Supposed WW1 German a'c fabric on eBay

'14-'18aviationcollector · 22 October 2008, 07:58 AM

Did anyone see the fabric on eBay? It is supposed to be from a WW1 German aircraft of some sort, which was supposedly shot down in flames on 23 - 7(?) - 1917. The item number is 190259535751, and bidding has ended for this item unfortunately. I saw this item when there was very little time left on this auction, otherwise I would have posted something about this item earlier. I am interested in opinions on this item. I looked through Kenneth Munson's excellent books Fighters 1914-19, and Bombers 1914-19, and the closest I could find was the streaky green camouflage on the DFW CV on page 37 (colour plate number 19) in bombers 1914-19. This fabric however more closely resembles Fokker streaky green than the piece of fabric I saw on eBay. It also has large patches of brown, so it's nowhere near a perfect match, but the closest I can find so far. I've just found another illustration in another book that my late father, a retired Brigadier gave me in 1994. It's called "World Aircraft - Origins-World War One" and was written by Enzo Angelluci and Paolo Matricardi. On page 303 there is a drawing of a Phoenix CI, and the fabric depicted in this drawing is an almost exact match to the photo of the item posted in the eBay listing. Of course many of these items which become available are fakes or replicas which have been constructed for a variety of reasons, not necessarily with the intent of committing fraud. Here are some photos of it.

I welcome any opinions on this piece, and hope it is of interest to some of you out there. Cheers, David.

Cliff · 23 October 2008, 06:17 AM

Don't know if it's real, but the irregular green splotches remind me of the 'summer leaf' pattern used on some Austro-Hungarian aircraft.
And there were a few French squadrons in Italy.

Cliff

Thomas Trauner · 23 October 2008, 07:59 AM

Strange thing...
The writing on the back means:
„Linen/canvas from a boche plane, coming down at Eclaires at July 23rd. 1917”
Eclaires is around 25 miles WSW of Verdun, roughly halfway between Reims and Verdun.
No place with this name in Italy.
I do not know the colouring, but on the photos on ebay it looks as if it was stencilled or even printed in two different green tones on light brown/yellowish tone of linen. Not like “dry brushed” or “streaked” or something like that.
The backside is a grey linen tone.

I can’t find a matching pattern in the Internet, but beats me– my belly feeling goes more into the WWII area. Some German camouflaged tent also used as a cover by the German soldiers…something like that….
On the other hand the writing is rather concrete…strange, strange.
But I really doubt that it is from a WWI German plane

Sceptical in Nuernberg
Thomas

Jim · 24 October 2008, 09:26 AM

The freshness of the ink in the inscription sends up the red flags to me. Such inscriptions on authentic fabric from the era are quite faded by now. Also, his statement that the aircraft burned is inconsistent with any fabric surviving. Aircraft that burned tended to do so very quickly and very thoroughly given what they were made of. My sense it is is about as fake as they come.