Soviet fighter red star variations

Wurger said:

Actually the pre-war and the early stage of the WW2 "Red Star" had three variants. The first, basic one was of the solid red colour without any outline. The second one was of the solid red but with the black thin outline and the third variant was the solid red with the thin black outline and a black painted thin ring inside of the star. The kind of the marking was used from 1927 to 1940/1941 and could be found on planes painted silver , green and the black-green camo. From 1940/1941 to 1943 the star of the solid red without or with the thin black outline was only used mostly. The white thin outline happend occasionally and was the factory variation used from 1941 to the 1943 by a few factories. In the mid of 1943 ( as memo serves in the August ) when the grey camo scheme was introduced, the solid red "Star" got the 5cm thick white outline with the 1cm thick red outer border and became the 'Victory star' used until the end of the war and after. It is said that the white outline also could be of the yellow but together with the Kremlin star type are just the local variations only and had nothing in common with the official regulations. What is more there is a doubt whether the yellow was used at all. The 'Victory star' became the standard soviet national marking after the war.

The VVS "Red star" with the white disc was painted by the USA manufacturers on the West aircraft sent to Russia. IIRC the white disks weren't welcome by Soviets and often were over or re ... painted them with green or other colours.

Also a note .. the single thick white outline without the thin red border of the red star is a result of the incorrect interpretation of the B&W pictures being of not always too great quality. In fact, the red thin border was there. But because of a couple of reasons like the light conditions, tone of the background or the angle the image was taken with ... remains unnoticed.

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Wurger said:

My pleasure.

Because you have asked about the policy behind the variations in the star styles .. IMHO there was one reason for that only. Always to make the national marking dominant.

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SirFrancis said:

I noticed one thing that was specific to Soviet fighters is that they didn't have the national markings on the upper side of wings. I wonder why this was when all other nations did.

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Wurger said:

The painting of the Red Star markings on the upper wing surfaces was kept since the October Revolution although the shapes and sizes of the marking were quite random at that time. On 26 July 1927 the VVS RKKA introduced more unified rules of applying and one shape of the Red Star marking. The Red Star was said to be applied on wing tops and undersides. If the plane was a biplane the red stars were applied on the top wing upper surface and on the bottom wing underside only.
In the summer of the 1940 after trials for masking and camouflage colours for the russian aircraft it was recommended to remove the red stars from the wing tops. This recommendation was added to the new temporary VVS RKKA rules for camouflage and introduced on all planes made beginning the second half of the 1941. The way of applying of the red star markings was followed until the end of WW2.

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Wurger said:

The same was said about the Polish AF chequer. If you have a look at the Polish planes used in 1939 you may noticed the nonsymmetric applying of the Polish national marking almost on all Polish aircraft.

Regarding the soviet red star ... I believe it was because of the getting of a kind of a compromise between the year seasons and the colours used for the camo.The red star appeared to be well noticed on the solid green background or the green/black painted surfaces. What is more while the winter camo was in use the red markings were seen greatly. The tone of the red colour should be taken into consideration as well. Contrary to the colour tones used by the Western countries the Russian one was guite bright and gloss mostly. So no wonder the VVS decided to remove them from top surfaces.

Here a couple od shots showing the tops of wings with the red star and without. Although the shots aren't of the greatest qualirty, please notice how nice these are seen if applied.

View attachment 796586
the source: the net.

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SirFrancis said:

I noticed the top right aircraft has only one star on port wing. Another variation!

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