Identification Marks, Aircraft

a designation indicating the nationality of an airplane.

Identification marks are assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to the state body in charge of the registration of aircraft. They consist of a group of symbols (state marker), letters, and numbers or a combination of these three (registration marker). The identification mark of an airplane in Soviet civil aviation consists of the initial letters of the name of the state—CCCP—and the numbers assigned to the airplane when it is entered in the Register of Civil Aircraft of the USSR, for instance, CCCP-45072. Identification marks are placed on the wings, the lateral surfaces of the fuselage, and the fin.

The identification marks of military airplanes are geometric figures (such as circles, squares, stripes, stars, and crosses) of different colors placed on the wings, the lateral surfaces of the fuselage, and the fin. For instance, the identification mark of a military airplane of the USSR is a red five-pointed star; of Great Britain, concentric red (in the center), white, and blue circles; and of France, concentric blue (in the center), white, and red circles. Helicopters carry the same identification marks.