The Little World

And proud of it – so proud that they wore a stylised image of fasces as an air force insignia on the Italian Air force planes in the early part of WW2. Of course it featured largely in political imagery as well and was promoted by Mussolini for all sorts of purposes. It went out of fascion ( that’s a tortured pun ) along about the time Musso started hanging around in petrol stations.

But in the context of the little Hobby Boss Macchi C.200, it is the correct insignia for the wings and the fuselage. There is a white cross for the tailplane that is also characteristic of their air force – The Regia Aeronautica – at the time. As it was styled a royal service there were other crests also applicable. These are not a problem for me, but I’ve got a basic personal problem with the roundels.

The problem is the association of the roundels with the politics. It is not the only insignia I baulk at – the Hakenkreuz on the tail of Luftwaffe planes of the same era is another. In line with a number of European countries, I put a ban on it on my models, and a note about that ban on my museum signs. It’s the politics I want to keep out of the place.

What to do? Never build an Italian plane? Or a Spanish Nationalist plane? Or only build the ones that were rebadged after 1943? I googled for images of possible schemes and found the following:

So I guess the best thing to do, now that the Italian camouflage has been completed, is to look out some red-white-green Italian roundels and style the little Saetta as a plane of the Aviacione Cobelligerante Italiana. I’ll still keep the white cross for looks.

The fact that the British and Americans captured a number of enemy aircraft and repainted them is also useful.

Note: Those of you who smile sardonically at my reservations might also point out that the red star on Soviet aircraft was a pervasive part of their politics. So it was, but there is no alternative.