Beginning near the end of 1916, there developed a fashion in the German Air Service, and in particular, their fighter squadrons (Jagdstaffeln usually shortened to Jasta) of decorating their aircraft in an ever increasing variety of colours and designs. The best known of all German pilots Manfred von Richtofen, was one of the first, possibly the first, to decorate his aircraft, in the first instance a red wash over the fuselage of his Albatros DII. After his appointment to command of Jasta 11, in January 1917, the other pilots in the squadron also began painting their aircraft, and within a short while, the practice had been adopted throughout the Jastas.

Here is an example of the aircraft with which von Richtofen is most closely associated, the Fokker Dr1, ( Fokker triplane ). Note that this example is not all red but retains the olive drab Fokker camouflage on the two lower wings and forward fuselage;



this could be either Fokker DR1, serial number 127/17 or 161/17, which are known to have been flown by von Richtofen and had this colour scheme.

the more famous all red Fokker DR1, serial number 425/17



note also that in the Spring of 1918, the Germans changed the national markings on their aircraft from a Cross Patee to a Balkankreuz.

Jasta 18/15;


two examples of aircraft from this squadron in their blue and red livery. The first is Pfalz DIII, in use in the Autumn of 1917;


wiki:In the spring of 1918, Berthold was promoted to command the Prussian Jagdgeschwader II wing, consisting of the Prussian Jagdstaffeln 12, 13, 15 and 19. Berthold wanted to take his old squadron with him and make it part of the wing, but this was disallowed. On 19 March 1918, he engineered a wholesale swap of pilots between Jasta 18 and Jasta 15 as a means of taking the pilots he knew with him. The exchange took place at Guise, in the 18th Armee area of operations.


and the second from the summer of 1918, when the squadron had been re-equipped with the Fokker DVII;



by this time, Jasta 15 was part of Jagdgeschwader Nr 2, and the aircraft illustrated is that of the Geschwader commander, Rudolf Bertholdt, with it's distinctive winged dagger logo.

Another Pfalz DIII, this one flown by Werner Voss of Jasta 10 in the summer of 1917, though only for four sorties before switching back to an Albatros DIII.



before his death in September 1917, Voss was von Richtofen's closest rival in terms of aircraft shot down. The machine is painted silver, there is absolutely no attempt at camouflage.

This is "Black Maria" of "B" ("All-Black" or "Empire") Flight, Naval 10. It was Raymond Collishaw's aircraft, in which (arguably) he shot down Allmanroder of von Richtofen's Jasta, who was then flying an all-green aircraft. Note that its only the cowling, fuselage decking, fin and wheels which are painted black, unlike some representations (and descriptions in fiction) which have Naval 10 flying all-black aircraft.

http://www.airteamimages.com/sopwith-triplane_ZK-SOP_united-kingdom---royal-naval-air-service_121120.html

Another Fokker Dr1, this one serial number 213/17, flown by Lt Fritz Kempf of Jasta 2.

The machine is in the plain olive drab Fokker camouflage, however Kempf has decorated it by painting his name on the top wing and "kennscht mi noch?" ["do you remember me?"] on the middle wing.



A contemporary photograph.

The other major German fighter of the period was the Albatros series. Here are two examples of the DVa from late 1917. Both have 5-part lozenge camouflaged wings, as per the Albatros factory.

Black and white hooped Albatri of Jasta 26;



and a short video of a reconstruction of a DVa, from New Zealand, in the colours of Adolf Schreder of Jasta 17;

So far, we have only looked at the German Air Service, not surprisingly since the Allies did not indulge in such varied colour schemes to the same extent. However there was some individual paintwork on Allied machines as can be seen from this Nieuport 17bis, flown by the French ace Charles Nungesser, with some macabre artwork;

Spad XIII in the colours of the US 94th Aero Squadron (The Hat in the Ring squadron)

The British tended to stick with neutral colours on their aircraft. Exceptions were the crews (or at least some of them) of the Felixstowe F2 flying boats on U-Boat hunting duties in the North Sea and Western Approaches, who, in case of ditching, had their machines painted to be easily spotted.

Photograph of a Felixstowe on patrol:



and the colour version;

A sudden jump forward by 25 years and a 112 Squadron Curtiss Kittyhawk of the Desert Air Force, in standard desert camouflage with  shark mouth motif;

Similar to the Fokker and Albatross above this camouflage on a German AEG N.I. night bomber was deemed the correct pattern and shading for rendering a plane difficult to see at dusk or in early dawn light.



It seems counter-intuitive to paint something in bright pink and yellow to help obscure it but a similar exercise involving submarines demonstrated that, when it comes to the human eye, little can be assumed from the apparent evidence. The US Navy during WWII once experimented with marine camouflage, painting a different pattern and colour combination on five different craft, old submarines due for decommission, and then used them for target practice, under fire from various assault aircraft whose pilots used their eyesight to locate and lock in on them. Not one of the craft managed to fool the pilots and all were sunk. Amazingly a control craft - a submarine painted bright orange moored at a distance to give the pilots a clue to the whereabouts of the targets - was consistently reported not to have been seen by the pilots at all.

