1919 Paris Convention Annex A on markings for civil a/c

[David M]

Does anyone have a copy of Annex A (describing size, proportions, etc of civilian a/c markings) referenced in Article 10 of the 1919 Convention on the Regulation of Air Navigation agreements?

And/or the equivalent descriptions in British Air Navigation Orders in the immediate pre-WW2 era?

Regards and thanks...

DM in Oz

[matti64]

Sorry not to be able to provide any help with an answer, but strangely enough  the question of when did civil aircraft registrations come into being was something I was wondering about yesterday!

 

[alt-92]

Some internet sleuthing resulted in 

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500950/page/n13/mode/2up?q=annex+A

Details are listed on page 16 of Annex A.

It's also downloadable as epub or PDF. 

[Antti_K]

Hello guys,

 

I purchased a copy of C.I.N.A. ("Paris Treaty") published in 1935 here in Finland and in Finnish language. It is nice to note that all pictures are exactly the same as in the online version alt-92 referred to.

 

Main points are:

- registration markings consists of five letters

- Markings are to be painted on wing upper and lower surfaces and on both sides of the fuselage, between the wing trailing edge and the leading edge of the horizontal stabiliser

- On wing surfaces the letters should point towards the leading edge

- National Markings are published in a table

- the height of the letters (on wings) should be 4/5 of the wing's chord

- On fuselage sides the width of the letters should be 2/3 of their height

- Stroke width should be 1/6 of the character's height

- The space between characters should be 1/2 of the character's width

- A colour providing strong enough contrast should be used

- There is only a mention that "normal" letter types should be used

- All registration markings should be kept clean at all times

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[David M]

Hi,

Many thanks matti64, alt-92 and Antti_K, your responses are very helpful and much appreciated.

Best Regards,

David in Oz

[Eric Mc]

On 23/05/2021 at 10:02, matti64 said:

Sorry not to be able to provide any help with an answer, but strangely enough  the question of when did civil aircraft registrations come into being was something I was wondering about yesterday!

 

Very early 1920s. This was the time when the first national prefix letters were introduced - although many of the originals were superseded in later years and lots of new ones continue to be allocated.

[Tornadofairy]

Going slightly off topic, I was told when I started working on Tornado that the navigation lights are the ones on the intake sides, the ones on the wing-tips were obstruction lights. The above regulations were mentioned; something to do with the wings being movable surfaces.

[Antti_K]

Hello Tornadofairy,

 

one shouldn't refer neither to Paris Convention (C.I.N.A., 1919) nor Chicago Convention (1944, "ICAO Convention") when talking about military aircraft as both conventions were/are signed for civil aviation only. All state aircraft were/are excluded. Paris Convention was in force only between 1919 and 1939. After WWII the Americans called for all their wartime allies ("UN") to join negotiations for a new convention for all civil air traffic. That was signed on December 7th, 1944 in Chicago and it is still in force.

 

It is of course a reasonable approach for all military aircraft manufacturers to use exactly the same regulations, standards and recommended practises with civil aircraft builders. After all, the flight safety is a common goal on both civil and military air operations.

 

I'm not an expert on Tornadoes but the conventions mentioned above give the colours for the navigation lights and the sectors they should illuminate. Placing navigation lights on wing tips isn't mandatory.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Eric Mc]

What I find interesting is how many countries changed their original civil registration allocations and style to something different. Some of these changes happened quite early. For example, The Netherlands was originally allocated the letter "H" as its national identity letter. This was change before World War 2 to "PH".

 

Britain and the Empire also had some significant changes. It started with a system whereby the letter "G" was followed by four letters (as it still does) but the first of the four letters were initially determined by the class of aircraft or country - G-E... was allocated to heavier than air aeroplanes, G-F.... to lighter than air airships, G-AU.. to Australia and G-AU.. to Australia.

Fairly soon afterwards, Canada and Australia received their own letter codes.

Interestingly, Ireland was allocated EI - ... from the very beginning (as far as I am aware).

[Ptmvarsityfan]

The changes mentioned above by Eric MC took place in, I think 1929, when the current national codes were introduced. The original G prefix denoted the British Empire, G-E being England, G- AU Australia etc. Afterwards G denoted Great Britain and the various countries of the empire were allocated their own national codes, most having a two- letter code usually with the first letter V.

