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Philippines Air Force

image by Jay Allen Villapando, 8 February 2005

Description of the flag
Aircraft markings
- 1935-1941
- 1941-1947

See also:

Description of the flag

The Philippine Air Force Flag has the same ratio as the Philippine National Flag. It has a field of air force blue (royal blue) defaced with the seal of the Philippine Air Force (PAF): a circular inscription with the legend "Hukbong Paghihimpawid ng Pilipinas" (Air Force of the Philippines - Philippines Forces Aerial, to be literal) in white letters, a yellow five-pointed star preceding each word in the legend, representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; a smaller white circle enclosing the Philippine air force symbol, a lozenge with a red border, and a white border in turn surrounding a navy blue diamond; the lozenge having on either side stylized wings in yellow.
Manuel L. Quezon III, 11 February 2002

Aircraft markings

The Hukbong Himpapawid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Air Force) was formed in 1935 as Philippine Constabulary Air Corps; it was dissolved in 1941 and reformed in 1945. Cochrane & Elliott (1998) reported that between 1935 and 1941 it used a lozenge of red-white-blue as a marking (and also as a fin flash). The new roundel (below) created by adding blue-bordered white wings to the previous roundel was adopted in 1945 and used until today. There was an early version to this roundel with bars
Dov Gutterman, 22 June 2004

by Željko Heimer

A lozenge of red-white-blue with blue bordered white wings extending out to both sides. Cochrane and Elliott (1998) reported that the tricolour lozenge was used since the formation of the Army Air Corps in 1935 until its amalgamation with US AAC. After the WWII, the Air Force was re-established in 1947 when the winged lozenge was introduced.
Željko Heimer, 11 November 2002

In Jane's Defence Weekly dated 06 Nov 2002, are two photos of Philippine Air Force aircraft show low visibility air markings which are different from those I knew from Wheeler (1986), Cochrane and Elliott (1998), and the Australian Air Force website: between the wings, in lieu of the twin diamond, there is a black disc in a triangle pointing upwards.
Armand Noel du Payrat, 25 November 2002

by Nozomi Kariyasu, 6 August 2024

There are two low visibility versions to these markings. One removes the red elements ( http://www.scramble.nl/mil/5/phaf/gfx/main-s211.jpg ) and the other removes the white elements ( http://www.scramble.nl/mil/5/phaf/gfx/main-nomad.jpg ). Philippines Air Force web page is at http://www.paf.mil.ph/index.html.
Dov Gutterman, 22 June 2004

A version of the marking by David Donald (2002, Taschenhandbuch der Militärflugzeuge; ISBN: 3-89880-122-5; p.179) shows a variant with a square instead of a lozenge, i.e. all sides are of equal length. The inner diamond is clearly bigger.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 March 2009

1935-1941

by Nozomi Kariyasu, 6 August 2024

Zooming the source photo, [it] seems that has a dark border in the diamond's outer part. As we can't see the color of the central diamond, apparently black, I believe that is possible that the inner diamond was blue and outer was bordered red, as the diamond dated from 1941.
Jaume Ollé, 27 August 2024

Here is a photo showing roundel in a diamond shape with blue inside and white outside. There is a site with black and white other photos.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 28 August 2024

1941-1947

by Nozomi Kariyasu, 6 August 2024