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German 5-Color Undersurface Day Fabric

This is a piece of German Tarnstoff or 'lozenge' printed aircraft fabric showing 3 of the 5 colors of the 5-color under-surface day pattern. It measures about 6 inches by 5 inches and some stitching remains on the back.  On the back of the fabric is handwritten 'Sovenier July 24 1918.'  Written on the paper is "Sovenier From France cloth of a German Aeroplaine."  The previous owner said that it was brought home by an American vet. Some of the later production Fokker D.VII aircraft had their 4 and 5 color printed fabric toned-down with a brown-tinted glaze because the colors where thought to be too vivid and this may be an example of how this was done. The glaze is not tinted dope, by the way, as it isn't soluble in acetone. The German Air Service suffered the loss of 6 single-seater aircraft on 24 July 1918 (excluding Schumacher in Jasta 10 who crashed at his own airfield), all within the same general area and possibly flying D.VII including Jasta 7, Uffz. Reuss over Menen in a D.VII; Jasta 43, Vzfw Wiehle forced to land at Armentières; Ltn.d.Rez Jacobs WIA over Lille; and Jasta 51, Uffz Hoffman and Vzfw Beinecke both killed in a collision over Pont Rouge. The last image measures the number of threads per inch as 50.

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