Aircraft Recognition ( magazine ) Aircraft Recognition , subtitled " The Inter - Services Journal " was a British Second World War magazine dedicated to the subject of aircraft recognition . Published monthly by the Ministry of Aircraft Production between September 1942 and September 1945 , the target audience of the magazine was members of all three British Armed Services ( Army , Royal Navy and Royal Air Force ) as well as members of the Royal Observer Corps . Background . At the start of the Second World War , the subject of aircraft recognition had a very low priority among the British armed forces with the exception of the Army Anti - Aircraft Command . It was also a topic that was outside the brief of the Observer Corps whose duties were limited to the reporting of aircraft as " Friendly Fighters " , " Bombers " , " Hostile " or " Unidentified . However many members of the Observer Corps did take an active interest in the subject of aircraft recognition . The only aids issued to assist with aircraft recognition were the Air Ministry Publications AP . 1480 , official silhouettes of aircraft , and AP . 1764 , Aircraft Recognition . The low priority afforded to the topic was well instanced as early as 6 September 1939 when the Battle of Barking Creek , a friendly fire incident , occurred resulting in the death of a British fighter pilot and the loss of two Hawker Hurricane s . The Battle of Barking Creek , other friendly fire incidents and the paucity of material on the subject of aircraft recognition led to the formation of an Aircraft Recognition Wing within the Army Anti - Aircraft Command . On a very limited budget the first course started at RAF Biggin Hill in February 1940 training 36 officers and men in the subject of aircraft recognition . The topic also started to come to the attention of the Inter - Service Recognition Committee that had been formed in 1939 to deal mainly with air - to - ground and air - to - sea signalling to indicate friendly status and by the end of 1940 all three services realised that more work was needed to improve aircraft recognition . Concurrently , there were a number of developments taking place outside the armed services . In December 1939 a group of Observer Corps volunteers in Guildford organised a meeting to discuss improving aircraft recognition , the meeting became known as the " Hearkers Club School of Instruction " and the first lecture was delivered by Peter Masefield , technical editor of " The Aeroplane " . Masefield was to play a leading role in the launch and direction taken by " Aircraft Recognition " . The first Hearkers Club was such a success that others followed and by Spring 1940 there were nine branches and a supporting publication - " The Hearkers Club Bulletin " . In the bulletin and in " The Aeroplane " Masefield explained his techniques in aircraft recognition Throughout the rest of 1940 Masefield campaigned for a separate publication dedicated to aircraft recognition and on 2 January 1941 , Temple Press , the publishers of " The Aeroplane " launched " The Aeroplane Spotter " edited by Masefield . It incorporated " The Hearkers Club Bulletin " and while remaining an independent publication received official backing when the Air Ministry and the War Office placed subscriptions for the magazine for all RAF stations and Anti - Aircraft Command units . Among the contributors Masefield used was artist and caricaturist E . A . " Chris " Wren whose series of drawings called " Oddentification " portray aircraft with exaggerated features to emphasise the salient recognition points . As well as the armed forces and the Observer Corps there were a large number of civilian " Spotters Clubs " formed who also contributed information towards the air defence of Great Britain despite not receiving any official recognition . With these wide variety of involved organisations the Inter - Service Recognition Committee was instructed by the Air Council to " Conduct an investigation into the state of aircraft recognition training and the methods of production and distribution of aircraft recognition material " . The committee did not report until early 1942 when it concluded that having one body controlling training on aircraft recognition was not possible ; but that there ought to be co - ordination between the armed and civil defence services and that there should be rationalisation of training materials . It was this last point that led the Inter - Service Recognition Committee to decide , in June 1942 , to establish its own publication ( A lesser point was the saving of purchasing large numbers of copies of " The Aeroplane Spotter " ) . " Aircraft Recognition " . The first issue of the magazine was published in September 1942 . There was an editorial committee of seven under the chairmanship of Masefield ; although Masefield wrote most of the early editions himself . Classified at a low grade it was distributed free through official channels but could be read by anyone who could obtain a copy . The emphasis of the magazine was to be on training and aircraft recognition techniques along the lines proposed by Masefield . Contents . Each edition consisted of a mix of written articles on the theory and practice of aircraft recognition and practical tests as well as occasional items on other subjects of interest ; for example the first issue contained three articles on the subject of aircraft recognition , two articles on specific aircraft types , four sets of recognition tests and an article on the interpretation of aerial photographs . In each issue there was a variety of tests ; regular types included " Flying photographs " - series of pictures of aircraft in flight , and " Sillographs " - solid silhouette s of ( normally ) threequarter views . Other tests included series of photos taken from a particular aspect e . g . from behind , or " On the spot " - small head on photos of one Allies and one Axis aircraft challenging the reader to differentiate friend from foe . A regular contributor to most issues was the cartoonist Michael Cummings who continued the style of Wren ' s " Oddentifications " by submitting recognition tests in the form of cartoons and caricatures . Other contributors included Charles Gibbs - Smith and Russell Brockbank . High quality photos were used wherever possible using photographers from the RAF Film Production Unit based at RAF Benson . With the end of the War in Europe in May 1945 , the emphasis of material changed to concentrate on aircraft likely to be encountered in the Pacific theatre of operations . In June 1945 the security rating of the journal was raised to Restricted although this was more an excuse to cut the number of copies produced rather than a genuine security need . With the publication of the September 1945 issue ( Volume III number 13 ) production was suspended as there was no further need for the magazine . Post war . Less than a year after publication ceased it was recognised that there was a continuing need to study aircraft recognition and the journal was resurrected under the slightly different name of the " Inter - Services Aircraft Recognition Journal " . In 1950 the name was changed to the " Joint Services Recognition Journal " broadening its scope to include ships and vehicles as well as aircraft . A final name change took place in 1993 to the " Defence Recognition Journal " until publication ceased in 2009 .