[WWI] "Whiteless" French roundels

[Stuart Milliken]

Greetings!  This is my first post to this list, although I've lurked  
here for several years now.  I'm building an Eduard Nieuport 11 and am  
thinking of using the Jean Navarre color scheme in CDL (or is it pale  
yellow, and is there a difference?) with the wide blue-white-red bands  
around the fuselage.

My question has to do with the top-side upper wing roundels.  The  
Windsock Datafile Special Vol. 1 (Nieuport Fighters by J.M. Bruce)  
states on p. 16 under the profile of this plane that the white portion  
of the upper roundels were "apparently" omitted.  This is possibly  
supported by photograph 24 on the next page.  I'm not wholly convinced  
by the photo, since the apparent effect could be due to the low  
contrast of the photo and lighting effects.  I've seen other photos of  
other planes with light colored wings where one could image the white  
missing, but it is probably there.

Was the omission of the white a regular practice, perhaps an effort at  
"low viz" markings?  Is there any other evidence that Jean Navarre's  
banded Nieuport was missing the white in the upper roundels?

Also, I notice on the above mentioned photo that the blue (forward)  
fuselage band appears considerably darker than the blue of the tail  
stripe.  The profile nevertheless depicts them as the same.  My  
inclination based on this photo is to make the blue of the band a more  
royal blue, and go with the grayish blue of the decals for the  
national markings.  Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for any enlightenment!

Stuart