KITS 06/2021

No. 4499/18, VzFlgMstr. Franz Mayer, MFJ III, Jabbeke, Belgium, September 1918

Franz Mayer was credited with three or four victories during WWI, depending on the source and flew with the marine unit MFJ III (formed

from the personnel of MFJ I and MFJ II on June 23, 1918). Mayer´s Fokker D.VII from the OAW production was of early-mid batch and sported

attractive paint scheme of white fuselage with yellow nose and diagonal black stripes on both sides. The interesting feature is the fuselage

cross. On well know and good quality photo of the plane it is quite clear the cross was of the same color as the front of the fuselage, i.e. yellow. There is nothing known about the reasoning behind this unusual approach, the yellow color was probably used to make the cross better

visible within the fuselage black stripes. Both wings were left in four-color version of the printed Flugzeugstoff, the elevator was yellow with

three black stripes denoting the MFJ III unit.

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eduard

INFO Eduard - June 2021