[Langdon]

Dan-San,

You may be correct if the aircraft had never been repainted but it quite obviously was.

As far as I know, no Dr.I left the factory with national markings that were not the old style cross on large cross fields and this is almost certainly true of 425/17 as we can still see the extent of the fields and we know the crosses have undergone changes.

The surviving fabric has no upper surface streaky camouflage, it seems unlikely that it could have left the factory with its stencils but no upper camouflage.

If the aircraft did at some stage have upper surface camouflage then how was it completely removed yet the stencils were left intact?

If it was possible to remove the streaky camouflage and leave the stencils, why didn't they remove the under surface blue which is clearly evident?

There are only two logical answers to this, either the aircraft left the factory painted red on the upper surfaces and blue underneath with normal national markings and stencils or it had CDL upper surfaces with normal markings, stencils and under surface camouflage, either way it could only have been intended for MvRs personal use.

I see you have changed your mind on Goering's all white D.VII which you were arguing was not painted at the factory as this was not mentioned on the acceptance sheets!

Langdon