Cheers, Paul

[Eric Mc]

I don't think "G-E" specifically meant "England". For civil aircraft purposes, there was no differentiation between England, Scotland and Wales. The letter "E" was for "heavier than air aircraft". G-F... was for balloons and airships. The R100 was G-FAAU and the R101 was G-FAAV.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Eric Mc

[Roger Holden]

......and the British register was re-set from G-EAxx to G-AAAA in 1929.

[Eric Mc]

Because it was obvious that the G-F... lighter than air category was not going to be used to any great extent. It was also in 1929 that Canada and Australia received their own national ID letters (VH and CF respectively). Canada later (1975?) simplified their ID to just "C".

[Lazy8]

The Annexes were reprinted in Flight for 31 July 1919, with a reference back to the British Regulations (which in part they copied) reprinted on 8 May 1919.  As they are more than 100 years old, and reproductions by the magazine of official documents, I don't believe there are any copyright implications.  Please remove this if it turns out I am wrong.

 

Some notes of my own:

The various nationality marks were originally based on the radio call-signs expected to be used by aircraft which were likewise based on those already in use for international shipping.  I've not gone into this aspect, but it seems likely that a primary differentiator in that was how the call-sign appeared in Morse code rather than voice - this maybe explains some of the rather-less-than-obvious choices for country letters.  It is also clear from these that the British use of G-E, G-A, G-I and G-U for Britain, Australia, India and South Africa, and G-CA and G-CY for Canada was a simple way of ensuring there was always a vowel in the radio call-sign.  While A/AU was an obvious choice for Australia, I for India and U for the Union of South Africa, E was more "the one left" than a celebration of Englishness.

It took the Americans a while to fully ratify the convention, and by the time they did it was starting to dawn on them that there weren't quite enough letters in the alphabet for their purposes.  A later change to the original convention allowed the use of up to six numbers in place of the four letters.

There are a number of notable omissions from the list of countries.  Any country on the losing side of the Great War wasn't a party to the convention because they weren't allowed to have aircraft in the first place.  A number of others found themselves unable to take part for a variety of reasons: Switzerland, for instance, refused to be party to the convention for several years because they would have been effectively prevented from developing commercial links with Germany and Austria.

 

Slightly amended by me to make it more readable, this is the text:

ANNEX A.
The Marking of Aircraft
I.—GENERAL.
(a) The nationality mark will be represented by capital letters in Roman characters, e.g.,
France F.
The registration mark shall be represented by a group of four capital letters ; each group shall contain at least one vowel, and for this purpose the letter Y shall be considered as a vowel. The complete group of five letters shall be used as a call sign of the particular aircraft in making or receiving signals by wireless telegraphy or other methods of communication, except when opening up communication by means of visual signals, when the usual methods will be employed. The nationality and registration marks are assigned in accordance with the table contained in section VIII. of this
Annex.
(b) On. aircraft other than State and commercial, the registration mark shall be underlined with a black line.
(c) The entry in the register and the certificate of registration shall contain a description of the aircraft and shall indicate the number or other identification mark given to it by the maker; the nationality and registration marks mantioned above ; the usual station of the aircraft; the full name, nationality, and residence of the owner and the date of registration.
(i) All aircraft shall carry afixed to the car or to the fuselage in a prominent position a metal plate, inscribed with the names and residence of the owner and the marks of nationality and registration.

CERTIFICATE of REGISTRATION.
[Provisional Form.)
Nationality
Nationality mark ..
Registration marks
Date of registration
Type of aircraft... (Tourist, Commercial, State)
Maker
Maker's number
Desciiption
Owner's full name
Owner's residence
Owner's nationality
Station of the craft
Signature and seal of authority issuing this certificate

 

[Sections II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., are as in Schedule IV._of the British Regulations - see below.]

