WWI Block of the Month - Block 5 - The Airplanes

When I saw this block, I assumed the maker had a red and white striped fabric she cut those pieces from....

No, they are pieced in.  We're not sure about the airplanes, but Norris thought it looked like a test pattern. We think maybe you're looking straight at the rotary blades?  But that doesn't explain the stripes.

The pattern as it was given and as it appears in Blockbase is not symmetrical - the red and white stripes are reversed on two adjacent quadrants.  I guessed that would be if you ever made a quilt of this block and set them block to block.  Here are mockups, the original first -

Since my quilt uses only one block, I decided I could make it so the imaginary quilt would look like this - I do like it better this way!