[StephenLawson]

Fokker E.V - D.VIII wing camouflage

"...Fortunately we do have some clues as the original E.V wing drawing No.33050/1 still exists (I have a copy thanks to the generosity of Mr P. Grosz) and in the materials list of the title block are the details of the paints used, in English they translate to: - New True Green, Azin Violet, Azure Blue & Mocha Brown and for each of these the requirement is 20 grams of product. The "remarks" column describes this product as "holzbeize" which is wood stain..."


The comment that later D.VIII had solid colour wings has some basis. It would certainly help the riggers and fitters denote easily what wings were in what stack. That way there would be no re-application of the substandard wings. But this is just a possibility. Re-inforced strength was never a large concern for airframes at Fokker.

The stain makes a great deal of sense if you understand Fokker's business practices. For instance;

Some of the original Fokker built airframes have undergone recent scrutiny in Germany. The welds to the tubular sections are substandard by today's evaluation. Up on inspecting them we see microscopic airbubbles throughout the weld seams inspected. Why? Because it got hot in the Gorries / Schwerin work sheds, especially where welding was taking place. They would open the large doors at each end of the sheds and the windows to get an airflow through through the building. flowing air through a welding arc and what do you get? a substandard weld.

This is a symptom of the work at the time. For the wings the piano company that Fokker employed to build the wings knew wood but not aircraft engineering.

Quality control in Fokker Co. of 1918 said we get by with what we can. Now translate that to the camouflage. Remembering this as a govt. validated practice or the aircraft would not be accepted and a reich plate riveted on to the cowling, its easy to see the stretched use of materials to keep the aircraft at factory specs in weight, and on a steady acceptance rate. Photo evidence by Langdon, Dan San Abbott and Greg VanWyngarden tell us that at least some E.V / D.VIII aircraft with streaked wings made it into enemy hands at the aircraft turn in points on 11 Nov.1918.

This alone tells us that depending on what was available during a given production run we may well be surprised what colours were actually used to cover E.V / D.VIII wings in those last months of 1918. Labor was plenty at Fokker it was the materials we see as being stretched.

Note if you will the lozenge fabric used by Fokker. He tried to use his own 4 colour when ever possible even selling some to OAW (a concern he had a vested interest in) and Albatros. Yet even at the end of the war more and more Fokker components were starting to use the 5 colour fabric. We note this even on Fokker E.V 149/18 which is owned by the Lafayette Foundation. the fin (and possibly the rudder.) are in German five colour. The Fokker D.VI airframes could be seen with both 4 colour on the fuselage and 5 colur fabrics on wings as early as spring 1918.

There maybe no absolutes just reasonable possibilities. These "Schools of Thought" are just that. I do know that Pete Grosz would shake his head and say. "...prove it!" To study anything you have to know the people your talking about and the conditions that they had to work in.