WW1 Aircraft Modeling > Under Construction
Tout sang qui coule est rouge
andonio64:
Dear friends,
Here is my next work, I will build the Roden 1/32 Spad XIII Early kindly assigned to me after the promise I made : “I definitely want to pay a tribute to corporal Eugene Bullard (Tout sang qui coule est rouge / All blood runs red)”.
Before opening the box and starting all the preliminary operations (including photos) I have made a research for historical information and also for photos showing the famous bleeding heart.
Here are some of the sources I accessed to get information:
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66158
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55190
https://www.historynet.com/eugene-bullard-americas-first-black-fighter-pilot/
http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille085.htm
I tried to put together a sort of chronology of his military life :
15 November 1916
Joined Lafayette Flying Corps
28 June 1917
Was promoted to corporal
27 August 1917
Arrived at Escadrille 93 (In this Esc. He probably flew a Ni 24 painted in silver with the black duck sign of the Squadron)
13 September 1917
Quits Escadrille 93
13 September 1917
Joined Escadrille N85 which was equipped with Nieuports (The symbol of this Squadron was a Bull until July 1918, then it was replaced by a Joker)
11 November 1917
Quits Escadrille N85
25 November 1917
Escadrille N.93 became SPA 93 - The Escadrille SPA 93 changed its machines from Nieuport 24 to SPAD VII
Late 1917
He applied for the U.S. Army Air Corps but was rejected
9 February 1918
Escadrille N 85 became SPA 85
But what happened from November 1917 to the end of the war? I have read on an Italian forum (A very old post dating back to 2011) that on 11 November 1917 Bullard was definitely grounded and sent back to his infantry regiment because he had a very harsh quarrel with a French officer. Bullard should have had a strong and maybe difficult character…
andonio64:
I was not able to find other elements to confirm
1- Had he ever had the bleeding heart painted on his plane?
2- If so on which plane?
3- If it was a SPAD was it a VII or a XIII?
1 - Here is what Greg VanWyngarden says in the Aerodrome :
Many years later, Bullard is said to have stated that he flew a blue 'SPAD' with a personal red bleeding heart emblem (stabbed with a dagger), with the legend "Tout sang qui coule est rouge” (All blood runs red) written surrounding it.
So it could be just a story he talked about after returning home, but (Greg VanWyngarden again):
Jon Guttman wrote an article about Bullard in “Windsock” magazine, and Ray Rimell did a colored profile of Bullard’s Escadrille 85 Spad VII based on Jon’s directions.
I don’t know on which basis Jon and Ray have produced this profile, although the scheme is provisional and based on Bullards tale.
There is no photo of Bullard’s plane with the bleeding heart but a fake one which was touched up replacing the Indian’s head of the Lafayette corps with a modern drawing. See the type of character used for the motto, it’s something like ARIAL, and the rigging shadows on the fuselage appear cancelled, and in any case the plane is a Nieuport.
ORIGINAL (found here: https://tacairnet.com/2014/06/03/raoul-luf-lufbery/ )
FAKE
There is also this image here (a SPAD) but the bleeding heart is exactly the same of the previous photo, it seems cut and paste from one pic to the other
2 - According to what Greg VanWyngarden says in the Aerodrome he flied mainly Ni 24 because SPADS arrived to his Squadrons after he left. But I read that SPAD XIII started being used by the Armée de l'Air in May 1917, the Escadrilles assumed the prefix SPA when most of the machines were of that type, but this does not meanthat when called N an Escadrille had only Nieuports, maybe it could have a few SPADS...
3 - SPAD VII or SPAD XIII (I have no clues on this but the profile published by Ray Rimell)
I also bought as E-Book “Eugene Bullard – world’s first black fighter pilot” and will start reading it in the next days.
I would like to read your opinions on this!
Thanks
Antonio
Borsos:
Hello Antonio,
I love your project and will follow your progress closely. I wished, I could give you a better answer then wikipedia regarding Bullards later career in WW1, but wikipedia.fr says „ Le 11 janvier 1918, il est réaffecté au 170e régiment d'infanterie française, et sert au camp de La Fontaine du Berger près d'Orcines, dans le Puy-de-Dôme, où il forme les jeunes recrues avant qu'elles aillent au front, jusqu'à l'armistice de 1918.“ (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard)
When it comes to the daggered heart and his slogan, it all depends on what kind of historical proof you need to be happy with. The fun thing with ww1 planes is for me: There‘s so much room for artistic license. So if you like the story, just go for it!
Best regards,
Andreas
masterKamera:
--- Quote from: andonio64 on June 06, 2022, 02:14:48 AM ---I was not able to find other elements to confirm
1- Had he ever had the bleeding heart painted on his plane?
2- If so on which plane?
3- If it was a SPAD was it a VII or a XIII?
1 - Here is what Greg VanWyngarden says in the Aerodrome :
Many years later, Bullard is said to have stated that he flew a blue 'SPAD' with a personal red bleeding heart emblem (stabbed with a dagger), with the legend "Tout sang qui coule est rouge” (All blood runs red) written surrounding it.
So it could be just a story he talked about after returning home, but (Greg VanWyngarden again):
Jon Guttman wrote an article about Bullard in “Windsock” magazine, and Ray Rimell did a colored profile of Bullard’s Escadrille 85 Spad VII based on Jon’s directions.
I don’t know on which basis Jon and Ray have produced this profile, although the scheme is provisional and based on Bullards tale.
There is no photo of Bullard’s plane with the bleeding heart but a fake one which was touched up replacing the Indian’s head of the Lafayette corps with a modern drawing. See the type of character used for the motto, it’s something like ARIAL, and the rigging shadows on the fuselage appear cancelled, and in any case the plane is a Nieuport.
ORIGINAL (found here: https://tacairnet.com/2014/06/03/raoul-luf-lufbery/ )
FAKE
There is also this image here (a SPAD) but the bleeding heart is exactly the same of the previous photo, it seems cut and paste from one pic to the other
2 - According to what Greg VanWyngarden says in the Aerodrome he flied mainly Ni 24 because SPADS arrived to his Squadrons after he left. But I read that SPAD XIII started being used by the Armée de l'Air in May 1917, the Escadrilles assumed the prefix SPA when most of the machines were of that type, but this does not meanthat when called N an Escadrille had only Nieuports, maybe it could have a few SPADS...
3 - SPAD VII or SPAD XIII (I have no clues on this but the profile published by Ray Rimell)
I also bought as E-Book “Eugene Bullard – world’s first black fighter pilot” and will start reading it in the next days.
I would like to read your opinions on this!
Thanks
Antonio
--- End quote ---
per your photos...
the bottom photo has the original artwork of the bleeding heart. if you notice the bend in the heart is actualy on the natural bend of the fuselage of that airraft. in the top photo of it on a plane, the heart logo has the bend, but the bend is on a FLAT surface of the fuselage.
and the writing around the logo is 100% poorly done photo shop work. wrong angle to it,, ie it was written on a flat surface, not the multi curved surface of an aircraft..
however the logo doesnt need the writing to work, and unless one took the time to hand draw it... well it just doesnt work sadly. But i honestly doubt the words were ever painted on the logo.
RAGIII:
I say go with the option you like. Personally I would tend to go with Ray's drawing based on Jon's interpretation. Of course I am always up for a scheme based on conjecture. For example Udets candy striped DVII and Erich Loewenhardt's Yellow fuselage DVII. By the way the SPAD in the bottom photo looks like a 13 to Me.
JMHO,
RAGIII
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version