The DR1 was made famous because it became Richtofen's favorite. But only about 320 were made. There were problems with the top wing falling off, and it was godawful slow. Incredibly maneuverable in a dogfight, its 90 mph speed meant that it couldn't determine the conditions of combat, and since the main mission of air combat hinged on defending or shooting down observation planes directing artillery fire, it was no match for the Fokker DVII, which was one of the fastest planes of the war.

A pretty straightforward piece of work with a Guillow kit, but it turned out very nice.  Scholars may note that it has the Jasta 18 hawk on the side, but a red tail rather than an all-white tail.  I was still learning.  The triplane now nestles in the middle of a bunch of our dolls.  One complaint — the Guillow WWII fighters are all the same scale, but the scale on their WWI line is all over the place.  Their DR1 is 20", 1/16th scale.

<

Jaime from Arizona Models did the Triplanes for the movie Flyboys, and sent me this 1/8th scale kit for free. This time I was able to do a generic Jasta 18 color scheme correctly.