BODY OF WORK

One of the great paradoxes of humankind is its capacity for combining destruction with creativity in the wars in which it engages. In the case of World War I aircraft, the artwork that their crews devised had a function beyond mere self-expression. At a time when only larger, more powerful aircraft could carry radios, unit markings were a means of recognition and identification in the air.

France, ever the trendsetter in fashion, established a principle that was followed to various degrees by its allies, especially the Americans. An agreed-upon escadrille (squadron) insignia was painted or stenciled on the fuselage side, with an Arabic numeral ahead or aft of it to identify the individual pilot.

There were a handful of exceptions to that basic pattern, such as escadrille N.103, whose personal aircraft were identified by Roman numerals aft of its stork insignia, or the famous N.124 “Lafayette,” each of whose pilots sported a personal motif such as an initial, a monogram, a band, or a star aft of the Indian head. Also unusual