Aircraft Recognition (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Aircraft Recognition, subtitled The Inter-Services Journal was a British Second World War magazine
dedicated to the subject of aircraft recognition
. Published monthly by the Ministry of Aircraft Production between September 1942 and September 1945, the target audience of the magazine was members of all three British Armed Services (Army
, Royal Navy
and Royal Air Force
) as well as members of the Royal Observer Corps
.
. It was also a topic that was outside the brief of the Observer Corps whose duties were limited to the reporting of aircraft as "Friendly Fighters", "Bombers", "Hostile" or "Unidentified. However many members of the Observer Corps did take an active interest in the subject of aircraft recognition. The only aids issued to assist with aircraft recognition were the Air Ministry
Publications AP.1480, official silhouettes of aircraft, and AP.1764, Aircraft Recognition. The low priority afforded to the topic was well instanced as early as 6 September 1939 when the Battle of Barking Creek
, a friendly fire
incident, occurred resulting in the death of a British fighter pilot and the loss of two Hawker Hurricane
s.
The Battle of Barking Creek, other friendly fire incidents and the paucity of material on the subject of aircraft recognition led to the formation of an Aircraft Recognition Wing within the Army Anti-Aircraft Command. On a very limited budget the first course started at RAF Biggin Hill in February 1940 training 36 officers and men in the subject of aircraft recognition. The topic also started to come to the attention of the Inter-Service Recognition Committee that had been formed in 1939 to deal mainly with air-to-ground and air-to-sea signalling to indicate friendly status and by the end of 1940 all three services realised that more work was needed to improve aircraft recognition.
Concurrently, there were a number of developments taking place outside the armed services. In December 1939 a group of Observer Corps volunteers in Guildford
organised a meeting to discuss improving aircraft recognition, the meeting became known as the "Hearkers Club School of Instruction"and first lecture was delivered by Peter Masefield, technical editor of The Aeroplane. Masefield was to play a leading role in the launch and direction taken by Aircraft Recognition. The first Hearkers Club was such a success that others followed and by Spring 1940 there were nine branches and a supporting publication-The Hearkers Club Bulletin. In the bulletin and in The Aeroplane Masefield explained his techniques in aircraft recognition
Throughout the rest of 1940 Masefield campaigned for a separate publication dedicated to aircraft recognition and on 2 January 1941, Temple Press, the publishers of The Aeroplane launched The Aeroplane Spotter edited by Masefield. It incorporated The Hearkers Club Bulletin and while remaining an independent publication received official backing when the Air Ministry and the War Office
placed subscriptions for the magazine for all RAF stations and Anti-Aircraft Command units. Among the contributors Masefield used was artist and caricaturist E. A. "Chris" Wren whose series of drawings called "Oddentification" portray aircraft with exaggerated features to emphasise the salient recognition points. As well as the armed forces and the Observer Corps there were a large number of civilian "Spotters Clubs" formed who also contributed information towards the air defence of Great Britain despite not receiving any official recognition..
With these wide variety of involved organisations the Inter-Service Recognition Committee was instructed by the Air Council to "Conduct an investigation into the state of aircraft recognition training and the methods of production and distribution of aircraft recognition material". The committee did not report until early 1942 when it concluded that having one body controlling training on aircraft recognition was not possible; but that there ought to be co-ordination between the armed and civil defence services and that there should be rationalisation of training materials. It was this last point that led the Inter-Service Recognition Committee to decide, in June 1942, to establish its own publication (A lesser point was the saving of purchasing large numbers of copies of The Aeroplane Spotter).
at a low grade it was distributed free through official channels but could be read by anyone who could obtain a copy. The emphasis of the of the magazine was to be on training and aircraft recognition techniques along the lines proposed by Masefield.
.
In each issue there was a variety of tests; regular types included "Flying photographs" - series of pictures of aircraft in flight, and "Sillographs" - solid silhouette
s of (normally) threequarter views. Other tests included series of photos taken from a particular aspect e.g. from behind, or "On the spot" - small head on photos of one Allies and one Axis aircraft challenging the reader to differentiate friend from foe. A regular contributor to most issues was the cartoonist Michael Cummings who continued the style of Wren's "Oddentifications" by submitting recognition tests in the form of cartoons and caricatures. Other contributors included Charles Gibbs-Smith and Russell Brockbank. High quality photos were used wherever possible using photographers from the RAF Film Production Unit based at RAF Benson
.
With the end of the War in Europe in May 1945, the emphasis of material changed to concentrate on aircraft likely to be encountered in the Pacific theatre of operations. In June 1945 the security rating of the journal was raised to Restricted although this was more an excuse to cut the number of copies produced rather than a genuine security need. With the publication of the September 1945 issue (Volume III number 13) production was suspended as there was no further need for the magazine.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
dedicated to the subject of aircraft recognition
Aircraft recognition
Aircraft recognition is a visual skill taught to military personal and civilian auxiliaries since the introduction of military aircraft in World War I. It is important for air defense and military intelligence gathering....
. Published monthly by the Ministry of Aircraft Production between September 1942 and September 1945, the target audience of the magazine was members of all three British Armed Services (Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
) as well as members of the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
.
Background
At the start of the Second World War, the subject of aircraft recognition had a very low priority among the British armed forces with the exception of the Army Anti-Aircraft CommandAnti-Aircraft Command
Anti-Aircraft Command was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the anti-aircraft artillery units of the British Isles.-History:...
