THE swastika, a symbol forever linked with the evils and atrocities of the Nazi regime of the 1930s and 40s, has an altogether reverse side to its history.

This revelation comes from a keen local historian (and close chum of mine) in response to a recent query from Will Sharrock of Clock Face who had asked which country, apart from Germany, displayed swastikas on their planes.

"It was Finland," says our lively archive-delver who wishes to remain anonymous on this subject. "Not suprising, perhaps, as in Norse mythology the swastika was the sign for the hammer of Thor, God of Thunder."

Reader Allan Roberts of Robins Lane. Sutton, confirms that Finland answer. Their aircraft insignia, he adds, was a white circle upon which a blue swastika was superimposed.

"The Finns," he says, "were invaded by the Russians before the German attack on the Soviet Union and so became allies of Germany during the second world war."

And he wings in with another aeronautical yedscratter for our readers to puzzle over: "Speke airport holds an unusual wartime combat record; what was it?" Now, back again to my history-buff chum who says that it used to be believed that Hitler adopted the swastika for the National Socialist Party because the German Baltic Corps wore it on their helmets after service in Finland.

"The truth is more sinsister," adds our researcher. "According to Prof. Ian Kershaw, in his recent biography, Hitler was influenced by the ideas of Guido von List, who believed in the superiority of the Aryan-German race.

"Von List popularised the swastika (the sign of the sun, found among ancient Hindu symbols) which he took as the sign of the 'unconquerable', the Germanic hero, the Strong One from Above."

It was in the mid-1920s that Hitler personally designed the party's banner, with a black swastika in a white circle on a red background, to make as striking a visual impact as possible.

In 1935 it became the German national flag; and the Luftwaffe painted swastikas on the rudders of their aircraft, with a black cross, outlined in white, on wings and fuselage.

"Note," says our scholarly friend, "that the arms of the Hindu swastika point left, while t he German ones point right. Another name for it is the gammadion cross, appearing in both Christian and Byzantine art, so called because it was made up of four Greek captial gammas (like the letter L turned upside down) radiating from a common centre."

WELL, surely, that must be the last word on this fascinating subject!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.