Fokker D.VII Streaking - One Color or Two?

[buzz1941]

I'll post good scans of the plane tomorrow.

If it were a D.VIII wing we were looking at, folks would be crying, Aha! Clear evidence of two colors!

[Barker]

Looking forward to that, Buzz.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Gentlemen:
The Fok.D.VII fuselage sides,turtle-deck, upper surface of the tailplane and forward half in the fin were painted in streaked camouflage. From brush strokes on the fabric sample from Fok.D.VII 386/18, the width of the brush was about 100 mm(4") The color of the lacquer was dark green 26F8. In order to accomplish this form of camouflage, would require the lacquer to be thinned to facilitate multiple brush strokes. With the first stroke the brush would be fully charged with the dark green lacquer and would leave a dark stroke on the clear doped fabric. Each successive stroke the dark green would be lighter and and more influenced by the clear doped fabric surface. The measured colors by Paul Leaman were, dark, 26F8; intermediate, 26E8 and light, 26D3. These are distinct enough to be readily seen as bands. However it is the same color diluted by successive strokes on the fabric surface.
The lower wing on the left with the cross, is painted sky blue up the the clear doped crossfield. The crossfields on the lower wing was NOT painted at the factory. The upper wing, fuselage and rudder crosses were painted on white crossfields. I believe the painter is painting the olive brown streaking
on a wing.
The man at the right, may be painting the sky blue on the last rib bay at the wing tip. I can not clearly see his right hand. Foreman, I don't think would be wearing a paint stained apron, He would be in a three piece suit.Jacket, pants and vest, shirt and tie. Things were vastly different then and in WWII.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[RAGIII]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brooks

I would be VERY interested in those pictures!!! I am currently building a D VII and I want to paint it in Lothar's colors
Jeff

I will be contacting ira reference this picture tonight! It should be noted that 244/18 was Heldmanns Aircraft. lothar apparently used this aircraft on at least one occasion and was heavily photographed at the time. I will send the photos if Ira still has them
RAGIII

[buzz1941]

Here are a couple of scans right out of the Osprey book with the areas of more intense color indicated. If someone has better prints, please scan them -- these are from the Osprey halftones.
The darker areas do not look, at first blush, as if they are painted with a freshly charged brush. In fact, the streaking overall looks pretty even, which must have been an accomplishment in itself. They are also slightly darker where there is an overlap.
The orange color on the tail has gone almost black, indicating that the film was sensitive to that chroma. If the darker areas are a different color, then that color would be red-yellow shifted from the Fokker green. Maybe a brown ...
My own guess, though, is that the darker areas are actually the Fokker olive-brown/green used on Dr.1s, whilst the rest of the fuselage is dark green as previously thought. The red sensitivity of the film has accentuated this, which would be less apparent to the naked eye.
Question: Why? The newly discovered D.VIII wing cammo patterns are, if nothing else, an indication that Fokker was more adventuresome in painting his planes than previously thought. Or it could be as simple as a workman picking up the wrong tin of greenish-brown dope at the factory and slapping it on.
Next question -- does the streaking continue under the fuselage, and in the same color(s)?

[Barker]

Originally Posted by buzz1941

Next question -- does the streaking continue under the fuselage, and in the same color(s)?

Not on 286/18 and early Schwerin-built, no.

Turquoise.

There is a series of photos that show Friedrich's early D.VII after a hangar tip-up.
There is one of the series that clearly show pale undersides, plain.
Turquoise?
That is the guess.
No evidence of streaks, in event.

If you have this Osprey booklet, you'll find this shot on pg. 6.
The other photos of this a/c tipped up are in various Anthologies or the MvR Circus df Special.

[EricGoedkoop]

Originally Posted by buzz1941

Question: Why? The newly discovered D.VIII wing cammo patterns are, if nothing else, an indication that Fokker was more adventuresome in painting his planes than previously thought.

Evidence indicating that the Dr.Is, D.VIIs and precursors were streaked with more than one color only bolsters the E.V/D.VIII scheme as presented. If this is correct, than multi-colored streaking was standard Fokker practice, not (possibly) something unique to the Razor - eliminating that nagging question "Why change now?"

The Gabriel photos seem pretty clear in showing two colors - these areas are not gradient as they would be from a charged brush going dry and then being dipped again.

[JohnFitz]

"Evidence indicating that the Dr.Is, D.VIIs and precursors were streaked with more than one color only bolsters the E.V/D.VIII scheme as presented".

Eric, If I am understanding Dan-San he is saying only ONE color was actually used but as the brush ran out of paint it became lighter (changing color) on the CDL. Thinking about all this makes me wonder if the streaking was just the result of trying to not add weight, save paint and still color the fabric. In other words not done by design. Kind of the " chicken or the egg theory". Wonder how many wings had to be done in one day also. Just steaking them would have made it go faster? Makes me wonder why the undersides were not streaked with sky blue also. Cheers!

[EricGoedkoop]

Originally Posted by JohnFitz

Eric, If I am understanding Dan-San he is saying only ONE color was actually used but as the brush ran out of paint it became lighter (changing color) on the CDL.

I think that's exactly what he's saying, and the information he posted from the F.I wing drawing would support this. However:

1) It's reasonable to speculate that the Dr.I finish may have differed from the F.Is, or even that the camouflage may have differed from production run to production run or day to day. Suppose Fokker ran out of olive paint one day, but had some grass green and dark green. Would they hold up production until the olive arrived (and remember how scarce supplies were getting in Germany toward the end of the war) or would they improvise? Was it more important to get the aircraft built and delivered or to make sure they all looked exactly the same?

Personally, I'm leaning toward multi-color by design and not necessity, but the point is that there were many more variables than I think we generally consider.

2) On the D.VII photos I've looked at, the streaking shows a similar texture and pattern from light area to dark. If the light areas were the result of a drier brush, we should see a gradual thinning out of the dark streaks over the CDL base. To me, it looks like the light and dark have just as many streaks but the streaks themselves are a lighter color. There also appears to be a fairly distinct boundary going from dark to light, not the gradual "fade" a progressively drier brush would produce.

3) As mentioned before, multi-colored streaking would seem to be a more effective form of camouflage than single-color. The streaked finish was Fokker's chosen method of complying with the Idfleig "terrain camo" directive. I can't recall ever reading the directive itself, but since every other manufacturer started using multiple-color schemes it seems that the orders must have been to that effect. Why would Fokker have been exempt?

At this point the evidence may still be circumstantial at best, but I find the premise more than plausible. It makes sense. Further investigation is definitely warranted.

[EricGoedkoop]

Something else -

I've been looking at these D.VIIs and they all show the same light/dark pattern - light behind the cowl panels to the cockpit, dark below the cockpit, light from behind the cockpit to the cross field and then dark the rest of the way back.