cam, 366 words, 1 comment, C4627, Yellow Peril

The Australian War Memorial collections database tantalisingly had an entry, "A Bristol Fighter which was christened by the Hun pilots 'The Yellow Peril', starting out on a reconnaissance. The billets of the 40th Wing, Australian Flying Corps, are in the background." but no photograph. The entry now has a photo of C4627: so is the Bristol yellow, yellow ochre, CDL or mis-identified?

From the AWM Collections database :

Source: Australian War Memorial Collections Database, B02475

As can be quickly seen from the photograph the aircraft is in too much shadow to determine if it is yellow or not. There is also no way to confirm the aircraft's serial.

Due to the nature of orthochromatic photography that was used during that time we would expect a yellow aircraft to appear as being black. The warm colours in an orthochromatic photo darken, such as yellow and red, while the cool colours become lighter, such as blue. It would be difficult to pick if the aircraft was yellow or PC10 anyway, though it would quickly confirm if the aircraft was all over CDL or not.

As a display of this effect from the film the photo of the Belgian Nieuport below shows it dramatically. The Belgian roundel is red, yellow with a black centre. In orthochromatic film it appears as one large black disc. If C4627 was all over yellow we would expect it to appear on film as a very dark black.

Source: Nieuport Fighters by J.M. Bruce. Albatros Production, Windsock Datafile.

As can be seen from the Belgian roundel inset in the picture the orthochromatic films skews the colours. So the mystery of Paul and Weir's Yellow Peril remains without photographic evidence . Was it yellow? Yellow ochre, as Ross Moorhouse has suggested, or was it CDL (Clear doped linen)? Or has it, as Andrew Smith suggested , been incorrectly equated with the wrong serial number?

C4627 painted yellow.

C4627 painted in yellow ochre.

C4627 in CDL.

More reading: AFC Tags, C4627, Yellow Peril