Exotic Turkish Pfalz,colours wanted.

[Cruz Verras]

Good day to all.
Any forumite willing to shed some light on this exotic subject.
The only info I found was from an '05 publication titled "turkish military aircraft since 1912".It shows this specific Pfalz as a DIII numbered 1359/18 and taking part with another three in the greco-turkish conflict of 1919-22.
It's evident that the lower wings carry underneath the turkish flag as an insignia, replacing the black squares of WW1.Fuselage has a dark sash at the front,cast shadow?Wings look to me (undersurface of top wing) covered with printed fabric.
This is a neglected era of post WW1 aviation history although the participants used only WW1 types.Speculations ,conjectures is probably the most we can make of ,all will be apreciated.

Cheers Cruz.

[Cigogne]

This photograph was taken after the war during the early days of the new Turkish airforce. It proves that some Pfalz D.IIIa aircraft did make it to Turkey.

[Pfalz-Scout]

Hello Cruz,

for a profile of the PFALZ 1359/18 go to this site: PFALZ D III ..WW I Period TUAF AIRCRAFTS 1 nci dunya savasi dönemi Turk HvKK UCAKLARI


Best Regards
Pfalz-Scout

[Cruz Verras]

Pfalz-scout,thanks mate for the link.
Quite an interesting interpretation, but I'm a bit worried about those colours.
The more i look at the pic the more those dark polygonic dots on the upper wing look like a printed fabric to me.This is a 1918 production machine, green and mauve does'nt seem to stick, afterall was'nt green & mauve applied on Pfalz DIII's only in the field? I might be wrong,then again half the fun is in the research. Maybe it's time for a forum ace to jump in here.

Cheers again to all viewers, Cruz.

[Gregvan]

Dear Cruz,

You are right to be cautious about those profiles on the Turkish site - as well-intentioned as they are. First of all, they both depict the Pfalz D.III (with bogus serial numbers), and I believe that only late-production 1918 examples of the Pfalz D.IIIa were supplied to Turkey. You're correct that the green and mauve camouflage scheme is dubious. This is based on depctions of very early Pfalz D.III machines (such as Heldmann's 1395/17 in Jasta 10), which did bear some sort of factory-applied terrain camouflage.

You're also right about the wings of the Turkish Pfalz D.IIIa in your photo having five-color printed camouflage fabric. I believe that the Pfalz D.IIIa machines supplied to Turkey in 1918 had printed fabric on their wings and elevators, and silver-gray fuselages with Balkenkreuz insignia applied. When the Turks received them they seem to have overpainted the fuselage a dark color, but I can't be sure. I wish we had more and better photos to go on.

Very best regards,

Greg

[Tenzan]

Hi all,
Turkish Pfalz D.IIIa 1359/18 was flown by pilot Vecihi during the first battles in 1920. On the fuselage turkish national insignia - white number "2".

Regards, Tenzan

[Cruz Verras]

Dear Greg & Tenzan.
Thank you both for your kind suggestions, that profile Tenzan was much more like it, although I'll agree with Greg on the possibility that the fuselage has some kind of a dark overpaint.Those struts sure look dark.The number two applied in the red square is new to me.I've seen No.1 on an Albatros DIII,the
only one in service during that same period.

Cheers and all the best.

[Cruz Verras]

Hi,back again.
Finally I got hold of that elusive turkish Albatros.
Sorry for the copy,bad scan.This one might be the last of the "mohicans",the only one that made it through the greco-turkish war.
Of notice is the small square windshield,the dark band wraping round the fuselage and a small dark rectangle right under the cockpit with an inscription in the arabic alphabet.
Hey Tenzan,this one is also worth one of your professional profiles,oh yes and the whole fin and rudder is red with star and crescent.You guessed right there is also another pic which I can't post.

cheers, Cruz.