...surely you already stumbled over some Historical Aces' Paintjob, and wondered, what Story might have been behind it...

Why does someone name his Albatros "Lulu" ?
Why does a whole Tripe-Squad name their Planes "Black..." ? (Black Death, Black Betty, sooner or later they would have named them Black Label, Black Mail, Black Adder...)

Well... I have no Idea.
What I do know is, that we have a lot of WW1-History-Experts, here - and an interested Audience.

So, this might be a good Place to share some of these Stories...

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The 'Black Flight' was B Flight of Naval 10, an all-Canadian flight led by ace Raymond Collishaw. The coloring and naming of the planes in that flight was simply their way of identifying themselves.

The Alb 'Lulu' belonged to Ludwig Weber of Jasta 3 and there has been a long-running debate on why he named his mount such. Don't know that it's been definitively answered but if it has I am betting Jim Miller will know.

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Congrats Lou for being the first to nail the answers and get the cherry!

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Yeah! I win - but what?

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We would have to know since when Weber's Albatros carried the name "Lulu".
If this name was chosen after October 1917, a possible explanation could be, that Weber had seen the German silent movie "Lulu",
which appeared in November 1917.

The film was X-rated as "adult". The main cast were Erna Morena and Emil Jannings, a famous actor in those days in Germany.
Here is an image of the actress Erna Morena (in 1925), who played Lulu.



But if his Albatros carried this name already BEFORE this film came out, "Lulu" (short for "Ludmilla" or "Luise") may have
simply been the name of his girlfriend, his sister, or of a lady he liked.

...an X-rated silent Movie...
Guess, there was not that much Conversation, anyway

...as for the Prize:
I think I'll start drawing the "Golden-Epic-History-Nerd-Cup"

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Olham, that film reference is one of the possible explanations that have been offered. As to family relatives and/or girl friends, I believe that was looked into but it did not offer any firm evidence. Another possibility is that it is a reference to the musical farce "Lolo-Lulu" which the German comedic actor Willy Frey made popular in New York just before the War, (though this one is far less likely as there in no evidence that this performance was known in Germany at the time). Many possibilities.

Oooooo, the Golden Epic History Nerd Cup!

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"...and the cup goes to: RAF Louuuuuuuuuuuuuu - vert!"

(Or maybe we should wait, what JFM may have to say on this?)

Yeah, maybe, we can make a kind of "most weird Story researched of the Month" or so Contest
...if this Albatros is really named from a Porn-Movie-Character, I'm pretty sure, that this is not the only weird Story of WW1...

I never said the actress was anything like a "porn movie character", Sir!
Back in 1917, a film got rated as adult for maybe just a kissing scene, or because
the actors were shown in bed at all. Here is a photo from "Lulu":



Still in the 50s and early 60s, showing naked people (without any further porn actions!)
was a reason for the German FSK (where the Catholic Church played a major role;
FSK = Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle = Voluntary Self-Control - or better:
Voluntary Censorship?) to intervene and try to ban the film.

How deep have we rottenheads sunk meanwhile...

Guynemer tested a S.XII with an automatic 37 mm gun in the motor axis with little success . He called it "Pétadoux", that could be freely translated by "Sweet Fart", the kind of name farmers give to horses or bulls, or some country cheese !!

Hmm. If petadoux means sweet fart, then ... Petain must mean old fart.

Actually, the sound of the word is quite inelegant to French ears, but worst, if you replace the "E" by a "U", Petain would mean "wh.re"!