. It was also a topic that was outside the brief of the Observer Corps whose duties were limited to the reporting of aircraft as "Friendly Fighters", "Bombers", "Hostile" or "Unidentified. However many members of the Observer Corps did take an active interest in the subject of aircraft recognition. The only aids issued to assist with aircraft recognition were the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
Publications AP.1480, official silhouettes of aircraft, and AP.1764, Aircraft Recognition. The low priority afforded to the topic was well instanced as early as 6 September 1939 when the Battle of Barking Creek
Battle of Barking Creek
The Battle of Barking Creek was a friendly fire incident that happened on 6 September 1939, resulting in the first death of a British fighter pilot in the Second World War.-Incident:...
, a friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
incident, occurred resulting in the death of a British fighter pilot and the loss of two Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
s.
The Battle of Barking Creek, other friendly fire incidents and the paucity of material on the subject of aircraft recognition led to the formation of an Aircraft Recognition Wing within the Army Anti-Aircraft Command. On a very limited budget the first course started at RAF Biggin Hill in February 1940 training 36 officers and men in the subject of aircraft recognition. The topic also started to come to the attention of the Inter-Service Recognition Committee that had been formed in 1939 to deal mainly with air-to-ground and air-to-sea signalling to indicate friendly status and by the end of 1940 all three services realised that more work was needed to improve aircraft recognition.
Concurrently, there were a number of developments taking place outside the armed services. In December 1939 a group of Observer Corps volunteers in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
organised a meeting to discuss improving aircraft recognition, the meeting became known as the "Hearkers Club School of Instruction"and first lecture was delivered by Peter Masefield, technical editor of The Aeroplane. Masefield was to play a leading role in the launch and direction taken by Aircraft Recognition. The first Hearkers Club was such a success that others followed and by Spring 1940 there were nine branches and a supporting publication-The Hearkers Club Bulletin. In the bulletin and in The Aeroplane Masefield explained his techniques in aircraft recognition
Throughout the rest of 1940 Masefield campaigned for a separate publication dedicated to aircraft recognition and on 2 January 1941, Temple Press, the publishers of The Aeroplane launched The Aeroplane Spotter edited by Masefield. It incorporated The Hearkers Club Bulletin and while remaining an independent publication received official backing when the Air Ministry and the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
placed subscriptions for the magazine for all RAF stations and Anti-Aircraft Command units. Among the contributors Masefield used was artist and caricaturist E. A. "Chris" Wren whose series of drawings called "Oddentification" portray aircraft with exaggerated features to emphasise the salient recognition points. As well as the armed forces and the Observer Corps there were a large number of civilian "Spotters Clubs" formed who also contributed information towards the air defence of Great Britain despite not receiving any official recognition..
With these wide variety of involved organisations the Inter-Service Recognition Committee was instructed by the Air Council to "Conduct an investigation into the state of aircraft recognition training and the methods of production and distribution of aircraft recognition material". The committee did not report until early 1942 when it concluded that having one body controlling training on aircraft recognition was not possible; but that there ought to be co-ordination between the armed and civil defence services and that there should be rationalisation of training materials. It was this last point that led the Inter-Service Recognition Committee to decide, in June 1942, to establish its own publication (A lesser point was the saving of purchasing large numbers of copies of The Aeroplane Spotter).
Aircraft Recognition
The first issue of the magazine was published in September 1942. There was an editorial committee of seven under the chairmanship of Masefield; although Masefield wrote most of the early editions himself. ClassifiedClassified information in the United Kingdom
Classified information in the United Kingdom, now called Protectively Marked Information, is a system used to protect information from intentional or inadvertent release to unauthorised readers. The system is organised by the Cabinet Office and is implemented throughout central and local government...
at a low grade it was distributed free through official channels but could be read by anyone who could obtain a copy. The emphasis of the of the magazine was to be on training and aircraft recognition techniques along the lines proposed by Masefield.
Contents
Each edition consisted of a mix of written articles on the theory and practice of aircraft recognition and practical tests as well as occasional items on other subjects of interest; for example the first issue contained three articles on the subject of aircraft recognition, two articles on specific aircraft types, four sets of recognition tests and an article on the interpretation of aerial photographsAerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
.
In each issue there was a variety of tests; regular types included "Flying photographs" - series of pictures of aircraft in flight, and "Sillographs" - solid silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
s of (normally) threequarter views. Other tests included series of photos taken from a particular aspect e.g. from behind, or "On the spot" - small head on photos of one Allies and one Axis aircraft challenging the reader to differentiate friend from foe. A regular contributor to most issues was the cartoonist Michael Cummings who continued the style of Wren's "Oddentifications" by submitting recognition tests in the form of cartoons and caricatures. Other contributors included Charles Gibbs-Smith and Russell Brockbank. High quality photos were used wherever possible using photographers from the RAF Film Production Unit based at RAF Benson
RAF Benson
RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force station near Benson in South Oxfordshire, England. It is home to the Royal Air Force's support helicopters, the Aérospatiale Puma and the EH-101 Merlin, known as the Puma HC.Mk 1 and the Merlin HC.Mk 3 and Mk 3a....
.
With the end of the War in Europe in May 1945, the emphasis of material changed to concentrate on aircraft likely to be encountered in the Pacific theatre of operations. In June 1945 the security rating of the journal was raised to Restricted although this was more an excuse to cut the number of copies produced rather than a genuine security need. With the publication of the September 1945 issue (Volume III number 13) production was suspended as there was no further need for the magazine.