Rumor

[Albatros_Ace]

I heard somewhere that Ernst Udets fokker Dr.1 never landed with bullet hole in its right wing becuz all of those stripes had an optical illusion i think this is just a rumor but i thought i would put it up

[StephenLawson]

Alex Imries tells us that Ltn Hans Kirchstein Jasta 6 had named his aircraft the "optical illusion." Many believe that it was this aircraft that Udet later flew in Jasta 4 witha red "LO!" on the fuselage. There are a lot of old threads on the subject. Some got very heated in their discussions.

[Albatros_Ace]

ok i'll check for some of those

[Gregvan]

The information on Kirschstein's die optische Taeuschung was taken by Alex Imrie directly from Richard Wenzl's book Richthofen Flieger. It was Wenzl who described the black and white diagonal stripes on the airplane, and he stated that the triplane was usually only ever hit in the port wing. And yes, this was the same triplane later flown by Udet with his "LO" insigne added.

The disruptive painting was believed to be so effective that Kirschstein later had two different D.VIIs painted entirely in black/white diagonal stripes - even down to the struts and undercarriage.

Greg