The pilots in WWI wouldn't get credit for a kill unless it was witnessed so they painted their planes very boldly so they would be seen by friend and foe alike
A few years back, someone tried to cancel The Red Baron and The Iron Cross. They tried to claim both as Nazis, because they are historically illiterate.
Yes the planes were painted like that, the Baron's squad was called The flying circus. Another commenter already said it but a pilot couldn't claim a kill unless someone could see and confirm it was them who did it. Another aspect was a morale boost as the ground troops could see and point out their ally aircraft and see the victories themselves and it'll, theoretically, strike fear in Enemy ground and air troops, as they would be able to recognize who was who.
You should watch sabaton history channel also it goes into a bit more detail including answering your questions about coloured planes and there is a theory that he purposely went out alone and continued the chase far more then he should have because he wanted to kill himself
Just imagine Germany was treated with a fraction of this respect.ww 2 would have never happened.(in 2010,+-x,Germany paid the last rate of ww1 reparations.)
You are pretty much only person who has said k/d ratio of german soldiers and credit them. It is true by numbers and even after d-day allies suffered bit more casualties than german troops on western front...and morale in german troops wasn't great at that point. War was already lost bc eastern front.
