Did you know why U.S. warplanes only had a single roundel on their wings?

Roundels (or other insignia that are not round shaped) are the traditional way to mark the national identity of a warplane. If you look at the World War II photos of combat aircraft, however, you’ll notice something peculiar: while most nations painted roundels on the top and bottom sides of both wings, the U.S. Army Air Forces only painted one on the top of the left wing and another on the bottom of the right, leaving the other two wing surfaces unmarked.

The U.S. Army Air Corps (soon to be replaced by the U.S. Army Air Forces) began to use the unusual paint scheme in February 1941. The asymmetric roundel placement was, in fact, a protective measure. A very large number of aerial victories in the war were achieved from surprise, when the target wasn’t even aware that he was being attacked. While surprise was a great advantage to the attacker, it also meant a targeting challenge: a plane diving down on another only had a few seconds to line up the victim properly and fire.

The Air Corps realized that having two bright roundels on the wings instinctively makes the attacker aim at the center point between them, right at or very close to the vulnerable cockpit. Only having a bright roundel on a single wing, however, draws the attacker’s attention to it, making him unintentionally aim a bit off the true center – and this could be the difference between life and death for the target pilot.
 
The U.S. wasn’t the only nation to recognize this. Before being defeated early in the war, the Polish Air Force used a similar placement: they painted insignia on both wings, but arranged asymmetrically.

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