Warbird Information Exchange

After the British Commonwealth countires entered the war with Japan their respective insignias was modified to remove the red dot from the roundel for aircraft operating in that theater. It seems to me that all of photos I have seen of west coast operated RCAF A/C retained the red dot. Did the RCAF ever convert over to a 'omitted red dot' roundel ??

Were they involved in combat operations in the Pacific, outside of defending the west coast?

Hello Mazda,

Yes, the RCAF participated in S.E. Asia and their aircraft insignia did indeed have the red dot removed. The text "Canadian Flying Operations in Southeast Asia 1941-1945" by Melmyk illustates a Dakota with typical RAF SEAC markings. The idea of removing the red dot (U.S. included) was to eliminate any possible confusion with Japanese marked A/C. RCAF Warhawks were used to defend British Columbia and participated in Alaskan ops. as well.

I guess what I meant was, would they remove the red from the roundel on planes based on the west coast? They weren't in a combat theatre. I poked around online a bit, but couldn't find out.

I've always been a fan of the RCN and RCAF, ever since my Aunt from across the river bought me a G.I Joe that had canadian markings rather than United States.

I've built an RCN Sea Fury in the past, an RCAF Vampire, as well as an RCAF F-101. That's the plus side of living so close to the border, you can often find stuff like that.

I did find this kind of odd, it's a flight of RCN Sea Furies during the Korean War, without the red on the tail or the maple leaf.

Mazda:

Thanks so much for submitting your photo of the RCN Sea Furies! If I look very close I can barely make out he maple leaf in the center of the insignia. Looks as if they we using a low profile roundel. I know that the first cut of the post WWII RCAF/RN insignia was simply the maple leaf on a blue circle background. The white background disk was added later. Photos of these early insignias seem to be rare.

My inquiry into the usage of a modified insignia for West Coast ops was a point of curiosity. Apparently the RCAF used the standard RAF style insignia across North America as I have never seen one.