Quadrant Model of Reality

CROSSES ON PLANES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_aircraft_insignia

Of all the early operators of military aircraft, Germany was unusual in not using "round" roundels, but after evaluating several possible markings, including a black, red and white checkerboard, and a similarly coloured roundel, and black stripes, a black "iron" cross on a square white field was chosen as it was already in use on various flags, and to reflect Germany's heritage as the Holy Roman Empire. The German army's mobilization led to orders in September 1914 to paint all-black Eisernes Kreuz (iron cross) insignia with wide-flared arms over a white field — usually square in shape — on the wings and tails of all aircraft flown by its air arm, then known as the Fliegertruppe des Deutschen Kaiserreiches. The fuselage was also usually marked with a cross on each side but this was optional. The form and location of the initial cross was largely up to the painter, which led to considerable variation, and even the white being omitted. An iron cross with explicit proportions superseded it in July 1916, whose initial form was also painted on a white field, although this would be reduced to a 5 cm border completely around the cross in October of the same year — the month of the formation of the Army's Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte in name — even bordering the ends of the flared arms' ends. In March 1918, a straight black cross with narrow white borders on all sides of the cross was ordered, but proportions were not set until April, resulting in many of those repainted in the field having non-standard proportions. This was then replaced by a narrower, straight-armed cross in May that extended the full chord of wings, with the white border restricted to the sides of the cross's bars. In June, it ceased to be used full chord, with the bars all being the same length. The white on any of these could be omitted when used on a white background, such as was used sometimes for the rudder, and was sometimes omitted on night bombers.

With the dissolution of the German Army's Luftstreitkräfte in May 1920, military insignia would disappear until the rise of the Nazi party, which imposed new rules on aircraft in 1937, starting with the use of the German red/white/black flag on the tails' starboard side of all aircraft, with the port side showing a Nazi Party flag. When the Luftwaffe's re-establishment was made official, these markings were used by military aircraft, while the 1918 Balkenkreuz crosses were reintroduced, which expanded in their specification to two standardized proportions by July 1939, with differing widths for the quartet of white "flanks" on each insignia. When camouflage was introduced prior to invading Poland, the flags were dispensed with, replacing them with a black and white Hakenkreuz swastika on both sides. During the Second World War, the crosses would be further simplified, leaving only the borders in a contrasting colour. Much like the French roundel, variations would be used on countries allied with Germany, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire (combined it with red-white-red stripes on the wings until 1916), Bulgaria, Croatia (stylized as a leaf), Hungary (reversed colors) and Slovakia (blue cross with a red dot in the middle).

After the Second World War was over, West Germany reverted to using a variation of the 1916 iron cross, using the white "flanks" of the Balkenkreuz following the now-curved sides of each arm, while East Germany used a diamond marking based on their flag, with the coat of arms from the flag. Reunification of Germany resulted in the iron cross replacing the East German marking.