Image by Željko Heimer, 29 Aug 2001
Last modified: 2021-08-21 by bruce berry
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Image by Željko Heimer, 29 Aug 2001
The Air Force of Ethiopia currently uses a green, yellow, red
roundel with a yellow five pointed star in the central disk. The diameters
of disks are approximately 4:3:2. The star does not reach quite the edge of the
yellow disk. It may have been changed since1996 when the current flag was
adopted.
Željko Heimer and Armand du Payrat
[pay00], 29 Aug 2001
Nevertheless, a five pointed star was adopted sometime in or after 1974 and
still in use today.
See
http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/ethiopia/06.htm. There are many
photos of this roundel as can be seen at:
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_alouette_iii.jpg
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_mig-23bn_1264.jpg
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_mig-21mf_1054_002.jpg
BC Wheeler in An Illustrated Guide to Aircraft Marking (1986) [whe86] shows the 5 pointed star.
Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004
Image by Željko Heimer, 18 Oct 2001
My speculation is that this roundel was used in 1974 (after the
revolution and to erase the "imperial" star) until the new roundel was adopted.
Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004
Image by Željko Heimer, 18 Oct 2001
However, I
have also checked some of photos of Ethiopian Air Force aircraft and have not
come across a single photo showing such a star. I
found the previous star with 5 points. It
seems that Cochrane and Elliot (1998) [c2e98]
are also not so sure as they report that "the
design of the central yellow marking has been changed several times. It is
currently a simple 5 pointed star". No dates, no description....nothing more.
Also, the photo at http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/etaf_f-5a_574.jpg shows
an F-5 aircraft that left the service in 1984 with 5 pointed star.
I suspect therefore that this roundel was used only for short time after the
revolution and replaced shortly afterwards.
Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004
Image by Željko Heimer, 18 Oct 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. The roundel had a
six pointed star with 3 rays
(those at 12, ~4 and ~7 o'clock) touching the yellow circle 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
During the Italian-occupation era (1924-1936) the Imperial Ethiopian Aviation was
formed in 1935 and dissolved in 1936). According to Military Aircraft
Insignia of the World by Cochrane and Elliot
(1998) [c2e98]) a green-yellow-red triband
was used both as a "roundel" (1:2) and rudder stripes (1:1) (See also http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/ethiopia/01.htm).
Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004
I located a piece in Insignia at
http://www.insigniamag.com/ethi.html
which says
"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." This confirms [c2e98].
Dov Gutterman, 16 June 2004
Image by Eugene Ipavec, 02 March 2009
A few weeks ago I saw an unidentified flag in a
news report on the departure of Ethiopian occupation troops from Somalia.
Footage was shown of the troops arriving home on a jetliner. As they
disembarked, several happily brandished a flag as I have illustrated above. The row of X's in the
green ring represents an illegible line of text, while wings suggest
an air force affiliation.
Eugene Ipavec, 02 March 2009
