von Richthofen's Flying Circus (Windsock Fabric Special, No. 1)

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{ ing ~it!cu~ Colours and markings of Jagdgeschwader Nr.l

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By Greg VanWyngarden • Colour plates by Ray Rimell

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FRONT COVER To p, unidentified A lbatros 0.111 01 Jasta 6, c irca 1917 in st and ard fi nish w it h no evidence of t he w in9 cr ta!t st riping assoclated w it h t his u nit. Wing s and t ailplane a re pr obably cam ouf laged in red -b rown, li g ht and dark g ree n w it h pal e (sky) blue under surfaces. Fuse lage marking in b lack an d w hit e - see page 16. Centre, Fok ke r Dr.l 4 54 /17 (w/ n 2 0 79 ) üo w n by Ltn. Loth ar vo n Ric hthol en, CO 01 Jasta 11, Ma rc h 19 17. The aeroplane is in st ande rd Fo kker olive/t urq uo ise unten w it h th e unit's red co lo ur ap p lied to c owling, st ruts and wheel c over s. The up per surface er t ne t op w ing, taüptane , rudder and rear l usel ag e were ove rpa int ed in pa le yellow a ref ere nce to Loth ar's previous serv tce w it h th e Dragone~Regimentvon

Bredow Nr.4 . Th e original f ill ing-in of the fu se lage and up per w ing cro ss f ie ld s w it h olive st ill show ed un d er t he thin yellow und er pain tin g see page 52.

Pre face hiSbook initia tes 0 ser ies 01 special publicolions from A l batros w hich

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specihcollv co ve rs colo ocs and morkings

Foot, Fo kker D.VII (seria l unkno w n) f lo w n by Ltn. Ern st Udet, CO 0 1 Jas ta 4, J une 1918. One 01 Udet's f irst D.Vll s th is is an ear ly Fok ker-bu ilt examp le a nd at one sta ge was st rik ingly f inished in red w it h lowe r w ings retaining t he ir original fo ur-colo ur pr inted fab ric. The t ail pl ane is mark ed w it h a w hit e c hevron and t he upper w ing is pai nted in red (or black?) and w hite stripes in a style simila r to Kirch ste in 's Jasta 6 Dr.l w hic h Ud et also flew see page 14.

E16.95 NET (UK ONLY)

01 W o rld W ar O ne aeroplanes rother thon placing the emphasis a n tec hnlc o l doto a nd sccle plans w hic h dtsttnquish o ur o the r title s. Thott here is 0 demend for such colo ur ma te ria l is demanstrated by the g rowing w o r ldwid e in terest in WWI aeropla ne modelling o f a ll kind s, on in terest w hieh eon tinua lly de ma nds hard information. Tha t this boo k w ill prove populor we have no doubt. German WWI figh ter p ilo ts ha ve enormaus appea l especially those leading lig hts suc h os the vo n Richlhalen b ro thers, Vass, U d et ond olhers, so no apolagies are oflered far selecting the lour un its that campr ised JGI, 'von Ric htha fen ' s Flyin g Circus'.lar our first Fobric vo lume . Sueh trea tme nl 01 these unils has rare ly been lou nd between Ihe covers o f 0 single val ume , nor so many colaur schemes fa r Iheir aeroplanes co lleclively a ffered Exper ience has shown Ihot Ihe lopi e o f WWI

German aero p lane colours orouses inte nse passio n am angsl a larg e number o f outhors a nd collectors w a r ldwid e - no doubt the re w ill be a live ly response to thts book. Netthe r c uthor nor o rtist are rash enough na r foo l e no ugh ta claim inlallibility bortbev hcve studfed sccres 01 ehetos w ith some cc re. end co nsulted severol knowled g eable hlsto no ns a nd their researc h note s, be fore l ina lising the colour and monochrome proliles thot a ppe o r thro ughout the lollow ing pa g es. Natu ra lly corr recfions fo r luture edi tions are al wa ys w elcom e il back ed up by relia ble dacumenlary evide nce: unsu p ported guesswar k ho wever is pe rhaps best lelt in abeya nce . There w ill al woys be 'g rey' o reos open 10 d e bo le a nd we m ak e no l irm co ncluslons o n cerrein sv bjects, ne ither hcve w e mode extensive use 0 1 Methuen notoüo ns W e reolts e mo ny reo ders require suc h refere nces b ut they are only reo lly va lid w hen com pared to surviving lobric, relatively few exnmples o f w hich ca n be tied to a specthc air/ra me or phOIO, thus M el hue n musl serve as 0 general guide onlv lnterp reto tio n 01 phOIOS, es pe cia lly cc pies [o r co p ies 01 copies) rs frau g ht wit h d ifl icully. Thera are severollcctors to cons ider: lighting, highl ig hling , exposure. var ia b les in printing and developing. types 01 lilm - oll p ro vid e pitlolls fo r the ser io us student. Ir is imprudent thereto re. ta be pedcnt«; w hen oss ig ning colours 10 monochro me p hotos. let clo ne specilv M el hue n o r FS codes cn the stre ng th o f them. As a fina l wo rd o f ccution, it sho uld be re me m bered thot in fr on t-Hne service oeroplc ne lin ishes were rcrelv l inite. camba t circu rnstcnces, olficia l decrees, un it strict ures, a nd perso eo ltostes cau ld I reqo entlv cha nge the co la urs a nd m arkings 01 on aeropla ne, lile ra lly ove rnighl. W ith I hese coveols in m ind , we now p resenl th is baok, the l irsl o f a n ongaing series an d o ne tho t we ho pe w ill be 01 volue to ollthose w ho model WWI aeropla nes w he lhe r the ir inte rests are in praducing sta tic, f1 ying or eve n full -scole re p licos. R Rimell, December 19 9 4 . D e d ic a t io n W e w o uld like 10 dedicate this book to He inz J N owo rra , o ne o f the p ionee rs 01 Germon WWI oviation hi sto ry ond outhor o f thot ve nerable c10ssie Eisernes Kreuz und

