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Taz · 13 June 2006, 08:33 AM

Langdon, Dave- Will see if I have a print of what Alex Imrie says was "almost certainly" Dr.I 477/17 WN 2103. The dark (olive good guess) stripe on the bottom of some late model Dr.Is (512/17 for example) is not a good distinguisher since it was not universally applied to late model Dr.Is (588/17 did not have it, as did not several others). Still do not understand why that stripe was there since it would have overpainted the WN and I have not seen any white WNs on the stripes. Will have to look at delivery batches on that one.

The only description we have of 477/17 colors is from MvR himself who describes it as similar to 127/17 and early 152/17 color schemes and Alex Imrie's photo # 95 bears that out. Note in photo #95, Alex notes the aircraft was undergoing a change in national markings to Balkenkreuze which nearly rules out the all-red Lechelle aircraft being 477/17. That aircraft was all red with original style crosses and reduced white cross fields. Photo #95 shows an aircraft with solid painted upper wing, cowl, wheels, and struts (presumably red), streaked middle and lower wing, and streaked fuselage side. Exactly as MvR described it. Rudder and fuselage crosses had already been converted although the bottom wing crosses had not. Also note that none of the aircraft in the background of photo #95 have had their crosses converted yet, indicating this aircraft had a high priority for being converted (MvR's aircraft?). Based on this and Alex' conservative attitude towards photo ID, I would have to say the preponderance of evidence comes down on the all-red Lechelle aircraft being 425/17. Overpainting the rudder white, which has already been done in photo #95 on 477/17 but not on the aircraft in the background, had to be done on all JG I Dr.Is, and existing photos of JG I line-ups show very uniform white rudders which we know were earlier red and other colors. The white rudder overpaint applied to JG II machines, as well, so rudder color is a very, very dubious (ie not at all) distinguisher between 425/17 and 477/17.

Will hunt for the print when I get home, but this round would seem to be going to Langdon, Alex Imrie, Ray Rimmel and Dave (as interested bystander). "Just the facts, ma'am."

Taz
Terry Phillips

13 June 2006, 08:33 AM	#64 (permalink)
Taz Forum Ace Contributor Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 2,738	Langdon, Dave- Will see if I have a print of what Alex Imrie says was "almost certainly" Dr.I 477/17 WN 2103. The dark (olive good guess) stripe on the bottom of some late model Dr.Is (512/17 for example) is not a good distinguisher since it was not universally applied to late model Dr.Is (588/17 did not have it, as did not several others). Still do not understand why that stripe was there since it would have overpainted the WN and I have not seen any white WNs on the stripes. Will have to look at delivery batches on that one. The only description we have of 477/17 colors is from MvR himself who describes it as similar to 127/17 and early 152/17 color schemes and Alex Imrie's photo # 95 bears that out. Note in photo #95, Alex notes the aircraft was undergoing a change in national markings to Balkenkreuze which nearly rules out the all-red Lechelle aircraft being 477/17. That aircraft was all red with original style crosses and reduced white cross fields. Photo #95 shows an aircraft with solid painted upper wing, cowl, wheels, and struts (presumably red), streaked middle and lower wing, and streaked fuselage side. Exactly as MvR described it. Rudder and fuselage crosses had already been converted although the bottom wing crosses had not. Also note that none of the aircraft in the background of photo #95 have had their crosses converted yet, indicating this aircraft had a high priority for being converted (MvR's aircraft?). Based on this and Alex' conservative attitude towards photo ID, I would have to say the preponderance of evidence comes down on the all-red Lechelle aircraft being 425/17. Overpainting the rudder white, which has already been done in photo #95 on 477/17 but not on the aircraft in the background, had to be done on all JG I Dr.Is, and existing photos of JG I line-ups show very uniform white rudders which we know were earlier red and other colors. The white rudder overpaint applied to JG II machines, as well, so rudder color is a very, very dubious (ie not at all) distinguisher between 425/17 and 477/17. Will hunt for the print when I get home, but this round would seem to be going to Langdon, Alex Imrie, Ray Rimmel and Dave (as interested bystander). "Just the facts, ma'am." Taz Terry Phillips