

Another photo

[Tim West]

It could just be a bit of "some" families heraldry. Like from a banner or flag. It might even be a piece from a larger crest. Who knows? As Rod noted, that lion is used all over Europe.

You might have better luck with some British forums on the subject of heraldry.

Good luck with your research...

[Jim]

The design is the same as my own family's coat of arms, but the colors of my family' coat of arms are different - mine is a green lion rampant on a yellow field and it is of English origin. As Rod says, this style of standing lion with his paws in front of him on a solid color background is quite common all over Europe, though it is always a different color combination and differing details for each coat of arms where it is used. I do not know all of the different ones, as there must be many hundreds of color and pattern combinations of them.

To be completely accurate this red field with black lion blazon would be called 'gules, a lion rampant sable' My family's blazon is 'vert, a lion rampant or' I did a quick search on the technical description of 'gules, a lion rampant sable and the only ones that came up in the first couple of pages were color variations which make them not this one. Even something as small as a different color tongue or paws or a stripe on the field would make it some other blazon and not this one.