A really good example of camouflaging an aircraft so that it merges with the background, making it difficult to spot when viewed from above, this Messerschmitt 109 in North Africa during WW2;

Good example, and it demonstrates a feature of camouflage that is still not properly understood even by those who design it. It being a still photograph the desert camouflage allows the craft to merge visually with its surroundings. However if you imagine it in movement you can readily see how this effect would be radically reduced.

However as with the colourful camouflage used in earlier craft, the human eye is deceived as much through confusion as obscurity. The trick is to "fool" the eye into failing to register the object in the brain in a manner that aids recognition. Somewhat ironically this can sometimes be achieved, especially where movement is concerned, as much through pattern distortion as with colour. The black and white striped zebra in the green and yellow environment of the Savannah is a case in point. Through trial and error the aviators of WWI arrived at similar conclusions and results, probably as much to their own surprise as anyone else's.

"Dazzle" camouflage, Nordmann. It was used extensively on shipping during the latter part of WW1,the trick, as you mentioned, to fool the human eye as to range and direction. And which would be especially effective if it was viewed from a restricted view point, eg a submarine's periscope;

HMS Argus in 1917:

This is an example on an aircraft, in this instance a WW2 Brewster Buffalo;



The artist who designed this particular camouflage was McClelland Barclay, better known for his pin-up art.

Jasta 18

After the Bertholdt swap ( outlined above ), Jasta 18 adopted a vermillion and white colour scheme.

The corvidian motif is a play on the name of the unit's CO, Ltn August Raben:

In his book "Flying Fury", James McCudden mentions combat against an enemy plane he describes as "Greentail". Exactly who this German pilot was has never been established, however, Greentails were the distinguishing feature of Jasta 5.

Albatross DV's of Jasta 5; Hans von Hippel


and Paul Baumer

Fokker DVII flown by Lothar von Richtofen; Summer 1918.

R V Jones of Operational Research fame was instrumental in the adoption of an effective camouflage scheme for Coastal Command in WWII.

Plain white.


Aircraft were almost invariably spotted as dark shapes in the sky, so white paint led to a delay in U-boat lookouts spotting them, which was crucial in the "battle of the seconds" which determined whether the U-boat could submerge before the aircraft could attack. Research also suggested that illuminating the underside of such aircraft could actualy have been a viable measure, but the extra weight and fuel consumpton led to a net decrease in effectiveness. This is comparable to the change in destroyer and light forces naval camouflage - pre-Jutland, British destroyers were painted black.



BY mid WWII it was replaced by "Western Approaches" camouflage (which is frequently confused with "dazzle paint"


But was entirely different - I've seen a 1/96th scale destroyer "disappear" when about 50 meters away at a local model boat club.


The two had totally different rationales "dazzle" to confuse range finding, course and speed estimation, "WA" (and "Admiralty disruptive") to make the ship harder to spot.

Antoine de St-Exupery, when on one of his exploratory flights over the sahara, had his plane painted bright pink, reasoning that this would make rescue easier. It nearly cost him his life - when he was forced to land after engine trouble, the sarchers were unable to spot the plane (iirc eventually one spotted the lengthening shadow as evening approached, but that may be a false memory)

Green George wrote:

Antoine de St-Exupery, when on one of his exploratory flights over the sahara, had his plane painted bright pink, reasoning that this would make rescue easier. It nearly cost him his life - when he was forced to land after engine trouble, the sarchers were unable to spot the plane (iirc eventually one spotted the lengthening shadow as evening approached, but that may be a false memory)

I remember the Tornado colour scheme during the Gulf War:

Yes, Trike - also used ("Plymouth pink" or "Mountbatten mauve") for some Coastal Forces vessels.
Here's a common misconception. "B" or "Empire" flight of Naval 10 were known as the "Black flight" and many representations of their Sopwith Triplanes show them as all-black


In fact, it was only the fuselage decking in front of the cockpit, the engine cowling and part of the fin which were so painted, as in this model or Collishaw's plane. "Black Maria". Also worth noting - the story that "British copied von Richthoven's triplane" is the reverse of the truth. The Sopwith Triplane antedated the Fokker.

Green George wrote:

Also worth noting - the story that "British copied von Richthoven's triplane" is the reverse of the truth. The Sopwith Triplane antedated the Fokker.

Unquestionably GG. The first two pre-production Fokker Triplanes were delivered to Jagdgeshwader Nr1 in late August 1917; 102/17 going to Manfred von Richtofen and 103/17 to Werner Voss.
Von Richtofen shot down an RE8 on September 1st and included the following in his report:
"I and four gentlemen of my staffel attacked a very courageously flown British artillery spotting aircraft. Apparently the adversary had taken me for a British Triplane , as the observer stood up in his machine without making a move to attack me with his machine gun"
I think 102/17 was left in its factory colouring. MvR went on sick leave shortly after and the machine was destroyed in combat while being flown by Kurt Wolff on the 15th.
Voss' 103/17 was definitely given some artistic work in the form of a "face" being painted onto the engine cowling:

Footage of Fokker Triplane (officially Fokker F1, DR1 being the production model) 102/17 at Marckebeeke in Belgium on the 3rd September 1917. Von Richtofen shot down a Sopwith Pup of 46 Squadron, pilot AF Bird (POW) on this day. Both shot down plane and pilot appear near the end of the video: