Royal Naval Airship Service Heraldry

[PaulGazis]

It's time to produce the Flying Cloud Ebook. But I'm loath to reward those folks in the UK
defense office for their ill-mannered behavior by begging permission to use their roundels.
The alternatives would seem to be

1) Switch the the Union Jack or a round version thereof. If Crown wants to claim that images
of their national flag aren't in the public domain, then they shouldn't keep flying the thing in
public places

2) Make some substantial change to the roundels -- the addition of a trident, perhaps -- so they
can't whine about them.

The former would be easier, though I'm not looking forward to editing 170 or so graphics. The
latter would be more fun... so... the Signal Corps of the Royal Naval Airship Service hearby
proclaims...

The Royal Navy Airship Service Roundel Competition

Post your suggestions here! The trick is to come up with something unique. To see some of what's
already out there, you can check out http://www.pilotfriend.com/world_facts/world/roundels/r_c.htm.

[grumpy2]

First of all, I am no artist: I can imagine (visualize?) something, but I cannot draw it.
So here is my suggestion:
1. retain existing colours and proportions,
2. reformat the roundel as a lozenge (quite possible in an alternate reality), and
3. if you wish, superimpose a yellow (gold) trident head on the red (metal on colour is correct).
The trident points can be up or down--your choice.
Now it is just possible that the trident belongs to some other UK (or Greek, etc.) government agency: that should be checked.
If the trident could cause problems, how about a heraldic flying fish?

[PaulGazis]

I'd thought of adding a trident, but changing the roundel to a lozenge never occurred to me.
That could be an awesome idea. To tell the truth, those roundels always bothered me. They
seemed to clash with the ship's elegant lines, and they also looked like great big targets
saying, "Aim here!"

The question may be how the central color of the lozenge should be handled. If I leave it
round, this might not be enough of a difference to keep the RAF's barristers happy
(surely we all remember the famous Avro Barrister heavy bomber, mainstay of Britain's
strategic bombing campaign in 1943), but if I stretch it out and get the proportions wrong,
the insignia could end up looking like a three-colored paramecium.

What do you think of a Union Jack, possibly enclosed in a white outline, done as a lozenge?
The neat thing about that is that we shouldn't have to worry about infringing on some
unknown party's trademark because national flags cannot, to the best of my knowledge,
be trademarked. The way this year's been going so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there
turned out to be a Trident Red White 'N Blue Throat Lozenge company out there...
somewhere...

[grumpy2]

Ah, I was assuming stacking lozenge on lozenge on lozenge just as the disputed symbol is a disc on a disc on a disc, but I guess a diamond-shaped target is still a target.
The Union Flag in a lozenge is a distinct possibility. That sort of thing may (historically) have been considered too "busy" for easy aircraft recognition. (Some modern aircraft badges are very busy.) I still like the flying fish. Oh well.

Don't forget the de Havilland Solicitor, often used as a pathfinder for the heavies.

[Bob Macgregor]

When I read about this whole tempest, I wondered how much of a change to the art work would be needed to evade the clutches of the IP watchdogs. I like the idea of elongating the horizontal axis, maybe tinkering with the colors a bit and, possibly, adding some internal symbol...all while leaving the RAF rondel first-impression. Of course, next thing you know, CBS will claim its too close to their "eye"!!
Getting back to the idea of an added symbol in the rondel...I'm not as keen on a trident or Union Jack as I am on, say, St. George's flag (only white in the red centre) or the Brittish three lions (maybe gold on the red centre). I'm stuck on a whim here: how about a flying lion (lion for England and wings for air force) or possibly a gryphon in the rondel, elongated or otherwise?
BOB