Germany 1917 Pfalz D.IIIa Jasta 30

Three Pfalz D.IIIa From Jasta 30

Many Pfalz D.III were mainly silver in color with black markings. However some Jasta used a consistent paint scheme to aid in unit identification. Jasta 10 had yellow noses, Jasta 40 were black with white aft sections, Jasta 18 had their iconic red and blue paint scheme. Jasta 30 was easy to spot because of their large diamond shaped unit insignia. The color of the diamond was not always consistent but the shape was easy to see.

Pfalz D.IIIa Jasta 30 Pilot Unknown sn 5947.17 - 1917

This example is painted overall with a mixture of varnish and aluminum powder, except for the rudder which is painted white with black trim and the Iron Cross. The diamond Jasta insignia is yellow-orange with black border and the fuelage has a black chevron style stripe. The Iron Crosses on the wings and fuselage do not have a border.

Pfalz D.IIIa Jasta 30 Ltn. von der Marwitz sn 4203.17 - 1917

The basic paint scheme is similar to the previous example except the diamond and the empanage are painted red. The tail plane is silver. The rudder cross has been painted over.

Pfalz D.IIIa Jasta 30 Ltn. Erich Kaus sn Unknown - 1918

The aluminum finished fuselage has striking black stripes and a red diamond. The empanage is painted white with black border. The Maltese Cross indicates this aircraft was still flying after the spring of 1918 The wings are covered in four color lozenge fabric. The wings have dark lozenges on the top surfaces and a lighter pattern on the bottom. There are white bordered Iron crosses on the upper top wing an the lower bottom wing. The wheel cover is covered with the same fabric used on the upper wing surfaces.

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.

Belgium - 1917 Hanriot HD.1 Aces

Diary of a Waterlogged Workaholic

I have been busy as always. Running a one man dog and pony show keeps me on my toes. There always seems to be a new profile I want to do, or a new sections of my site to lay out. A new section will cover an organizational view of aircraft units. I have the groundwork laid out for the German Jagdgeschwader and Jasta forming them, and the American Pursuit Groups and their Aero Squadrons. That subsection will take a while to get right.

Yesterday I addressed the problem of gallery pages which have grown too large to load quickly and needed to be divided into additional gallery pages dedicated to a single aircraft type. I have not done a recent profile count but I think I have broken the 1000 mark.

Today I was out and about taking care of pressing matters which could not wait for a day without pouring rain. It was good to get back to the studio where it was warm, dry, and I could get a warm cuppa into my shivering hands. after lunch I worked up several SPAD S.XIII, some Nieuport 28's and finished the master for a new Nieuport 11. I took a break and completed 3 new Hanriot HD.1's which I decided to share.

Three Belgian Aces

Belgium fought valiantly in the First World War. In spite of German forces dug into Belgian soil the Belgian Air Force waged a successful air campaign using French and British aircraft. One of the favorite planes used by the Belgians was an aircraft shunned by France as being obsolete. The Hanriot HD.1 found great favor with the Belgian pilots, some scored the majority of their victories at the controls of the HD.1.

Major Willy Coppens 1892 - 1986

Hanriot H.D.1 Major Willy Coppens 9me Escadrille sn 24, 1917

Coppens joined the army in 1912, serving with the 2nd Grenadiers before transferring to the Compagnie des Aviateurs in 1914. At his own expense, he and thirty nine other Belgians enrolled in a civilian flying school at Hendon, England. After additional training in France, Coppens began flying two-seaters in combat during 1916.

The following year, he was assigned to single-seat fighters and soon became an expert at shooting down enemy observation balloons. After downing a balloon, Coppens would often perform aerial acrobatic displays above the enemy. On one occasion, the balloon he was attacking shot upward and Coppens actually landed his Hanriot HD.1 on top of it. Switching off his engine to protect the propeller, he waited until his aircraft slid off the top of the balloon, then restarted the engine and watched as the German balloon burst into flames and sank to the ground.

On the morning of October 14, 1918, his days as a fighting pilot came to an end near Thourout in northwestern Belgium. Just as he began the attack that would culminate in his 37th victory, Coppens was hit in the left leg by an incendiary bullet. Despite a severed artery and intense pain, he shot down his target and managed to crash land within the safety of his own lines. His badly shattered leg had to be amputated. Before he retired from the army in 1940, Coppens served as a military attaché in France, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland.

Lt. Andre de Meulemeester 1894 - 1973

Hanriot H.D.1 Lt. Andre de Meulemeester 9me Escadrille sn 30, 1917

Andre de Meulemeester dubbed "The Eagle of Flanders" joined the Belgian Air Service on January 26, 1915 and was assigned to 1ère Escadrille de Chasse on April 8, 1917. While flying a Nieuport 17, de Meulemeester scored six victories before his unit was re-equipped with the Hanriot HD.1. In the spring of 1918, he was joined 9me, scoring four more victories by the end of the war. During 511 sorties, de Meulemeester engaged the enemy in aerial combat 185 times, was wounded in action twice and was attacked by British D.H.4s on two occasions. In 1919, de Meulemeester left the army, gave up flying and went to work in his family's brewery business.

Lt. Jan Olieslagers 1883 - 1883

Hanriot H.D.1 Lt. Jan Olieslagers 1ère Escadrille sn 8, 1917

Olieslagers fascination with racing motorcycles led to a world championship in 1902. He was the first man to reach a speed of 100 km/h on a motorcycle. As his interest shifted to aircraft, he purchased a plane in 1909 and within four years, he had set seven world records. When the Germans invaded Belgium, he and his two brothers joined the army and donated their three Blériot XI monoplanes to the war effort.

