'''Aircraft markings''' are symbols and annotations painted on aircraft, primarily for visual identification. Types of aircraft markings include: *Aircraft registration, unique alphanumeric string that identifies every aircraft *Invasion stripes, alternating black and white bands painted on the fuselages and wings of World War II Allied aircraft, for the purpose of increased recognition by friendly forces *Military aircraft insignia, applied to military aircraft to identify the nation or branch of military service **United Kingdom ***Royal Air Force roundels, a circular identification mark used since 1915, United Kingdom ***United Kingdom military aircraft registration number, the alpha-numeric registration used to identify individual military aircraft **Royal Canadian Air Force, roundels used from 1920–1945 **Hungarian Air Force, a set of aligned triangles which points toward the front of the aircraft **Romanian Air Force#Aircraft markings, roundels on military vehicles and aircraft that use the colours of the Romanian flag **Serbian Air Force and Air Defence, an adapted version of the former Royal Yugoslav Air Force roundel that was officially adopted in 2006 **South African Air Force, roundels adopted in 2002 that are distinct from the Army **United States: ***United States military aircraft national insignia, a listing of the nationality markings used by military aircraft of the United States ***United States military aircraft serials, the serial numbers used to identify individual military aircraft ***USAAF unit identification aircraft markings, an identification code to identify the unit to which U.S. aircraft are assigned ***Tail code, markings, usually on the vertical stabiliser of U.S. military aircraft, that help to identify the unit and base assignment *Nose art, decorative painting or design on the fuselage of an aircraft, often applied during conflicts *Mission marks, monochrome stencil representations on the fuselage (typically adjacent to the cockpit) of individual ordinance items delivered during conflict by that specific aircraft *List of air forces provides the markings used by each military organisation, with historical examples.
==See also== {{Portal|Aviation}} *Aircraft livery, the full graphic treatment of aircraft, often for branding *{{In title}} *Marking (disambiguation)
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Category:Aircraft markings Category:Insignia Category:Broad-concept articles
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