U.S.A. - 1918 Nieuport 28 part 3

Three Colorful Nieuports

One of the thing which attracted me to World War One aircraft is the flamboyant color schemes used to identify who was piloting the plane. personal heraldry wass more important than stealth during this period. When America officially entered the war the pilots serving in the American Expeditionary Force many adopted the custom of personalizing their planes. Here are a few of the new examples I have recently finished.

Douglas Campbell 94^th Aero Squadron 1918

Nieuport 28 Douglas Campbell 94^th Aero Squadron sn N6164

Douglas adopted a black star pattern on a red cowling as his personal markings. The wheel covers are a blue variant which was popular with other pilots in the squadron. He did not have roundels painted on the underside of the top wing. The white identifier numbers do not have borders. The small black numbers on the rudder are the serial number.

1st Lt. William F. Loomis 94^th Aero Squadron 1918

Nieuport 28 1st Lt. William F. Loomis 94^th Aero Squadron sn N6181

WIliam Loomis chose a red and white candy stripe pattern on his cowling. The numbers are a bordered block style popular with many of the American squadrons. The rest of the paint scheme is fairly standard.The serial numbers on the rudder are painted over

213^th Training Squadron AEF 1918

Nieuport 28 213^th Training Squadron AEF sn N658 France 1918

Training aircraft used by the United States and Great Britain were often painted in bright colors and patterns. This aircraft flew in France in 1918. The red white and blue paint scheme is based off the American flag. The rudder color scheme is more like the version used in France.The Indian head unit insignia differs from the ones used by the 103^rd Aero Squadron. The black block style numbers are identify that particular plane.