Drivers across Los Angeles can instantly recognize the Bentley logo, but they often give different answers when asked, ‘what does the Bentley logo look like?’ That’s because there are actually two – the upright Flying B and the flat Winged B. Wondering why two Bentley car logo options exist? Simply read on to find out.
The Bentley Flying B
The original Flying B was created by celebrated artist F. Gordon Crosby. This ornate upright brass ‘B’ featured wings held out straight to the side instead of flowing back with the vehicle. When Bentley started creating lower and sleeker models, it was redesigned as a single wing with a forward-leaning ‘B’, then again to feature a pair of wings that flowed backwards.
After the Second World War, the Flying B returned as a smaller version of the dual-wing Flying B until the 1970s, at which point solid hood accessories were considered unsafe. Once made fully retractable, it enjoyed a triumphant return in 2006 and is still available today with the Bentley Mulsanne.
For Bentley’s Centenary year in 2019, a new Flying B took the Flying Spur in a new direction. A competition among all Bentley designers was won by Hoe Young Hwang, who took inspiration from the owl. Bringing a minimalist, contemporary shape, the new Flying B is hand-polished and crafted to bring an unmistakably first-class touch.
The Bentley Winged B
The Winged B actually came before the Flying B. This two-dimensional logo was created by F. Gordon Crosby to sum up the manufacturer’s focus on performance.
The original Winged B shows the B of Bentley inside a pair of wings that were chosen to represent exhilarating motion. It also harkened back to Bentley’s background designing fighter plane engines during World War One. Under Rolls Royce ownership, the wings were streamlined with 10 feathers to lose the former asymmetry, but the logo was revised again in the 1990s with a design closer to the original.
In 2002, the definitive Winged B still in use today was created, though vehicles built during the Centenary year were set apart from others by outlining the B and the oval surrounding it with a special metallic finish named Centenary Gold.
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