In one of your pictures of the week, you said the aircraft in the photo was in markings of the Portuguese Air Force. How can you tell? Is there any way of knowing what country a military plane belongs to?
- question from TJ Simmons

Vought A-7 Corsair II

The country operating a military aircraft can most often be identified by the national insignia painted on its wings or fuselage. This insignia or logo is usually referred to as a roundel since most countries use a circular shape for their symbol. In the A-7 photo shown above, one of these roundels can be seen on the aft fuselage just forward of the horizontal tail. Although the roundel is somewhat difficult to make out in this photo, a second clue to the plane's nation of origin can be seen near the center of the vertical tail. It is common for an additional colorful symbol referred to as a fin flash to be placed in this location. Most countries that employ a fin flash use a miniature version of the nation's flag. The flag of Portugal can be seen on the A-7's vertical tail helping to identify the military for which it serves.

Roundels first appeared during World War I when the new breed of combat pilots flying over European battlefields needed a means of differentiating friendly and enemy aircraft. The French were first to adopt a roundel using a series of blue, white, and red concentric circles reminiscent of the French flag. The British quickly followed suit with a similar design of blue, white, and red circles. This design has since been simplified to two colors with the elimination of the white circle. The Royal Air Force design was also modified for other countries within the British Empire by simply replacing the red circular center of the British roundel with a red shape symbolizing that nation. Examples include Australia with a red kangaroo, Canada with a red maple leaf, and New Zealand with a red kiwi bird.

Since so many modern countries were colonies of France and the United Kingdom during the early years of aviation, it is not surprising that most of these nations also adopted roundel designs for their air forces upon gaining independence. These designs range from the ultimate simplicity of Libya's solid green circle to the five concentric circles of Thailand and Kenya or the complex designs of the Dominican Republic and Mauritania. Some countries also have multiple versions of their roundel for different purposes. Both the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, have traditionally used very bright and colorful insignia with red, white, and blue but currently employ roundels with faded, pale colors or stenciled outlines to reduce visibility on combat aircraft.

Low-visibility roundels on the aft fuselage and right wing of the US F-22 Raptor

To assist in identifying the origins of military aircraft, we have assembled the following list of roundel insignia currently in use. Bear in mind that some countries change their insignia fairly often as political powers shift, so some of those shown below may no longer be accurate.

Afghanistan	Albania	Algeria	Angola	Argentina
Australia	Austria	Bahrain	Bangladesh	Belgium
Benin	Bolivia	Bosnia	Botswana	Brazil
Brunei	Bulgaria	Burkina Faso	Burma (Myanmar)	Burundi
Cambodia	Cameroon	Canada	Central African Republic	Chad
Chile	China	Colombia	Congo	Costa Rica
Croatia	Cuba	Cyprus	Czech Republic	Dem. Republic of Congo (Zaire)
Denmark	Djibouti	Dominican Republic	Ecuador	Egypt
El Salvador	Eritrea	Ethiopia	Finland	France
Gabon	Germany	Ghana	Greece	Guatemala
Guinea	Guinea Bissau	Guyana	Haiti	Honduras
Hungary	India	Indonesia	Iran	Iraq
Ireland	Israel	Italy	Ivory Coast	Jamaica
Japan	Jordan	Kenya	Kuwait	Laos
Latvia	Lebanon	Libya	Lithuania	Madagascar
Malawi	Malaysia	Mali	Malta	Mauritania
Mexico	Mongolia	Morocco	Mozambique	Nepal
Netherlands	New Zealand	Nicaragua	Niger	Nigeria
North Korea	Norway	Oman	Pakistan	Panama
Papua New Guinea	Paraguay	Peru	Philippines	Poland
Portugal	Qatar	Romania	Russia	Rwanda
Saudi Arabia	Senegal	Serbia & Montenegro (Yugoslavia)	Singapore	Slovakia
Slovenia	Somalia	South Africa	South Korea	Spain
Sri Lanka	Sudan	Suriname	Sweden	Switzerland
Taiwan	Tanzania	Thailand	Togo	Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia	Turkey	Uganda	Ukraine	United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom	United States	Uruguay	Venezuela	Vietnam
	Yemen	Zambia	Zimbabwe

A good site to learn more about military roundels, flags in general, and the evolution of various national insignia is Flags of the World.
- answer by Jeff Scott, 9 April 2006

Related Topics:

What does the series of letters and numbers on the back of a plane stand for? Why do the numbers on US aircraft always start with the letter N? Where can I find a country's registration prefix?

Why did the US military restart the aircraft designation numbers in the 1960s?

I've noticed that Air Force planes have a two-letter code on their vertical tails. What do these letters mean?

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