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Ethiopian Roundel

Last modified: 2004-08-26 by zeljko heimer
Keywords: ethiopia | roundel |
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1935 Roundel

In the pre-Italian-occupation era (1924-1936) the Imperial Ethiopian Aviation was formed in 1935 and dissolved in 1935 (or 1936). They used a green-yellow-red triband both as "roundel" (1:2) and rudder stripes (1:1) (Cochrane & Elliott, 1998, [cos98])
See http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/ethiopia/01.htm

Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004

Concering the first markinks of Ethiopia, I located a piece in Insignia at http://www.insigniamag.com/ethi.html saying: "No markings were carried on the wings of rudder at this stage, but by the time of the Italian occupation rudder stripes had been added and the inscription and Lion of Judah removed. Rudder stripes consisted of equal horizontal stripes of (from top) Green, Yellow and Red. Other aircraft in the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force carried a rectangle on the wing surfaces in Green, Yellow and Red, but it is not known if the Potez 25s did." So it confirms [cos98] report.

Dov Gutterman, 16 June 2004

1946-1974 Roundel

[Ethiopian roundel] by Zeljko Heimer, 18 October 2001

In 1946 the new Imperial Ethiopian Air Force was founded (Ye Ethiopia Ayer Hail or Ye Ithopya Ayer Hayl) and adopted a new roundel (no fin flash): Six points star with 3 rays touching the yellow intrim circle (those in 12,~4 and ~7 o'clock) while the other three had shorter rays.
See http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/ethiopia/04.htm
See photos: http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_b_mk_52_photo_british_aerospace.jpg
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_c-119.jpg
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_f-5a_663.jpg and more on the same site

Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004

1974-1985 Roundel

[Ethiopian roundel] by Zeljko Heimer, 18 October 2001

In Flaggenmitteilung no. 108 (April 1985) I found this air force roundel.

Six points star, with the rays of the same size touching the yellow circle. It is the roundel used from 1974 til 1985. No fin flash. See http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/ethiopia/05.htm based on (Cochrane & Elliott, 1998, [cos98]).
However I checked a lot of photos of EAF and not a single photo with such a star. I found the previous star, I found the 5 points star but no 6 points star. It seems the [cos98] is also not so sure about it as he only report: "the design of the central yellow marking has been changed several times. It is currently a simple 5 points star". No dates, no description....nothing more.
Also, the photo at