AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST
WORLD WAR ERA
deHavilland DH4
The DH4 was the only aircraft built in the United States to see combat
in WWI.While an excellent design when it entered service in 1916, by the
time that the USA entered the war it was being superceded by newer designs.
America needed aircraft fast, and decided that the best way would be to
build their own versions of successful aircraft, to that end they decided
to build the DH4 .. and they would substitute their new wonder powerplant
- the Liberty engine. After various delays, 1213 were shipped to France
and 196 of these were to actually see front-line service with nine squadrons
before the Armistice. Of these nine Squadrons, two flew their only wartime
missions on November 10, 1918.
There were two types of finish applied to the US DH4. Those built by
Dayton-Wright were finished with cream coloured fuselages and undersurfaces
and khaki uppersurfaces with a soft demarcation between the cream and
khaki on the fuselage top.Fisher and Standard painted their DH4s in an
overall khaki - including undersurfaces.
Originally carrying the US marking of a white star within a blue disc
with a red disc in the centre, they adopted a red/blue/white roundel in
Europe to avoid being nistaken for a German cross.
Numbers on Dayton-Wright built machines were generally black, while those
on the Fisher and Standard machines were white. One mistake I do have
on many of the camouflaged machines is they should also have painted struts.
Another is the use of footsteps on the starboard side as opposed to the
port side .. photos show some aircraft to have had them on the starboard
side.
Two books on the US DH4 are recommended. The first is the Smithsonian's
book on their restoration of the NASM DH4. This is a unique aircraft in
that it was the very first Dayton-Wright built DH4. The second is Datafile
No.101 - American DH4, by Jon Guttman.

deHavilland DH4
Whitehouse / Lyttle
-
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
1/Lt Spear / 2/Lt Curtin
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Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
2Lt J L Garlough / 2Lt R C Payton
-
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Lt W Frayne / Lt R French
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Late 1918
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4 23114
Lt Palmer / Lt Rice
November 1918
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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DH4
Capt Kinsolving / Lt Wilson
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4
Capt Parks / 2/Lt Ward
Oct-Nov 1918
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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deHavilland DH4 32889
Late1918
Source: US DH4 Datafile
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