Lothar's DrI- yellow overpainting

[Martin Irvine]

I have the Osprey book on the DrI Aces and have a question about Lothar von Richthofen's tripe.

The yellow over-painting of the field crosses is shown as a dirty mustard yellow while the rest of the overpainting is quite a bright yellow. It seems to me that the cross fields, like the rudder, being white, should come up bright yellow. In addition, the grey-green camouflage would cause the yellow overpainting to show up a dirty mustard rather than the bright yellow in the book.

Can anyone give an explanation? I wonder if pan- (or is it ortho-?) chromatic film's tendency to show yellow as very dark is part of the reason.

Any ideas?

Martin

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Martin Irvine:
When the painter in Jasta 11 painted out the cross-fields , they were over painted solid olive-brown which was darker than the olive-brown streaking.The yellow had better coverage on the streaking than on the darkn cross-fields.
The photographs of Ltn. Lothar frhr.von Richthofen Fok.DR.I 454/17 in his biography, Derkampfflieger Lothar Freiherr von Richthofen by D.Schweckendiek, facing page 48, distinctly show the upper wing was NOT painted yellow, but was with olive brown streaked finish with solid olive-brown crossfields.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Martin Irvine]

Thanks very much Dan. (That must be some library you have! )

Martin

[Martin Irvine]

I've got another "Lothar" question.

On page 52 of Alex Imrie's book, "The Fokker Triplane", there is a picture of the crash of 454/17 when the leading edge failed. The port wing tip and aileron survived and the outer section from the cross field to the tip is of a lighter colour, (yellow?) than the tail and fuselage. The cross field has been overpainted and looks a pretty good match for the fuselage and lower wing streaking. There is also a triangular piece of fabric just inboard of the aileron that appears still attached to the trailing edge, (and so is displaying its outer surface), that matches the tip fabric. None of the torn fabric from the top wing appears streaked, but it is difficult to see if it is the inner or outer surfaces showing.

So, was the top wing painted just before the crash? and if so, was it the same yellow as the tail? The tip looks lighter than the tail but that could be the angle of the sun, (about 45 degrees above the horizon to the right and perhaps 20 degrees forward), as the turned rudder is a closer match. Maybe a different yellow had to be used if the painting was done at a later date than the tail and fuselage. Also there is a darker rectangle on the tip similar to Paul Bäumer's DrI. Any thoughts on this?

TIA

Martin

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Martin Irvine:
It is from this photo on page 52 in his book The Fokker Triplane that I think Alex Imrie decided tthe upper wing was over painted yellow. If you look at the overpainted cross-field, you will see the olive-brown is almost as dark as the black cross! This is a multi-generation photograph, the streaking is lost on the aileron and wing tip. The photo in Lothar's biography distinctly shows the wing tip and aileron [I]with olive-brown streaking!. The upper surface of the top wing was not painted yellow. Alex Imrie was mistaken in his assumption that it was painted yellow.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Martin Irvine]

Thanks for your reply Dan.

So you have a better photo of the [I]same[I] picture? Because I am puzzled as to why the streaks would be lost on the top wing but not the rest of the airframe.

Martin

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Martin Irvine:
Each time a photograph is copied, i.e. original, copied, copy copied, copy copied, details are lost. What is wanted is the first copy or, if possible the original photograph. Most of whatis published are multi-generation photographs. The photo of Lothar's crash is one these multi-generation photographs.
Blue skies,
Dan-San