I went through Marc Chassards <<les enduits des Avions Nieuport, en 1916>> which contains English translations, and I will try to give a short summary of its content as far as I understand it:
- At first he underlines the difference between paint and dope. The last one was used to stretch the fabric, make it resistant and waterproof, elastic and stable against different environmental influences. Dope and fabric get a homogenous surface while paint does not and therefore can peel off easily.
- he mentions a horizon blue dope used on Nieuports X from 1915, which was not widely used.
- with the beginning of the Verdun battle, he says, Nieuport scouts were highly on demand and they should get camouflaged, mainly for low visibility when on the ground. therefore upper wing roundels disappeared and the famous green-brown camouflage paints were introduced. These paints were quickly flaking off, so several trials were made with tinted dopes:
- he mentions a white dope in this list that was used on Nieuports with 11xx serials like Victor Chapmans N1148 or probably N1132; this is documented for May/June 1916
- then he speaks of a white and aluminium dope that was probably a transition on the way to Aluminium dope; Maybe Nugessers N1109 was doped with it, but it is completely unknown if this dope was tested in the field at all.
- Aluminium dope was introduced in July 1916 and was finally used on all Nieuport scouts. It was maybe already tested in May 1916. So there were probably some Nieuport 11 that were doped in Aluminium, maybe N1109 was one of these planes.
- there was also a red-brown dope tested at the same time (May-July 1916), but it is also hardly known, maybe Nieuport 16 N1130 was doped with it.
- some Nieuports 11 of the 800 series appear on photos in a solid light color, like N823, N836 (Guynemer) and N889. It is neither known if this color was a paint or a dope, nor its exact shade, probably blue-grey
Finally he discusses the famous question if the green-brown camouflaged Nieuports that were spray-painted consisted of two, three or four colors. he discusses a color drawing by E.A. Shepard of N1136 from September 2, 1916 , that shows only two camouflage tones. Therefore he tends towards two tones and besides that underlines that from the 1200 series onwards the undersides of the wings and fuselage were painted light blue. Before they were left in CDL.
=> What he does not discuss at all is the translucency of CDL Nieuports, he does not deal with CDL at all here.
But in his book <<Rene Dorme et Joseph Guiguet. La Guerre aerienne de deux as>> Marc Chassard states on p. 167 that the first Nieuports, 10 and the first 11 built in 1915, were delivered in clear-doped linen.
So far so good, all of this is very interesting in my opinion, but does not answer the question about the translucency of this CDL.
So I came to a discussion on ?the aerodrome? from 2009:
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51344Here, a person called Raoul Lubliner tells the following:
<<Early Nie 11's: CDL, Ecru, or an "egg custard" color or something along those lines depending on the state of yellowing of the varnish top coat. An off white when fresh, to a cream with time and UV exposure. Not at all translucent from new. The fuselage outlining tapes, flying surfaces perimeter tapes, strut reinforcing tapes and the cabane and landing gear struts on these aircraft were painted the same blue/violet tinted gray as used on the pre-January 1917 French standard "Adrian Helmet" gray. (After January 1917, these helmets were painted a shade of blue known as "Horizon Blue.") This early Adrian Helmet blue/violet gray perimeter striping was later carried over to the camouflaged ships. >>
What irritated me was the <<blue/violet tinted gray>> as the horizon blue I thought to know had no violet in it. But this description fits quite well to the color used on de Roses Nieuport at LeBourget.
My working hypothesis is at the moment: Yes, the first Nieuports 11 were CDL and this was not translucent. I cannot say if this was caused by the character of the used fabric or because pigment (Ecru) was mixed into the dope. It should have had an off-white color when new and cream or straw yellow when aged. The edges were taped with tapes that had a horizon blue color, whatever its exact shade was.
I hope that helps.
Andreas
