1-300 WWI Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare Variant #1 Decals
These 1-300 WWI Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare Variant #1 decals reproduce the aircraft identification markings represented by this sheet for use on 1-300 scale aircraft miniatures. They are intended for historically appropriate aircraft, units, and periods associated with the marking.
Decal Information
The sheet includes WWI Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare Variant #1 markings suitable for use on 1-300 scale aircraft miniatures.
They are printed on clear-background waterslide decal paper. They need to be individually cut out. Apply over a properly prepared and gloss-coated model surface using normal waterslide-decal techniques.
Key Historical Details
Region / Nation: Italian Service: Italian Military Aviation Time Period: World War I Primary Marking: Aircraft Numbers / Identification Codes Scale: 1-300 Application: Historically appropriate aircraft and aviation subjects
Historical Information
1-300 WWI Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare – Variant #1
These 1-300 WWI Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare Variant #1 decals reproduce the distinctive Italian tricolor aircraft roundel used during World War I. This version features a green center, surrounded by a white ring and red outer ring, reflecting one of the principal national marking arrangements carried by Italian military aircraft during the Great War.
Italy entered World War I on the Allied side in May 1915. Its military aviation arm, the Corpo Aeronautico Militare, expanded rapidly from an organization primarily concerned with reconnaissance and artillery observation into a substantial air force operating fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, and ground-attack machines.
During the early part of the war, Italian aircraft markings were far from standardized. National identification could include tricolor-painted rudders, green-white-red sections beneath the wings, circular cockades, or combinations of these markings. Colors, dimensions, and placement could vary considerably between manufacturers, units, and individual aircraft.
The Italian tricolor cockade was eventually standardized as a circular aircraft marking with green at the center, white in the middle, and red on the outside. An official order dated December 21, 1917 specified the tricolor roundel for application to the sides of the fuselage and upper wing surfaces.
Italian aviation also used a reversed color arrangement during the later stages of the war, producing roundels with red at the center and green on the outside. The Italian Air Force's historical account notes that the order of the colors was reversed during 1917–1918, probably to reduce the possibility of misidentification with French aircraft. Because both arrangements appeared during the Great War, period photographs are especially useful when representing a specific aircraft or unit.
The Corpo Aeronautico Militare operated a wide variety of Italian and Allied-designed aircraft, including the Hanriot HD.1, SPAD VII and XIII, Nieuport fighters, Ansaldo SVA series, Ansaldo A.1 Balilla, Pomilio reconnaissance aircraft, and Caproni bombers. Flight Deck Decals also offers several of these Italian WWI aircraft as miniature subjects.
