Complex sentence: Other members of Jasta 11 soon took to painting parts of their aircraft red--their "official" reason seems to have been to make their leader less conspicuous, and to avoid him being singled out in a fight.
Split into simpler sentences: Other members of Jasta 11 soon took to painting parts of their aircraft red. Their official reason seems to have been to make their leader less conspicuous, to avoid having him singled out in a fight.