Last modified: 2000-01-28 by dov gutterman
Keywords: yugoslavia | roundel | fin flash |
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by Velid-aga Jerlagic , 24 January 2000
Am I worng or you missed the red center? Also the outer rim
was somewhat lighter than the cross outline (that has the right
shade of blue). Actually the Yugoslavian roundel had two
different shades of blue.
Pier Paolo Lugli , 26 January 2000
This is the roundel as seen on reconaissance airplane SIM XIV
H in 1927
by Velid-aga Jerlagic , 26 January 2000
During the Communist era the Yugoslav AF used a fin flash
which was a full fin width streched national flag . (BTW - is
today they use the same but without the star ?).
However as part of the RAF's Balkan Air Force (June 1944 - July
1945) the Yugoslav Air Force while using the same roundel as in
the later Communist era used a square fin flash combined of
VERTICAL stripes (b-w-r) with a red star in the center of the
white stripe.
Here is a scan of a plane with
this fin flash.
I can only think that it was done in order to insure a better
identification by resembling the fin flash to the British one, or
did anyone thought about a vertical triband for Yugoslavia ?
Dov Gutterman , 20 January 2000
I guess the first assumption is right. At that time the flag of the new Communist lead state was
already very well established ... even if not officially adopted
until 1946, due to the proclamation of the Tito's government that
they shall not "prejudge" how the country shall be
organized after the war
Zeljko Heimer , 20 January 2000
it was not a national flag streched to fin width but "cropped"
to fin width as the star was not vertically deformed
Antonio Martins , 20 January 2000
Yugoslav managed aircraft came from RAF surplus, usually old
fashioned or overused airplanes. To press them into service
quickly it was common practice to overpaint a red star on RAF's
roundels and leave the fin flash as it was. No thoughts of a
vertical triband. Guessing by memory: I think that current
Yugoslav aircraft do use the plain tricolour as a fin flash.
Pier Paolo Lugli , 21 January 2000
Maybe so, however, at that period RAF combat planes used the
"thin white stripe" kind of fin flash , while the YAF
fin flash had equal stripes (with red star add) fin flash.The
roundel of the YAF had the thin blue circle as we know of later
use, and not the wide blue circle of the RAF. So it doesn't look
like an overpaint to me.
Dov Gutterman , 21 January 2000
A colour illustration in [rob67]
shows it as red-white-blue (red being the colour nearest the
front of the fin) vertical stripes with a red star. In [rob56] there is a black and white
photograph of a Balkan Air Force Spitfire in which the front
stripe of the fin flash appears to be red. The top front corner
of the white stripe is close to the leading edge of the fin, with
the result that, due to the shape of the tail, the red "stripe"
is triangular not rectangular. The fuselage roundel at first
glance looks (colours guessed) like a red star painted over an
RAF roundel. However it was probably a completely re-painted
insignia, as the white is too wide to be part of a C1 roundel and
the yellow is too narrow to be part of an A1 roundel. The wing
roundel appears to be a red star on a blue circle.
The roundel illustrated in [rob67]
with the fin flash described, has a red star superimposed on a
light blue circle surrounded by a white ring, outside which is a
red ring joining the points of the star. This, and the fin flash
is labelled, "National Army of Liberation 1944-6."
David Prothero , 22 January 2000
