Blue Bébés

[1Mark66]

I have a bunch of connected questions on French finishes that I have been saving up, and before the list gets too big, I'd better start posting.

I would like to get some more info on sky-blue Nieuports. The trad info on the Nieuport 11 has been a clear doped linen finish, with the only colour being the dark (blue?) tapes used to trim the wing edges and fuselage seams (like the recently pictured museum piece in Paris). However over recent years I have seen suggestions here and there that at least some Nie 11s (?and Nie 16s?) were painted an all-over light blue. So is there some more definite info available concerning this? Was it the standard factory finish at a certain date? Did blue Nieuport 11s replace CDL Nieuport 11s? Or were any Nie 11s ever CDL and have we mistakenly been assuming that the pale finish was unpainted when it was really light blue? and was this blue finish applied to other types conventionally depicted as CDL?

I assume that the all-light-blue finish was superseded by the brown and green camouflage above and that the new consensus on that is a four-colour topside scheme of two browns and two greens. Some erudite comment on that topic would also be welcome!

Mark66