Logo History ?

Folks – I’ve been trying to learn the history/significance/origin of the round blue circle/white star/red circle that We’ve been using as the logo for our newsletter off and on for the past year. I’ve seen it on WWII aircraft in various versions – some with and without the red circle; some with ‘wings’ to each side, etc. I’ve seen it on post-war and Korean era vehicles and aircraft. But I can’t find anything on the internet about it so far. Does anyone know where it originates and does it designate a specific branch or wing or unit of the services? Any help or thoughts?



Thanks!

Central coast
Military vehicle group
PO Box 2040
Florence Or 97439


SteamBoatWilly

You mean this one?

Thanks!

MILITARY AIRCRAFT ROUNDELS


1917-MAY 1942 MAY 1942-JUNE 1943

The first U.S. roundel was an adaptation of the British symbol, three concentric circles (red-on-white-on-blue). The white circle was simply stretched into the shape of a star. As war in the Pacific began, it soon became evident that the red spot in the middle of the U.S. roundel was frequently mistaken for the red circle on enemy aircraft, drawing friendly fire. It was dropped before the Battle of Midway.


OPERATION TORCH 1942 JULY-AUGUST 1943

A yellow background was added to the roundels on Operation Torch aircraft in late '42. Then, white wings were added to U.S. roundels to make them more distinctive from others. But mysteriously, this change included the addition of a bright red background...someone apparently forgot the reason for dropping the red circle in the previous year.


SEP 1943-JAN 1947 JAN 1947-PRESENT

The red background was exchanged for blue after more friendly fire. Red highlights appeared again in 1947, after Japanese markings were no longer a concern.

Thanks for the great history lesson . Sorry the pixs didn't load!

Great history lessons,Thanks

Thanks for the great PMs :

Hi Willy,

The insignia for the CCMVG is the first national insignia for U.S. military airplanes to include Army, Navy (War Department) and Coast Guard (Treasury Department). It was used until spring of 1942 when the Navy realized that it could be mistaken for the Japanese "rising sun" (meatball) insignia and the red ball was deleted. Pix of the April 1942 Doolittle Tokyo raid with the red ball in the insignia (Navy airplanes included) and the June 1942 Battle of Midway without the red ball will confirm this. In an effort to re-introduce our national colors into the insignia, the white rectangles were added and the entire device surrounded by a red border. Again, the Navy objected because the red border interfered with their overall blue camouflage scheme so the red became blue. This configuration was used until the Air Force became an independent service arm in 1947 and the red bar was placed in the white rectangle to restore the national colors. As an interesting aside, the five TBF Avengers found off the Florida coast recently were understandably thought to be the so-called Fort Lauderdale "Lost Squadron" but I immediately saw that the national insignia on these airplanes were the 1942-43 blue circle/white star/no white rectangle type. At the time that the real incident took place, the correct insignia would have been the later WW2 version of blue circle, white star surrounded by blue instead of red. The Lost Squadron is still lost.

Greg

Here is a pic of the early star on a NAF N3N-3