 

VIII.—TABLE OF MARKS.
The nationality mark of the State named below applies to the aircraft of its Dominions, Colonies, Protectorates, Dependencies, or of countries of which it is the Mandatory State.
Registration Marks.
For the five "Great Powers" who contracted to the convention:  All combinations made in accordance with the provisions of Section I. (a) of this Annex, using a group of 4 letters out of the 26 of the alphabet, each group containing at least one vowel, e.g., ADCJ , PURN.  
USA - N
British Empire - G
France - F
Italy - I
Japan - J
 

For other signatory countries
Bolivia - C - All combinations made with B as first letter.
Cuba - C - All combinations made with C as first letter.
Portugal - C - All combinations made with P as first letter.
Roumania - R - All combinations made with R as first letter.
Uruguay - U - All combinations made with U as first letter.
Czecho-Slovakia - L - All combinations made with B as first letter.
Guatemala - L - All combinations made with G as first letter.
Liberia - L - All combinations made with L as first letter.
Brazil - P - All combinations made with B as first letter.
Poland - P - All combinations made with P as first letter.
Belgium - O - All combinations made with B as first letter.
Peru - O - All combinations made with P as first letter.
China - X - All combinations made with C as first letter.
Honduras - X - All combinations made with H as first letter.
Serbia-Croatia-Slavonia - X - All combinations made with S as first letter.
Haiti - H - All combinations made with H as first letter.
Siam - H - All combinations made with S as first letter.
Ecuador - E - All combinations made with E as first letter.
Greece - S - All combinations made with G as first letter.
Panama - S - All combinations made with P as first letter.
Hedjaz - A - All combinations made with H as first letter.

 

 

British Regulations
SCHEDULE IV.—Registration and Nationality Marks
1. The registration and nationality marks shall be such as the Secretary of State may direct.
2. The registration and nationality marks shall be affixed in Mack on a white ground in the following manner, and underlined with a black line :—
(a) Flying Machines.—The marks shall be painted once on the lower surface of the lower main planes, and once on the upper surface of the top main planes, the top of the letters to be towards the leading edge. They shall also be painted along each side of the fuselage between the main planes and the tail planes. In cases where the machine is not provided with
fuselage the marks shall be painted on the nacelle.
(b) Airships and Balloons.—In the case of airships the marks shall be painted near the maximum cross section on both sides and on the upper surface equidistant from the letters on the sides. In the case of balloons two marks shall be painted on the maximum horizontal circumference as far as possible from one another. In the case of airships the side marks shall be visible both from the sides and ground.
3. The nationality mark in the case of flying machines and airships shall also be painted on the port and starboard sides of the lower surface of the lowest tail planes or elevators and also on the upper surface of the top tail
planes or elevators, whichever is the larger. It shall also be painted on both sides of the rudder, or on the outer sides of the outer rudders if more than one rudder is fitted.
In the case of balloons the nationality mark shall be painted on the basket.
4. In the case of flying machines the height of marks on the main planes and tail planes respectively shall be equal to four-fifths of the chord, and in the case of the rudder shall be as large as possible. The height of the marks on the fuselage or nacelle shall be equal to four-fifths of the depth of the narrowest part of that portion of the fuselage or nacelle on which the marks are painted.
In the case of airships the nationality mark painted on the tail plane shall be equal in height to four-fifths of the chord of the tail plane and in the case of the rudder shall be as large as possible. The height of the other marks
shall be equal to at least one-twelfth of the circumference at the maximum transverse cross-section of the airship.
In the case of balloons the height of the nationality mark shall be equal to four-fifths of the height of the basket, and the height of the other marks shall be equal to at least one-twelfth of the circumference of the balloon.
In the case of all aircraft the letters of the nationality and registration marks need not exceed 8 ft. in height.
5. The width of the numbers or letters shall be two-thirds of their height and the thickness shall be one-sixth of their height. The numbers or letters shall be painted in plain block type and shall be uniform in shape and size.
A space equal to half the width of the numbers or letters shall be left between each number or letter.
6. In the case of underlined letters the thickness of the lines shall be equal to the thickness of the letter. The space between the bottom of the letters and the line shall be equal to the thickness of the line.
7. Where the registration and nationality marks appear together a hyphen of a length equal to that of one of the numbers or letters shall be painted between the nationality mark and registration mark.
8. The registration and nationality marks shall be displayed to the best possible advantage, taking into consideration the constructional features of the aircraft. The marks must be kept clean and visible.

[David M]

Thanks Lazy8, very much appreciated!