Why Was the Red Baron's Fokker Painted Red? Decoding the Way Aeroplanes Were Painted in the First World War

Abstract

When one turns one's thoughts to the role of aviation in the First World War, it is probable that almost the first image to cross one's mind is of gaily painted biplanes wheeling and soaring in a breathtaking dogfight. Red, yellow and harlequin-liveried Fokkers and Albatroses represent a kind of counter-symbol to the drabness of the mud-caked khaki and field-grey uniforms crowding the trenches below, just as the fighter pilot's `lonely impulse of delight', as Yeats phrased it, seems to oppose itself to the negation of individualism involved in the mass warfare of Verdun and the Somme.¹ Inconvenient details, such as the fact that the pilots of the gaily painted aircraft also wore uniforms, and that the practice of painting aircraft in bright colours coincided with the development of aerial tactics that emphasized cooperative action, tend to be overlooked.² It is possible, however, that approaching this subject with too much enthusiasm for symbolic interpretation may be unwise. This article will argue that, though there is something substantive to decode in the bright paintwork, not all displays of symbolism are best understood primarily in terms of the symbols displayed.