Flavio Baracchini Black Shield

Greetings:

This skin depicts an HD-1, SN unknown, flown by the top scoring Italian ace, Flavio Torello Baracchini. Barachini flew this plane with 81 Squadriglia Caccia at Casoni in mid to late 1918. The Black Shield version was one of several aircraft with different markings Baracchini used as he accumulated the 33 victories he was credited with during the war. When this was reduced afterwards to 21, Baracchini became extremely bitter about what he regarded as a stain on his honor.

The colors and markings are derived from photographs and an excellent profile by Ray Rimell. There is ongoing discussion regarding the colors of the Italian HD-1s. Those built by Macchi were known to be finished in aluminum dope. There is also good evidence that at least some were finished with clear or yellow dope over the linen. This particular aircraft appears to have been a combination, perhaps mating newer wings and the horizontal stabilizer with another fuselage. In any event, the colors are as accurate as research permits. There was wide variation in the paints used by the Italians in the field to apply the national markings. Many used the dark forest green and dark red shown in this skin, while other units used brighter colors. Some even used a red, white, green sequence, rather than green, white red.

The model and the excellent template, as well as the cockpit and parts in the layout, were all done by EmlD. Without his outstanding work, patience and guidance, this skin would never have been possible.

This skin is based on a collaboration, but the paints and markings you see depicting this aircraft are entirely my responsibility, and my time machine is no longer operational. This is an interpretation, a well-grounded interpretation, but certainly a mix of accuracy and flaws.

Have fun with it. I’d appreciate any comments, especially with links to source material. At the time of this release no information was available as to the serial number for this plane. If you have such info, please pass it along.

Because there is another skin depicting a plane flown by Baracchini, I have modified the name in the texture set. Just drop the folder in your HD-1_ITA folder folder and select Baracchini Black in the loadout screen.

There is no need to edit the ini.

Please no distribution or republication of any part of these files. There is a lot of unique detail that took a lot a time to research, compile and work into the skin. For that reason, these parts are not available for further use.

sinbad © 2007

EmlD © 2007