Woolley and the 49th's Spad XIII

Rinahe · 14 May 2007, 10:26 AM

Good evening to all from Spain,

I looking for information about the Spads of 49th Aero Squadron USAAS. In 'Echoes of Eagles', Woolley Jr. said that his father's S.XIII was 'Number 24'. He depicts the colours of the number and the 'wolf-head' insignia.
A quick search in the forum gives me a few more details about 49th, but still I wonder:

-What was the colour for the cowling? (White with red diamonds? The same for all the flights? Any pics of such a scheme in a Spad?)
-What was the colour of the under surfaces? (light-grey or CDL)
-What was the colour of the 'outline' of the black numbers? (white or yellow)
-There was any special colour for the wheel covers?

Please, can anyone help me?

Thank you very much in advance,

Best regards...

Rinahe

ONEALM · 16 May 2007, 11:08 AM

Rinahe -

I did a painting of this airplane for Charlie some time ago and with his help with the markings, we settled on these points:

1) Blue Cowling
2) Ecru underneath
3) Black numbers, Yellow borders (That bit is not 100%, I have to check the photo of the painting again....
4) Ecru wheel covers

According to Charlie this was the airplane he was flying they day he was credited with 2 Fokker D.VII's.

If I can locate a good image of it, I'll post it here.

Keep at it,
Mike

Rinahe · 16 May 2007, 02:30 PM

Thank you very much, ONEALM !!!!

I take note of that. And I'll be waiting for the pic.

Best regards...

Rinahe

Cliff · 16 May 2007, 08:36 PM

Rinahe

I haven't found much on the 49th, what little is as follows:
1) C&C (US) V.5#2 lists their markings as: No sqn. stripe, black numerals and red diamonds on a white nose.
2) Wings Of Honour p.256 has a pic of Charles Woolley with 'his' SPAD #9. The pic only shows part of the fuselage - sqn. insignia and part of a black number with a dark border.
3) Windsock V.18#1 has an article by Greg VanWyngarden on U.S. SPADs.
Pictured is the 49th's Lt. Schenck with his SPAD #5 - S.7987. The number is dark with a slightly lighter border - stated to be black with a yellow border. The wheel cover is very light - white or ecru ??
Neither pic shows the aircraft nose, but it was common to paint them in flight colours - white, red or blue or some combination.

Cliff

Rinahe · 17 May 2007, 12:46 AM

Dear Cliff.

I wonder how the 'red diamonds on white' cowling looks like. Just a line of diamonds?

And about the borders, I think that yellow is the best choice.

#9 must be the plane of the 2nd flight leader, not Woolley's plane (In 'echoes of eagles', Woolley was CO of the 3rd flight, and his plane was the last number avaliable, #24)

Thank you very much!

Rinahe