Most of us know Booker's "Maud" from its marking of a zigzag Red/White/Blue stripe behind the fuselage roundels. However, it was later repainted, with a beautiful set of straight bands, 3 Blue and 2 narrower Red, all separated by thin white bands. The blue of the personal markings seems lighter than the roundel blue. This machine is on the cover illustration of Osprey's "Naval Aces of World War I, Part 1", by Jon Guttman. There is also a photo on Page 45. The roundels had also been updated with the white surround. I think this is one of the prettiest Tripe schemes. On the right fuselage, just ahead of the name, is a rectangle, which is described in the book as a "personal marking that cannot be identified."
Well sometimes, after studying the same photos for years, something will click, and you wonder why you never noticed it before. In Windsock Datafile 22, on the Sopwith Triplane, there is a photo on page 1, just inside the cover. It is a closeup of the cockpit of N5468, with FSL CHB Jenner-Parson, also of Naval 8, sitting in "Angel". Just ahead of the name is a small, rectangular hinged panel, in aluminum. It is in the location where many of the Clayton & Shuttleworth built Tripes have a clear window, but the panel is narrower vertically than the square window. It looks exactly like the "personal marking" on Booker's Tripe. I've looked through the books I have, and there aren't many photos that clearly show this panel, and I've seen none which show it on left side. In the Datafile, it might be on N5427 "13" on page 8, and N6301 "Dusty II" on page 10, but if they are there, both are painted to match the fuselage.
If someone wanted to use Booker's late colors, at least now, there's a chance to recreate this mysterious "marking".
Rich
