Black & purple color schemes

Stephan · 31 July 2005, 01:56 PM

Von Schleich was known as black knight eh? He had some black paint on his ride didn't he? Who else did? I know there was a near all purple plane. What other black & purple planes were there?

1 August 2005, 06:49 AM

Hi Stephan,

The origin of

Eduard Ritter von Schleich's nickname began with the French. During the Verdun campaign in the summer of 1917, he and his unit became well known by French authorities, because they were the most successful German Jasta on that front. They called him "Chevalier noir" (of course, French for 'Black Knight'), which stuck with him ever since. He painted his Albatros D.V black due to the loss of his best friend, Ltn Erich Limpert on July 27, 1917.

While there have been many German pilots during the war who flew airplanes with various parts painted black, I believe that von Schleich was the only one whom had an entirely black aircraft at one point in his career.

Josef Jacobs and

Adolf Ritter von Tutschek flew mostly black birds as well, but von Schleich was the most well known.

Even Ira 'Taffy' Jones remarked in his book, An Air Fighter's Scrapbook,about a black Triplane that he thought was flown by von Schleich. In reality, this machine was flown by Josef Jacobs of Jasta 7. But it shows how much he was identified with black aircraft.

Maybe others can give more names of pilots who flew black colored planes.

regards,

Darren

TomVrille · 1 August 2005, 10:53 AM

I will stick to aircraft that were predominantly black rather than get into a lengthy discussion of what exactly constitutes "purple"!

In addition to von Schleich's ride, predominantly black Albatros scouts were flown by Leutnants

Josef Jacobs,

Otto Kissenberth, and

Ernst Udet. Personal markings were two parallel white fuselage stripes for Jacobs, a large yellow and white edelweiss for Kissenberth, and Udet's familiar "LO" in white.

Taz · 1 August 2005, 12:33 PM

Carl Degelow flew both a black fuselaged Pfalz D.IIIa (could have been a D.III, remember D.IIIa) and a black fuselaged Fokker D.VII with a white (silver) stag as his personal marking.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Gregvan · 1 August 2005, 01:58 PM

Hi,

There were literally dozens of largely-black German fighters, and those are just the ones we know about from photos or descriptions that have survived. In most cases the black was confined to the fuselage and tail unit, sometimes with a personal insignia on the fuselage (as with Kissenberth's Albatros D.Vs). It wasn't just

Josef Jacobs in Jasta 7 who flew black aircraft, the entire Staffel did in 1918. This inlcuded mostly-black Albatros D.V/Va, Pfalz D.IIIa and Fokker D.VIIs. In some cases in Jasta 7, even the wings were painted black.

Ditto with

Carl Degelow. Under his command Jasta 40 flew black aircraft with white tail sections (not the wings). Mostly Fokker D.VIIs with a few Albatros and Pfalz, with lovely personal insignia on the fuselages.

Jasta 37 under Udet had a host of black Albatros D.V's, all marked with those jazzy diagonal b/w stripes on the tailplanes. Personal markings were white insignia on the fuselage aft of the cockpit and a white number on the nose.

Several of

Adolf von Tutschek's Albatros D.III and D.V fighters in Jasta 12 had completely black fuselages with white spinners. I believe his D.III even had black wings. He was commonly called 'the black airfighter', in contrast with Richthofen 'der rote Kampfflieger".

As for purple aircraft,

Kurt Wolff flew a 'plum purple' Albatros D.III in March 1917, before he and the other Jasta 11 pilots adopted mostly red color schemes. Mannock and others in 40 Sqn reportedly encountered a purple Albatros "with white crosses on the fuselage" on 28 July '17, which he later called "the Purple Man". Now, Ed Ferko thought this had to be von Bertrab and his famous Jasta 30 D.III with the comet marking, but I still am very sure this was mostly black. Von Bertrab was later shot down by Mannock in a black Albatros D.V, with "crosses picked out in white" - which I think simply means white-outlined black crosses.

Ah, I could go on and on...

Greg

Taz · 1 August 2005, 08:21 PM

Plus

Carl Bolle of Jasta B flew a mostly black fuselaged Fokker D.VII. Lots of black available. Plus Stark's purple (hot pink?) trimmed D.VII, a replica of which is at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton. Ask Javier about that one.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Angiolillo · 2 August 2005, 10:57 AM

A Halbertstadt D.III by Auletta for our game, from a unknown unit. Would you call it "Purple"?

Taz · 2 August 2005, 03:31 PM

Angiolillo- Believe some Halb D.IIIs were indeed overall gray, which could be called light black. Richard Groh did a wonderful rendition of von Althaus' D.III which is still avalilable as a print.

Taz
Terry Phillips

greenknight · 3 August 2005, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregvan

Mannock and others in 40 Sqn reportedly encountered a purple Albatros "with white crosses on the fuselage" on 28 July '17, which he later called "the Purple Man". Now, Ed Ferko thought this had to be von Bertrab and his famous Jasta 30 D.III with the comet marking, but I still am very sure this was mostly black.

Is there more than 1 known photo of von Bertrab's D.III with the comet and white crosses?

I'm familiar with a 3/4 rear view with a pilot standing by the aircraft. The copy I have is printed in a rather small size in Lamberton & Cheeseman's Harleyford series book.

Are the wings and/or horizontal stabilizer believed to be overpainted? Is much more known about this aircraft?

Thank you to any who can enlighten me a bit.

Dan_San_Abbott · 11 August 2005, 01:11 PM

greenKnight:
Jasta 62 flew Alb.D.Va, Pfalz D.IIIa and Fok.D.VIIs painted black with red noses and red tails. Oblt.Eduard Ritter von schleich flew a Rol.D.VIa, and Fok.D.VII with a black fuselages. Ltn.Otto Kissenberth Flew a Rol.D.VIa with a black fuselage with a white fin and rudder.
Blue skies,
Dan-San