Pfalz D.XII


Le Bourget

Lance Krieg, 1994

Lance Kreig took the following photos at Le Bourget during 1994

"This plane uses pink tapes over the 5-color lozenge. All fittings as well as the fuselage underside are light gray except those areas, like the axle ends, that will need to be greased. Radiator is natural aluminum, prop is a Germania. Struts bolt entirely through wing surface and are tightened from above with nuts. Note black finish on Mercedes D.III exhaust stack."

Nigel Rayner

This is a picture taken at Le Bourget, and is provided by Nigel Rayner and used with his permission.


Canberra

Charles Hart

Charles Hart ( hartc@spot.colorado.edu ) took the following photos during a visit to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia in July, 1995. Charles' descriptions follow:

Now the really good stuff. Six prints are of the Pfalz D-XII, 2600/18. This is the serial of this airframe and it is displayed in the scheme in which it was captured. The airframe was restored to current conditions in the 1970's and the other color pictures of it are found in an issue of Windsock. At the time of restoration, new fabric representing 5-color lozenge was applied. I have personal interest in propeller manufacturer's logo decals, hence the detail shot of the original Nienforf Propeller Werke logo.

Shane Weier

Shane Weir provides this image of the Pfalz cockpit.

Volker Hauser

Volker Häusler ( haeusler@tm.net.my ) took the following photos. His description follows:

So here are some photos of the (dismantled) Pfalz D XII, showing some interesting (or so I think at least) details and stencils. The aircraft is in storage at this moment, and normally not accessible to the public. Took me some major effort to convince those guys to let me that close, but it was worth it.


Champlin

Merril Anderson

Merril Anderson ( MAnde72343@aol.com ) shares these photos of the D.XII's cockpit.

Otis Goodin

Otis Goodin shares these photos of the example at Champlin.

Robert Karr

Robert Karr shares the following photo's: " The Pfalz cockpit looks pretty good when compared to the research I've consulted. The triggers are missing on the control stick, and the gas cap in the left floor looks suspiciously modern, but other than these items- not too bad. Robert Rust's restoration of this machine for Frank Tallman back in the 50's, and some tweaking by Champlin really have the pit looking fine."


Pfalz D.XII - Paul Butler Collection

Here are some more Pfalz D.XII photos from my collection.

I have excluded really poor quality photos, those that are near duplicates and those that do not add any additional useful information.

Picture quality is variable, particularly of those taken when the aircraft was on public display in 1999.

My research suggests the following to be the likely function of the various cockpit controls:


Cockpit


Engine and Surrounds


Fin, Rudder, Tailplane and Elevator


Fuselage Details


Fuselage General Views


Fuselage Underside


Guns and Fittings


Lower Wing Root to Fuselage Contours

I have made two attempts to document these contours in a non-obtrusive fashion.

Using a Drafting Spline

The first attempt was made in 1999 when I used a drafting spline to delineate the contours. See the group headed "Using a Drafting Spline".

These splines are made of a flexible blue plastic material and have a bendable metal core (probably lead). The camera was set up on a tripod in an attempt to keep the viewing angle consistant. The image titles indicate the position of each contour.

Using a Laser Generated Line

The second attempt was made in 2005 using a laser generated line to delineate the contours. See the group headed "Using a Laser Line".

This was only partially successful but the information gathered may be useful in supporting the earlier work. In this instance, a hand held digital camera was used and it wasn't always possible to see the laser line in the camera view finder. I also had a lot of other work (mostly measurements) to get through in the alloted time so I wan't prepared to spend a lot of that time fiddling with a tripod etc. The laser tripod was enough.

All of these photographs have been worked over using various filters, and image enhancing techniques to pick out the laser line, which I then enhanced by drawing over it. I did notice a strange trick of the eye whch others might note when trying the same technique. The thin red line can melt into the surrounding colors as you stare at it on the computer monitor. I found that moving my head or blinking (or both) helped to refresh the image in my brain. Curious!

Please note that virtually all of the photographs that look along the fuselage side are not necessarily perpendicular to the delineated contour so the illustrated contour may not be the absolutely true shape, (aside from me having to pick it out for you). This happened because the line could not be seen at the correct view point, or I forgot because of the pressure of time.

The contour was picked out at a number of stations and for each there are two or three images. The first shows the position of the contour on the fuselage side. If the drawn line appears curved, its because the camera was not entirely perpendicular to the surface of the fuselage. The second (and possibly third) image delineates the contour (with the attendent limitations described above).

There is at least one contour omitted from this collection because I could not extract any useful information from the photograph of the illuminated contour.

A brighter laser may help but the danger to your eyes increases accordingly. The laser I used was of the 1 milliwatt variety which is dangerous enough.


Using a Drafting Spline


Using a Laser Generated Line


Undercarriage and Wheels


Wing Details


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