RFC 45 and a white 1.5

StephenLawson · 4 April 2007, 11:45 AM

Greetings all; Aerodrome member Paddy provided me with some very informative scans of RFC 45 Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters. I was looking for A 1093 looks like I got an image of A 1083 very impressive. CDL fuselage over painted white and PC10 or 12 on the upper surfaces of the wings. The rudder fins are halved vertically in white & black (nose to rudder) from the pilot's right side profile of the fuselage. The serials are in contrasting colours to their backgrounds. Bit of an odd duck there but very interesting.

You can see ther wear an peeling paint in the image of A 1083. Most curious. In another image of 45 RFC we see a line up fo several machine and there is even white fuselaged bird there too. Curiouser and curiouser. Could this white bird (A 1083) be a Flt Commander's machine?

For A 1093 I could still go with PC 10 or 12 but this white fuselaged oddity has me asking, what its all about?

NeilE · 9 April 2007, 05:53 AM

Its not a training unit's aircraft or a squadron hack perhaps?

StephenLawson · 10 April 2007, 02:39 AM

They are all armed and seem to have uniformed marking that 45 RFC used during April 1917. The images are marked 45 RFC.

NeilE · 10 April 2007, 04:08 AM

Stephen;

Schiffer's British Aviation Squadron Markings of World War One on Pg 94, has a picture of A1083. The text states that 45 Sqn went to France October 1916, equipped with 1.5 Strutters. They re-equipped with Camels in July 1917.

On the Strutter markings Les Rodgers remarks:

Quote:

Using Sopwith two seaters no official marking was allocated but some confusion occurred when the squadron operated in the same areas in which Naval Sopwiths were also flying. To alleviate this, the squadron painted a vertical band behind the cockade on the fuselage. This was painted black on the clear doped fabric of the older aircraft, and white on the more recent aircraft in P.C.10

Perhaps the white fuselage is also some sort of recognition marking? I'm just surmising here...

From May 1917, flight numbers were adopted and painted just below the cockpit. A1083 does not seem to have them. So the photo is taken prior to May 1917 maybe.

HTH

neil

StephenLawson · 10 April 2007, 10:08 AM

Agreed. If the others all have uppersurfaces PC10 or 12 then one of the flight has a white fuselage, it could either be;

1. The flight leader (but streamers would take care of that.)

2. Specially equipped No armament at all or sans rear armament, strictly photo reconn?

This couldn't have been something that survived much beyond April 1917. The practice tends to have one machine set apart from the herd as it were and would probably cause enemy pilots to focus on it.

StephenLawson · 4 May 2007, 02:45 AM

Noting now that most early production Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters from Sopwith, Lincoln and Vickers had a CDL fudelage. Another image of A1090 in the Datafile proves this for Vickers. while A1081 appears to have gotten a coat of PC10 in the field. The question still remains, why white? Possibly they used a very light ecru colour? But is still seems insignia white.