Fokker D.VII

In 2007 at Geneseo , NY , WWI lost power shortly after take off. Ahead of the pilot was a river with trees on both banks. Aiming for the only treetop gap, the aircraft snagged a high branch with the starboard wing and went straight down from about 60 feet. He walked away combining equal parts of stick & rudder work with luck.

Our Objective

Every project needs a goal and one of the exciting parts of this project is the anticipation we all have for the new colour scheme.

When C-GWWI was last painted there was no ready source for lozenge fabric. That is one of the practical considerations behind the previous colour schemes. The Berthold colouring only had day lozenge on the lower surfaces of the wings. To create this, the museum called upon its most valuable resource, enthusiastic volunteers, to hand paint the finish. This was accomplished by projecting a drawing of the lozenge pattern with an overhead projector and tracing the outlines. Each area was then hand painted with a brush. When you actually stand next to a thirty foot piece of Ceconite with all those little areas, you appreciate big solid coloured paint schemes.

For the re-birth of CF-WWI, the museum has decided to go forwards with a paint scheme that is almost all 4 colour lozenge. To this end fabric was purchased from Ross Walton at Vintage Aero Fabrics and is currently in store.

Here is what it will look like.

'RK' has specific Canadian significance, was a frontline aircraft and is a visibly dramatic departure from most German aircraft on the airshow circuit. Using this material and the doping required will actually decrease the weight of the airframe, a big plus.