AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ERA

Austria-Hungary


Ever since the mid-1980s, the history of the Austro-Hungarian Air Service - die KuK Luftfahrtruppe - which previously was seen as the poor stepchild to the German Air Service, and had been treated accordingly - has been seen in a whole new light. This is mainly due to the research of the late Dr.Martin O'Connor which was published in his book "Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" as well as a multiple part series on A-H camouflage and markings in C&C(GB). Since then, other books and articles have appeared including "Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of WW1" by Grosz/Haddow/Schiemer, and various monographs on individual aircraft types - the Scheimer book on the Albatros D.III(Oef) is still one of my most treasured references (even if I need a German-English dictionary to make use of it). One interesting volume is Velka Valka/Der Grosse Krieg by Jan Zahalka. This is a photo history of the Luftfahrtruppen with text in Czech (or Polish - sorry, I can't tell them apart) and German.

In the 20 years since O'Connor's work first appeared, it has come to light that some of the fabric swatches upon which his colour information was obtained were in fact doctored by the now infamous Rodney Gerrard, and there is now doubt on some of his conclusions. However, most are still relevant and research is ongoing by many dedicated enthusiasts to see just how much has been tainted by the dubious 'help' of Gerrard..

Flik is the abbreviation of Flieger Kompanie, while Flek is Flieger Erstaz Kompanie - ie, a replacement depot


 

Flik 4
Flik 12
Flik 23
Flik 30
Flik 48
Flik 55
Flek 8