A victory marking (also called a victory mark, kill marking, or kill mark) is a symbol applied in stencil or decal to the side of a military aircraft to denote an aerial victory achieved by the aircraft's pilot or crew. The use of victory markings originated during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, burgeoned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and frequently took the form of the roundel or national flag of the nationality of the aircraft defeated. In the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

, as of 2010, victory markings are applied in the form of six inch green stars set within a black border with the type of aircraft defeated stenciled inside the star in white lettering. Victory marks have been applied to aircraft for reasons other than aerial victories. During the period of its use for astronaut recovery, the U.S. Navy's

Helicopter 66 Helicopter 66 is a United States Navy Sikorsky Sea King helicopter used during the late 1960s for the water recovery of astronauts during five missions of the Apollo program. It has been called "one of the most famous, or at least most icon ...

bore victory marks showing a space capsule silhouette, with one mark added for each recovery in which it participated. In 2012, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Eurofighter The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

was spotted with a kill mark denoting a simulated victory over a U.S. Air Force

F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, th ...

, achieved in a dogfight during a training exercise. James Howard April 1944

Gallery

No. 11 Squadron "Arrows" of the PAF with an

Indian flag The national flag of India, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of India saffron, white and India green; with the ', a 24-spoke wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present for ...

on its nose as a kill mark after it shot down one of the IAF jets during

Operation Swift Retort On 27 February 2019, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted six airstrikes at multiple locations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The airstrikes were part of the PAF military operation codenamed Operation Swift Retort and were co ...

in 2019. File:IAF-F-15C-Baz--Independence-Day-2017-Tel-Nof-IZE-086-kill-marks.jpg,

McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...

of the Israel Air Force showing 4 kill marks for aerial victories over Syrian pilots in

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

. File:F-16-Netz-107-fighter-and-killmarks-01.jpg, This is a F-16A Netz number 107 of the Israeli Air Force. The Netz 107 has an unmatched combat record in the IDF: it bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, and in 1982 it shot down 7 enemy fighter jets (one was a joint interception with another Israeli fighter). File:IAF McDonnell Douglas F-15D Improved Baz Yad Ha Nefetz (Shatterhand) with Operation 'Wooden Leg' success marking.jpg, IAF McDonnell Douglas F-15D "Yad Ha Nefetz" (Shatterhand) with

Operation Wooden Leg Operation "Wooden Leg" ( he, מבצע רגל עץ, ''Mivtza Regel Etz'') was an attack by Israel on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Hammam Chott, near Tunis, Tunisia, on October 1, 1985. With a target 1,280 miles (2,0 ...

success marking File:F-4D_Phantom_II.jpg, A U.S. Air Force

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and ...

pictured at

Tinker Air Force Base Tinker Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force base, with tenant U.S. Navy and other Department of Defense missions, located in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, surrounded by Del City, Oklahoma City, and Midwest City. The base, origina ...

. On its intake splitter-plate is a kill mark in the form of a red star, signifying an aerial victory achieved during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

References

External links

{{commons category, Aircraft success markings Military symbols

Gallery

See also

Further reading

References

External links