In his first combat, Olieslagers attacked an enemy aircraft armed only with a pistol. Throughout the war, he rarely claim the enemy aircraft he destroyed. Despite his six confirmed victories, Olieslagers flew 491 sorties and had engaged in 97 dogfights. Returning to Antwerp at the end of the war, Olieslagers was responsible for the development of the Antwerp Airport in 1923.

United States - 1918 SPAD X.III 93rd Aero Squadron

Digging for Some Understanding

Researching history is a puzzle at times. You dig through articles, pour over photos and in the end you still have deep questions which make you wonder if you will ever have all the pieces to see a clear view of your subject. This has been the case with attempting to find enough information to bring to life an aircraft I have only seen in two pictures. When I was working on fantasy and science fiction subjects I was free to improvise to a certain amount. I was helping define what someone would see in their mind's eye. History is a harsher mistress. There is a certain amount of conjecture, however it has to be grounded in research of facts about your subject.

I want to take a moment to thank Gene Beals for his hard work building great site on the 93^rd Aero Squadron http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sunnyann/93aero/index.html. It is well worth a visit.

My current cause of befuddlement started when I began research for information on the Pursuit Groups serving in the American Expeditionary Force in France. Many times I feel like it is the first day in school and I forgot my books. Slowly you pick through sources looking for elusive pieces to the puzzle. On a good day you have enough information to at least begin laying out the outline. For every hour of drawing time there is at least two hours of research. People tell me doing profiles if difficult. For me it is a relief from all the hours of studying records.

Today's puzzle began with making the initial drawing of a unit insignia to add to my "Decal" archive. I worked up two versions until I liked the results. The only problem was I did not have a source to show me any of the aircraft that carried the insignia. It was time to get my data shovel and dig around some more.

Sometimes You Have to Just Make a Best Guess

Conceptual Drawing for the 93^rd Aero Squadron's Insignia

This is the second version of the initial drawings I made for my insignia archives. I am a firm believer in working it to completion and saving it in a form where I can copy and paste it into other profiles. I see no sense in reinventing the wheel. For me the final process of making profiles is more akin to building a model kit than drawing.

Four SPAD S.XIII of the 93rd Aero Squadron U.S.A.S.

SPAD S.XIII 93^rd Aero Squadron Major John Huffer sn 1 - 7662, 1918

SPAD S.XIII 93^rd Aero Squadron Lt. Alfred B. Patterson sn 12 - 46082, 1918

SPAD S.XIII 93^rd Aero Squadron Captain Robert L. Rockwell sn 15 - 46082, 1918

SPAD S.XIII 93^rd Aero Squadron 1^st 1st Lt. Charles R. D'Olive sn 24 - S7748, 1918

The profiles are highly conjectural. The photos I have seen do not show all the details and the colors are best guess based on standard practices and comparing gray tones with known colored areas. The insignia on some examples may be a little too ornate, but I can correct that in later versions. For now I am just happy to make a first attempt at a subject I have not seen many color profiles for this squadron. If anyone has information to make it more accurate please contact me. I have the names and serial numbers for all three flight for the squadron. My main problem is I am lacking details to fill the ranks with profiles for this squadron.

References

1. 93^rd Aero Squadron - World War I Retrieved Oct 24, 2011 01:25 from http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sunnyann/93aero/index.html

United States - 1918 Nieuport 28 C1

The Four American Nieuport 28 Squadrons

I took a break from the Morane-Saulniers and tackled a much needed master file for the Nieuport 28 C1. Once it was finished I was able to work up a dozen aircraft. My next step is to finish off the remainder of the examples I have found to round things out.

The Nieuport 28 was assigned to four American Aero Squadrons. The largest number were given to the 94^th Aero Squadron. Structural problems with the upper wing made American pilots wary of flying the aircraft as aggressively as they wanted. The Nieuport 28 were soon replaced by the SPAD C1 S.XIII which served the Americans well.

27^th Aero Squadron USAS

Nieuport 28 - 1918

This example served with the 27^th Aero Squadron. The fuselage is painted in the French factory camouflage pattern. The swooping Eagle is the unit insignia. The standard American scheme for placement of national markings was no roundels on the fuselage and a six roundel format. The top wing has roundels on both the top and bottom surfaces, and the lower has roundels on the lower surface only.

94^th Aero Squadron USAS

Nieuport 28 - 1918

This Nieuport was flown by Lt. James.Meissner while serving with the 94^th "Hat and Ring" Squadron. The cowling is painted in a scheme designed by the pilot. The color and type of numbers varied. In this case the numbers are black without a border.

95^th Pursuit Squadron USAS

Nieuport 28 - 1918

The paint scheme for this Nieuport is a bit flashier than some examples. The red and yellow spiral design on the cowling makes for a striking appearance. The kicking mule insignia for the 95^th Pursuit Squadron is shown as white on some profiles and blue on others.

147^th Aero Squadron USAS

Nieuport 28 147^th Aero Squadron - 1918

The basic paint scheme for this Nieuport 28 is a fairly standard French pattern. The Terrier insignia for the 147^th Aero Squadron is a whimsical touch. The numbers are the block bordered style numbers were used by many squadrons.