Balkenkreuz.

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JG l-AN INTRODUCTION I R ichthole n's Flying

ürUJS' - CI pbrcse which eeckes on ,moge oIlhe Iegeodory Germon oc e in his blccd-red ligh ter,leod,ng (] 5worm of equolly

colocrtut eueroft ;010 Ihe skies over the Western

Fron t. This conception was preeclent omong morry wortime mrrnen,

000 remains so omoog aviation

e nt husio sts today. l he image is so enduring perho p s be
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wheel covers and struts mov also bc ve been mo rked in this shade. laste 4 reverted 10 Ihe uw 0/ bloc k oS o unit colcor. this also being opplied 10 lhe oircroh no se s ond outer wheel covers. Pltors in Jagds'a((eln 4 ond 10 continued 10 mar k the i. personal colows on loilplones ond elevalors. but mare use was also mode 01 heraldic or other pictcncl symbols on the Ioseloqe sdes os weil. Severol5l0lfelleoders oppcreotlv chose 10 exteed Ihe eolourls) oIlhei. oott to 0 major pOf1ion 01the ir oiruolr 10 eobcnce idenl,licotion. l he locllhot 10$10 10 5IalfelfiJh.er Erich loewenhordillew 0 'yellow Fecker" is weil cnesred 10 by severol ccraemporurv cccooots. bul preciwly how mueh oiihe oirerolt wos

'The German oees, par1iculorly Rich/hofen 's Flying Cncus. which WQS lhen under ,he commond of Hermann Göring . . hod poeved ,heir planes in a horrible MoCy. wilh sJ:.ul/s ond ccssöooes ond hideovs coloars. to in!imide/e 'he AI/led Hiers ' r.' LI. Ra /ph A O 'Neill . pil o t of the 147th Aero Sq uodro n . USAS.

overpainted yellow is cerecerded hhe cothcr ond publishers bcve icded 10 joccre 0 decr photo 01 this machine Ihus lor). Lothor von Riehlholen descnbed the 1051 D.YII he lIew when losta 11 commcnoer es 0 'red bnd', but ogain pre
he very title of this book co njures up the image ct Germ any' s legendary air ace in his bright red Albat ro s or Fokker tri p lane lead ing a fo rmation ct eq ually colourfu l aerop lanes over th e mud dy. wer-tcrn battle fie lds of t he Western Front during 'The

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Great War.

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Jagdgesch wader Nr. l was Germany' s first Figh ter Win g com prising four sq uadrons :

Jastas 4.6, 10 a nd 11, whose pil ots unde r t heir reverec co mmande r von Richthofen p roved suc h fo rmidable op po ne nts for Atli ed airman during th e Jatter stages of Wor ld War One. In the first WINDSOCK FASRIC SPECIAL, markings sp eci alist Grag VanWyngarden provid es extens ive ptctoriat coverage 01 JG I's fig hter aerop lanes in an unr ivall ed, c ottec tlve reterence pa ck age. Ove r 178 arc hive ph oto s, a d ozen lin e drawings and mor e th an eig ht p ag es ot exc it ing new colour prc tiles provid e sca le mod elt ers and enthusias ts with a wide selecticn 01colour sc hemes tor th e bes t known Ger man aeroplanes of the First Wor ld War.

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WINDSOCK FABRIC SPECIAL No. 1

Pr lnted In Greol Brito in