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Firing on friendlies happened more frequently when the RFC and Aviation Militaire shared operational areas; pilots in the respective forces were less familiar with the silhouettes of their allies' aircraft. (This was less of a problem for the French, who made a practise of studying silhouettes -- something the RFC did not do.) During the air action surrounding 3rd Ypres in summer 1917, the RFC had to make firing on a French machine a court-marial offence, which suggests that it happened rather a lot. I believe that Nungesser once had to shoot down a Camel that persisted in attacking him; afterward, he added huge red-white-blue diagonal stripes to his upper wings in a (probably futile) attempt to reduce the possibility of mis-identification.
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