Targets On Planes???!?

Question

Why do some old British warplanes like the Spitfire have targets on their wings and/or body? Surely the aim is to avoid being shot at? So why give the enemy a target? Is it just a design? is it cockiness? or is there another reason??

Answer 1

LOL, They aren't targets.
They're called Roundel's and they're the RAF's way of identifying an aircraft as one of their own.
Most air forces use the Roundel symbol in the colours of their national flag. Some air forces use a diferent shaped logo similar to the london underground station signs, but here in the UK, we use Roundels, which admittedly look quite like a target.

During peacetime, the roundels are traditionally red in the centre, with a white ring, then a blue ring at the outside.

But during wartime, this design was changed to just red and blue, with red at the centre and blue at the outside. This is because the last colour you want include in a camouflage pattern is white, as white is very eye-catching and ruins the effect of the cammo paint.

In recent years, the wartime colours of just red and blue have become accepted as the regular colours of RAF roundels on aircraft, and the 3 coloured version now only gets used on training aircraft.

Answer 2

The roundels are not targets, they identify the side the aircraft is on and are easily identifiable both from the ground and the air from long distances and to the someone untrained in aircraft recognition.
If they were targets then they should be painted on the engine. Thats where you would aim t bring down a spitfire with machineguns.

Answer 3

The original identification used by the Royal Flying Corps at the start of the 1st World War was in fact the union jack. Due to this design being confused with the iron cross on german aircraft the roundel now in existence was conceived.

As already pointed out in theatre just blue & red are used for camouflage purposes. Out of theatre red, white & blue.

Answer 4

Swampy B gave a very good answer...

You're used to current warplanes having what we call "Low-Visibility" paint schemes... aircraft are painted in grey or blue that matches the sky, and their national markings are typically very muted and serve more for legal reasons than for recognition.

The US Navy changed the rules a few years back, and started permitting each squadron to have ONE colorful aircraft again... to show the squadrons insignia and colors... as a contrast to the leperous "haze-grey" of the other birds.

Answer 5

It is so you can identify if the plane is friendly or enemy. Like the german planes have the big iron cross on them, russian have a red star, american have a white start in a blue background with a red and white stripe on both sides. They learned real quick in WW1 when they were shooting down their own planes. They had no radar or ability to tell the difference until they were sometimes too close and had already pulled the trigger.

Answer 6

All warplane have a log on the wings and on the tail

Answer 7

What you think is a target is the British symbol, like the stars and bars on American planes.

Answer 8

it is for recognising friend from the foe. it si a kind of state insignia. btw germans had it too, thier cross. brits fighting in the pacific ommited the red inner circle, because it could be misidentified as Japanese.

Answer 9

It identifies them as British,nothing more.

Answer 10

identification purposes....lol, never looked @ it as being a "target", i can, however see why one would wonder