Air Force Flags (Republic of China)

Here is a summary of the Republic of China Air Force flags regulations, as enacted on December 31, 1948 (keep in mind that this was before the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan), and abolished on December 17, 1985.

There are not that many surprises really:

The Air Force ensign was identical to the one used today, except the badge was in yellow rather than silver.

The rank flags during that period were similar to those illustrated on Flaggenbuch 1939 (white winded propellor and stars on blue, proportions 3:5), although the regulation did stipulate that "flags for general officers have a single red border, flags for field officers have a single yellow border, [and the flag for] Captain has no border", whatever that meant.

Air Force Organizational flags (introduced on April 27, 1954) and Air Force School flags were red, with the Air Force flag in the canton (half the length and half the width of the red field), plus the organizational badge at the lower fly, and a yellow strip at the hoist with the organizational name in black. Proportions 3:5 (2:3 not including the yellow strip). Still in use today (at least by the Air Force Academy and the Air Force Honor Guard) with the current version of the Air Force ensign in the canton.

Note that the regulation made no mention about fringes, although for the Air Force Academy and the Air Force Honor Guard at least, their flags had and still have yellow fringes.
Miles Li, 2 June 2008

Proportions: 3:5

Blue flag with Air Force emblem in the upper middle and three white five-pointed stars in line near the bottom. The complicated construction sheet provided in Flaggenbuch (using hoist size as 252 units) could be described in words much easier: center of the AF emblem is 1/3 of the hoist from top in the center of the length. The disk is 1/21 of hoist and total height of the emblem is 9 times that size. The wing span is 1/3 of hoist (measured from the center of the emblem), so the whole emblem is 2/3 of the hoist long. The wings height is 1/7 of the hoist. The stars are centered on a line halving the stripe between the bottom of the emblem and the bottom of the flag, the diameter of the stars is also that half stripe. The distance between the hoist, the centers of the stars and the fly are equal, i.e. 1/4 of the length each. Also, in Flaggenbuch is indicated that the size of these flags is either 90x150 cm or 120x200 cm.
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003

Proportions: 3:5

Blue flag with the Air Force emblem in the middle off-set to top and two white five-pointed stars in lower part.

The construction is analogous to the 3-star General flag, with the difference in stars, of course. Here also, the distance between the hoist and the center of the first star is equal to the distance between the centers of the stars and that is in turn equal to the distance between the center of the second star and the fly.
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003

Proportions: 3:5

Blue flag with the Air Force emblem in the middle off-set to top and a white five-pointed star below it. The construction is entirely equal to the 3-star General flag without the two outer stars.
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003

Proportions: 3:5

Triangular pennant with the Air Force emblem in the hoist and three white five-pointed stars in line in the fly. The emblem span (from center) is 1/3 of the hoist, and adequate height as in the higher ranks flags (9/21). The distance of the vertical axis from hoist is at odd distance of 71/336 of the total length. The remaining 265/336 is measure on which stars are referenced, let's call that length A. The stars are inscribed in circle of diameter A/8, the central star is at the half of the length A, and center of the other two are A/6 on either direction.
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003

Proportions: 3:5

Triangular pennant with the Air Force emblem in the hoist and two white five-pointed stars in line in the fly. Same construction as above, however the stars here are somewhat larger, as they are inscribed in circle with diameter 2A/15. Distance between the two circle centers is A/5, twice that length from the center of the AF emblem to the hoist most star.
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003

Proportions: 3:5

Triangular pennant with the Air Force emblem in the hoist and a single white five-pointed star in the fly. The construction is equal to the Colonel's pennant, retaining only the central star.

Proportions: 3:5

Blue triangular pennant with white Air Force emblem. Again the emblem wing span is 1/3 of the hoist with all other elements relatively adequate. The center point of the emblem (center of the small disk) is at the top of the isosceles triangle with sides equal 5/6 of the hoist and the base at hoist (which is to say that with help of some geometry that the vertical axis of the emblem is 2/3 of the hoist from it).
Željko Heimer, 9 February 2003