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Thread: Navarre Nieuport 11 N576

  1. #1

    Default Navarre Nieuport 11 N576

    One of France's early aces, Jean Navarre, flew a Nieuport 11 (N576) with three broad bands on the fuselage, which I have always heard as described as blue-white-red (front to back). Here are links to three photos of it:


    And here are the colors that are normally used: https://nsm08.casimages.com/img/2014...8311948246.jpg

    My struggle is that we know the front band on the rudder and the center dot on the roundels is blue, and -- as a general rule -- blue frequently comes out as a light color on these early films, whereas red comes out very dark. (The films at the time did not have equal response to all colors.) Yet in all three of those pictures, the front fuselage band looks much darker than the known-blue of the rudder and roundels. Either it's a much darker blue than the rudder and roundels, or it's not blue at all.

    Does anyone have any further information on this plane? I'm leaning toward the "much darker blue" theory.

  2. #2

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    The profile caption of that plane on p156 of The WWI French Aces Encyclopedia, David Mechin, vol 6, Aeronaut Books, 2021:
    "Nieuport 11 n*576 flown by Navarre during the Battle of Verdun with the N 67 squadron. This aircraft is most likely decorated with a tricolor stripe in the colors of the national flag on the fuselage, but the blue stripe appears darker than the blue color of the tail."

    Moderator rules preclude posting the profile and photos, but I will email them to you. On pgs 126-27 are a series of black and white aerial photos of the acrobatics which include a much clearer version of your first photo as well as one that shows the shades in other light and the blue fuselage stripe not as dark.

    I couldn't find any other references to this in the remainder of the chapter.

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by malachi View Post
    The profile caption of that plane on p156 of The WWI French Aces Encyclopedia, David Mechin, vol 6, Aeronaut Books, 2021:
    "Nieuport 11 n*576 flown by Navarre during the Battle of Verdun with the N 67 squadron. This aircraft is most likely decorated with a tricolor stripe in the colors of the national flag on the fuselage, but the blue stripe appears darker than the blue color of the tail."

    .
    I recall reading the same - couldn't remember the source, though.

    At that period of the War, the French aircraft factories were using a pale blue in the roundel centre; they used a darker blue later on.
    Having said that, the Factories would only paint on the roundels and the tail flash - the fuselage tricolour would be painted on at the unit, by the pilot and his crew, so any available blue colour could have been used; perhaps even RFC blue?
    I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Helmut View Post
    I recall reading the same - couldn't remember the source, though.

    At that period of the War, the French aircraft factories were using a pale blue in the roundel centre; they used a darker blue later on.
    Having said that, the Factories would only paint on the roundels and the tail flash - the fuselage tricolour would be painted on at the unit, by the pilot and his crew, so any available blue colour could have been used; perhaps even RFC blue?
    Thanks Chris and Tim, that gives me more confidence in the "darker blue" theory (in contrast to most paint jobs you see on the internet). I'll use "French National Markings" blue on the rudder and roundels (https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...-Rudder-Colors) and a darker blue of my choosing on the fuselage.

  5. #5

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    The Navarre acrobatic photos of N*576 are from Feb 26, 1916, which I assume is the basis for the profile, but it made me wonder about de Turenne's Ares N11, for which Mechin's vol 8 mentions no such variation. It was from summer 1916 so perhaps qualifies as "later" use of a darker blue color.



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