Does anyone know of any links that show Manfred Richthofen’s final DR-1, either photos or artwork–the one he was shot down in? From what I understand, it was not the entirely red plane that he is most frequently associated with. Thanks!
Rory
Contact the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. They have his boots and several photographs.
Dai
Greetings all;
425/17 was painted all red at the Fokker Factory for MvR. No camouflage , no light blue.
For an excellent reference see, “Richthofen” by A.E. Ferko, Albatros Pub. 1996.
See; http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.com/
Or see my website below.
Richthofen by A E (ED) Ferko. This is a superb record of Germany’s leading fighter pilot, which also includes detailed appendices and notes. There are 203 photos (many hitherto unpublished) that trace the Baron’s WWI career. 84 pages offer a unique, fresh insight into Germany’s Ace of Aces; also included are 4 colour pages with 15 colour profiles of the Baron’s aeroplanes. £21.00
So…am I correct in assuming that the 425/17 was Herr Richthofen’s “death plane”? I have read that it wasn’t completely red, but had some blue on the fuselage sides…
I don’t know what you have read or where it came from but it was wrong. MvR had three all red birds. Dr.I 152/17, 477/17 and 425/17. He was KIA in 425/17. It was painted at the factory for him by A. Fokker. Even the seat that had a fabric section laced into the all metal backing was painted red.
Actually, I had just read in a few posts on this forum that Richthofen’s last plane had blue or some other dark color on the sides of the fuselage–surprised me, too, as I had always read (in more reliable sources) that it was entirely red, save for the white vertical stabilizer and the white behind the crosses…also read that the Maltese Crosses were changed the the straight “Balkenkruz” not long before his demise. I remember reading the book, “Who Killed the Red Baron?” as a kid, in which his death was attributed to the Aussie ground gunners, Cedric Popkin and Rupert Weston.
I have a drawing by Ray Rimell in a one off magazine, “Scale Colour” which depicts the Dr 1 425/17 in which “Der Rot Battlefleiger” was shot down by Australian troops.
It is overall vermillion with a white tail fin. The national markinge are overpainted Cross Partee to make the Iron Cross or square type. The width of each bar is A and the length is 3A.
Ray Rimell indicates on the drawing that it is believed to be an accruate rendition of the machine.
I can scan and email the drawing if you like.
Dai
Do they have a website?
Back in the 1970’s when I was more involved with WWI airplanes than I am now, there was some speculation that 425/17 had light blue (turquoise?) undersurfaces. There were even drawings depicting this scheme published in various books. More recent research tends to affirm that the death plane (425/17) was indeed painted overall red. This is the assertion made in Ferko’s book (which I agree is an excellent source), but also in the Autumn 1988 issue of “Over the Front” magazine and Osprey’s “Fokker Dr I Aces of World War I.” Meteor Productions has recently put out a 1/32 scale sheet of decals for all of MvR’s triplanes. If you are building in a different scale, they still are a good source of ideas. Check their website for a picture. The rumor about the light blue underneath may come from P.J. Carisella’s book, “Who Killed the Red Baron,” in which he claims that he found light blue paint underneath–but he may mean underneath the red paint, not underneath the aircraft itself. (But then, Carisella also claimed he found MvR’s bone’s still in the grave in France!!) For me, the speculation about colors makes MvR always an interesting subject for modeling. Good luck.
Carisella used fabrics borrowed from Charles Donald. Mr. Donald purchased his from a faker Rodney Gerrard who faked WWI aircraft fabric with hobby paints. Cross and Coackade Intl. carried the whole story including microscopic evaluations of the fabric in a piece called “Goodbye to all that Red by Alan Toelle.” The same Mr. Toelle that discovered the theft from the Smithsonian of WWI relics by its former curator K. Schneide.
Stephen: that is an interesting story I had not heard before. In William Burrow’s biography of MvR, he mentions a pretty intense rivalry between Carisella and Donald–with examples of each man trying to defraud and deceive the other. Maybe this was one of those spiteful exchanges. In a later edition of his book, which I perused 25 years ago in a book store, but did not buy, Carisella was claiming that he had identified MvR’s “lost love,” the mystery woman who supposedly sent him letters throughout his career. I wonder how that turned out. (Not that this has much to do with the color of his planes, but MvR is always interesting.)[;)]
By the way, that’s a nice looking model you’ve done.
Actually, I would love to see the drawing, as I am considering building the Roden 1/32 Scale Dr1 soon…thanks!
OK I’m sending drawing. Would you please advise if it gets through as this the first try on the new pc?
Dai
The upper wing markings received the same treatment and were reduced to the same proportions with the same overpainting problems.
I’m glad the email worked.
Dai