Erika Inscription

A personal inscription of Hans "Waldi" Waldmann, 6./JG 52 (6th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Wing), Luftwaffe. Hans joined JG 52 as a sergeant on the 21st of August 1942 flying the Bf 109 G-2. He achieved his first victory only weeks later on the 7th of September, and less than a year later had already tallied 50 aerial victories. In total, he would achieve 125 victories while part of JG 52, before transitioning to JG 7 and the Me 262 in the final year of the war. Hans painted several markings on his aircraft over his career, one of the rarest and least documented was the inscription "Erika”; the name of his girlfriend. It was painted at an angle under the cockpit on the port side of his Bf 109 G-6 during the tail end of his time with JG 52.

"GBU Wizard" Art

“GBU Wizard” artwork, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF. Following the prominent Air Force tradition of personal nose art, F-117 pilots in the Gulf War had to not only be tactical with their aircraft, but with their markings as well. As the aircraft were painted with special RAM paint, personal markings were forbidden on the exterior of the aircraft as to not compromise the special radar-absorbing properties of the coating. Unperturbed by this restriction, pilots painted their personal markings on the inside of the aircraft on the internal bomb bay doors instead. Most of the artwork focused around the mystical nature of the F-117, with many examples of artwork pertaining to magic and sorcery. This quintessential example was painted at the edge of the internal bomb bay door on F-117 81-10797, with the accompanying text "Spell Bound" off to the right.

MPK OVR Emblem

The emblem of Anti-Submarine Ships of the Water Area Defense Brigade, Soviet Navy. In the early 1970s, a special commission was created to design naval emblems for specific ship types and roles in the navy. Artist Valentin Pechatin led the design team, creating the majority of the emblems by 1972. Each element of the base shield was meticulously designed; the five points on the shield represent the four major fleets and the Caspian flotilla. The blue triangle and white stripes at the bottom represent the collar on sailors' uniforms. The missile in the bow was the standard emblem used by these ships, but certain vessels had the coat of arms of a city painted instead. Positioning varied slightly, but common placements were on the front of the bridge under the far right window, the sides of the bridge, or to the side of the radio station.

"Winking Clown" Emblem

“Winking Clown” emblem, F Battalion, 16th Company, 2nd Section, British Tank Corps. This somewhat unsettling emblem belonged to a British Female tank, serial number 2716, commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Seymour. Not many details on the tank’s service and crew are known, with sources even conflicting on the first name of the tank’s commander. Records of the tank go cold after the Third Battle of Ypres on July 31st, 1917. It does not appear after this point or in any salvage logs, which strongly suggests it was lost in the battle. The marking itself is similarly mysterious, it may possibly be based on a French Pierrot clown, as the nickname of the tank "Feu D'enfer" (Hellfire) was also French. It was positioned on the hull of the tank on the starboard side under the driver's cabin, next to the battalion letter F which appeared before the 10.

Danish Dynamite Emblem

“Danish Dynamite” emblem, Royal Danish Army. In the 1990s, a handful of Leopard 1A5DK tanks from the Jutland Dragoon Regiment were sent to Bosnia as part of Peacekeeping duties under UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force). The tanks were part of NORDBAT 2 (Nordic Battalion 2), a reinforced Swedish-Danish-Norwegian mechanized battalion under Swedish command. As the tanks were operating out of Denmark in UN colors, many of their markings related to their home country in some form as a way to represent themselves. One of the most archetypal of these markings was “Danish Dynamite”, which was painted small on the bore evacuator on Leopard 1A5DK No. 16177.

VI Gruppo Caccia "Gamba di Ferro" Emblem

Emblem of the 32ª Squadriglia, VI Gruppo Caccia "Gamba di Ferro" (32nd Squadron, 6th Fighter Group, "Iron Leg"), Aviazione Legionaria. While there are several variants of the "Iron Leg" emblem, this more stylized variant was the first, created in honor of the squadron’s Captain, Ernesto Botto. Ernesto was hit on his right thigh by an I-16 over Mediana. Despite the shot shattering his femur, he was able to shoot down one I-16 and disperse the others, landing his aircraft in a field shortly after. He survived but lost his leg. After amputation, it was replaced with an iron prosthetic. Once he found his way back to his squadron, he found that the artistically inclined Sergeant Major Benassi had created the emblem in his honor, painting it on the fuselage behind the cockpit on the squadron’s CR.32 fighters. The emblem would be adopted as the marking of the entire 6th Fighter Group, and Ernesto would go on to be known as the "Iron Leg."

33rd Fighter Division emblem

33rd Fighter Division emblem, PLAAF. The division was formed in 1960 in Hubei, composed of two regiments and equipped with the MiG-15bis. In 1969, the division moved to Chongqing, where they would develop the identity of the "Fog City Eagles" (雾都雄鹰). The emblem of the division is a golden eagle with a stylized "33" tracing its outline. The division still holds a legendary reputation, with one of the squadron's pilots, Jiang Jiaji (蒋佳冀), being the first pilot to win the "Golden Helmet" award at the annual air combat competition three times. The emblem is painted on the J-11 fighters of the division, on the outsides of the vertical stabilizers under the roundel, and on the port side of the fuselage under the rear of the cockpit; it is not painted on the starboard side due to the positioning of the cannon.

51e BCC Emblem "Alsace"

An emblem of 51e Bataillon de Chars de Combat (51st Tank Battalion), French Army. The 51st was formed in September 1939, composed of a handful of giant Char 2C tanks. Despite their imposing nature, the army considered the tanks obsolete by the outbreak of World War 2, and deliberately kept them out of combat. They were instead used as propaganda machines; appearing in films and media as morale-boosting “unstoppable” super tanks. To cement their legacy, each 2C was named after an old French region. Number 93 was Alsace, and along with the nameplate, this emblem of the heraldic shield of the region was painted on the side of the turret. After the German breakthrough, number 93 and the other 2C tanks were loaded onto a transport train to prevent their capture. Due to a block on the railway however, the crews were forced to scuttle the giant tanks, with all but one being destroyed on the evening of June 15th, 1940.

7th Armored Brigade Emblem

The emblem of the 7th Armored Brigade, IDF. The emblem was created by a soldier in the brigade’s maintenance department in 1948, incorporating many key details. Interestingly, the badge was the first example to include the number into the design itself. It consists of a flag, representing the Israeli colors, and a red arrow, which represents the breakthrough of the Burma Road. The crossed bolt and rifle represent both infantry and armor working together, as the group was initially a mechanized brigade before becoming a full armored brigade. While brigade emblems are not regularly placed on modern vehicles for security reasons, historically they were more common, and the emblem of the brigade could be seen on the front plates and bumpers of their armored cars in the late 1940s.

14th Infantry Division Emblem

Emblem of the 14th Infantry Division, Imperial Japanese Army. The emblem of the division undeniably resembles the Mitsubishi logo, and while there are circumstantial links to this likeness being deliberate, there is limited conclusive evidence to draw on. The 14th operated Ha-Go tanks manufactured by Mitsubishi, and during the 1940s, their logo was depicted with a more rhomboid shape, matching the emblem of the 14th closely. It could also be a visual reference to the codename of the division, “照兵団” or “Shining Division,” with the emblem intending to emulate rays of light. These kinds of markings were often less standardized and informal in the later war years, and aside from their basic shape, deriving the meaning behind the design is regularly speculative. The emblem was placed on the turret sides of the Division’s Ha-Go tanks while deployed in Peleliu in 1944.