Did Japanese & Russian Ships or Squadrons have Emblems or Crests?

[freebird]

Did Japanese Ships & Squadrons have individual Emblems or Crests?

I have been looking but I have not found any answers.

I know the British had them for ships, squadrons & armies, as did the US & the Germans I think

Did the Russians & Japanese too?


Crests pictured below:


HMS Avenger, RAF "Eagle Squadron", British 1st Army

[Catch22]

I think Russian Squadrons had crests, as I've seen crests on the side of their planes, as for the Japanese I'm not sure, but they did have (towards the end of the war) unique tail markings gor each unit, such as a blue arrow. I will do some more hunting.

[Catch22]

Here we are! This is a Lavochin La-5 from the 3rd GvIAP, Baltic Fleet flown by Cpt. Georgy Dmitrievich Kostylev in 1943. I will keep looking for Japanese crests. On the side of the plane there is a crest, though it MIGHT be a crest for an award this pilot has won, but I'm pretty sure it's not. If there's a correction to be made, by all means, make it.



From Wings Palette, but I had to re-host it.

EDIT: Nothing doing for the Japanese, sorry!

[freebird]

Originally Posted by Catch22

Here we are! This is a Lavochin La-5 from the 3rd GvIAP, Baltic Fleet flown by Cpt. Georgy Dmitrievich Kostylev in 1943. I will keep looking for Japanese crests. On the side of the plane there is a crest, though it MIGHT be a crest for an award this pilot has won, but I'm pretty sure it's not. If there's a correction to be made, by all means, make it.



From Wings Palette, but I had to re-host it.

EDIT: Nothing doing for the Japanese, sorry!

Thanks Catch, I think the crest might be the VVS {peoples air defence?}

I hope that Shinpachi will have some info, he seems to know lots about the Japanese. I'm sure there are internet references, but probably not in English...

[Catch22]

You're certainly welcome! Here's what I meant by the tail markings for the Japanese:



Also from Wings Palette, this Ki-84 "Frank" is from the HQ chutai, 29th Sentai in Taiwan. Don't ask me what that means, because I don't have a clue!

[freebird]

It seems that the Japanese did not have them...

Thanks Shipachi!

I wonder if they had any kind of "Army Banner", I seem to remember that they did in the days of the Samurai?

Originally Posted by Shinpachi

Hi freebird.

As long as I know there were no such crests or emblems.
Please try checking the following sight.

‘å“ú–{’éš*—¤ŒR —¤ŒR‚ÌŒR‘•‡T

This is the biggest collection site of IJA/IJN uniforms and accessories.

Nice day

[Wayne Little]

Japanese Army Air Force "Squadrons" in some cases carried stylised emblems to signify their Sentai...

here is an example does this qualify?

Ki-45 of the 53rd Sentai the stylised "53" emblem on the tail...

Sourced from the internet, i cannot recall exactly where?...

[kaigunair]

the yamato had a very large 16 pedal chrysanthemom on the bow of the ship, but I think other ships had this on them.

The kikusui airgroup had this emblem (floating chrysanthemum) on the tail, and mini subs also used this emblem. But not exactly a squandron crest per se.

[imalko]

To my knowledge Soviet aircraft didn't have emblems which would indicate individual units in the way Luftwaffe did. There are some examples of emblems painted on Soviet aircraft, but these were (I believe) pilot's personal emblems.
However in most cases all Soviet Guard units (fighter or bomber) wore Guard emblems on their aircraft (one variation of this emblem shown on picture 1 in attachment). Also it was usual practice for most pilots to paint on their aircraft kill markings (as with most other Air Forces) and medals received, for example Medal of Hero of Soviet Union, Order of the Red Banner, etc. (picture 2). And finally, in many cases aircraft wore inscriptions of many sorts, as shown on picture 3.

On the profile of La-5 posted by Catch in one of previous posts you can observe Guard emblem beneath the cockpit, kill markings also on the fuselage and medal of Hero of Soviet Union painted on tail fin.

[BombTaxi]

Thanks imalko, I knew the crest signified a Guards unit, but did not know that the Kremlin stars did as well What qualified a unit (air or ground) for Guards status? I understand that it was something that could be conferred on a non-Guards unit for good battle performance

[imalko]

Originally Posted by BombTaxi

... What qualified a unit (air or ground) for Guards status? I understand that it was something that could be conferred on a non-Guards unit for good battle performance.

You are right BT. Guard status was awarded to those units which distinguished themselves in battle. It was practiced in air same as in ground forces. For example, Soviet 62nd Rifle Army, which under the command of General Vasily Chuikov fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, for great combat performance was granted Guards status and renamed the 8th Guards Army in April 1943. (This Army continued to fight on throughout the war and took part in Battle of Berlin).
Guard units were introduced to the Red army by the order of People's Commissar for Defense of USSR on 18 September 1941, and were considered to have elite status. However, the Guards badge was introduced only on 21 May 1943.

As a side note and reffering to one of Freebird's previous posts, VVS is abbreviation from phrase Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily. This means Military Air Force and pertains on air forces of the both Soviet Army and Navy.

[BombTaxi]

Thanks imalko. Following on from your mention of the VVS, was the PVO a seperate entity from the VVS during WW2, as it was during the Cold War, or was air defence a VVS role as well?

(Sorry for all the questions, this is an area I would love to learn more about )

[imalko]

Don't know much about Cold war period, but to my knowledge Soviet PVO (ProtivoVozdushnaya Oborona = Anti-Air Defense) in WW2 included both antiaircraft artillery and Air units. Its formations were organized as PVO Fronts, Air Armies and PVO forces of military districts. For example, in Battle of Moscow Soviet capitol PVO consisted of 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Corps and 6th Fighter Aircorps (in total some 1100 Artillery pieces of all callibers, 640 machine guns, 760 search lights and 700 fighter aircraft). I guess it is kind of confusing but VVS were in this case Air units within PVO.

Anyway here is a link for more details: Soviet Air Defence Forces - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Tzaw1]

PVO organization chart since 1943
1. People's Commissariat for of Defence
2. Central Staff of Fighter Aviation PVO
3. Board of Fighting Trim
4. C-in-C of Artillery RKKA
5. Central Staff of PVO
6. military districts
7. HQ of Inspection PVO
8. PVO corpses
9. PVO divisions
10. PVO fronts
11. Central Station of VNOS (aerial observation, information and communication service)
12. PVO zones
13. Fighter Corps PVO
14. Fighter Division PVO
15. front's self-dependent units

[BombTaxi]

Thanks imalko and Tzaw, that has helped my understanding a lot