What is this roundel? It's on the Smithsonian's website claiming it's parts for a Curtiss Jenny which you can see in the background.
I closest thing I've found is a Russian Air Force roundel. It may be the back side of a graphic. I can't tell what it is, but it looks cool. I'm researching a Jenny build so I'm thinking this may be worth pursuing.

According to the NASM the airplane above was donated directly from the Army in 1918 and they have had it since. you might want to talk to one of the curators about the markings. it was disassembled when moved from DC to Virginia.

maybe this? looks like the red is bleeding through the same way

http://www.wartimecollectables.com/w...ots-group.html

Probably painted over in the field. One quick brushed on coat of paint wouldn't have completely hid whats underneath and over the years sun fading exaggerates the color bleed through.


When the US Army AIr Service first sent aircraft over to France in 1917 the insignia looked like this (Note it was later reestablished for the USAAC in 1919).






However in the field, from a distance allied pilots sometimes mistook the star for a German cross, so a roundel similar to what the British and French used was adopted in early 1918 and painted over in the field. Style is the same but color ordering is different than Britain/France. (I think your clue about Russia is a hint here, as this roundel is the same as Imperial Russia had used before they dropped out of the war).












Field modifications and field painting where very common back then... for example all the brightly painted aircraft of the German "flying circuses" had the bright colors just brushed on at the airdrome with whatever paint they could find locally, right over the top of the factory finish. Its not often well duplicated on scale models but if you could take a time capsule back and look at Richthofen's red triplane you would see the streaky green factory paint bleed through...

I'm thinking it might have been a particular squadrons colors,for ident.