I've got AZmodels Bf109G-8 kit in my stash and was planning on building the bird mentioned in the headline. I've seen several in interpretations of the "field" camo on this bird, but except a consensus on the fact that it's *not* RLM79, like AZmodel suggests, I've been a bit stumped. From old B/W pictures it looks like two different colors have been used on top of a regular RLM75 over RLM 76 scheme, but what? (I assume it might be on top of a standard RLM76/RLM77 splinter-scheme, but the added stripes are pretty dense so I was thinking a 3 color solution would look better)

Anyone have any suggestions or could point me in the right direction? Google led me to a forum where it is noted that a thread on http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org discussed the colors, but that forum is defunct and the wayback machine had not archived it.

Hi Eirik,

Try this link: http://falkeeins.blogspot.pt/2014/03/bf-109-g-8-wnr-200-weisse-14-oblt-heimo.html

The colour photo shows a RLM 76 overall base with a unique RLM 75 or 74 plus what seems a dark, almost olive green. My educated guess would be RLM 80 olive grun...

Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers
Pedro

Colorized photos... take with a bucket of salt.

I'd say just a "pinch" in this instance - the colorised pic No. 2 and the link to the artwork probably give us the best interpretation possible at the current time.. always IMHO of course..

Seems to me that one of the various shades of RLM02 would be the most obvious answer.

Gaz

various shades ? RLM 02 is a relatively light grey-green. It is evident from the photos that these are quite dark colours

I was aware of those pictures, but as others mentioned, they are colorized. I think AZ based the profile in their painting instructions on the first of those colorpictures.

I'm not convinced it was two different colors, as the paint seems to have been brushed on, it could be brushmarks in different directions giving the effect of two nuances.

My personal theory is that the aircraft,stationed in Mostar in modern day Bosnia, was painted withleft over Italian paints, and it could be Nocciola Chiaro and/or Verde Oliva Scuro

This is a good example on how hard it is to assume colour based on B&W photos the beauty is always in the eye of the beholder indeed!

Looking at the photo where the pilot is seen to be climbing aboard and the lower wing is visible, it seems evident that the lower shade is not used on the upper surfaces as a base, so no overall 76, 65, 78 etc...

Using Italian paints IMO also makes sense, but no idea which ones were used.
Just one more personal opinion, not brushed but airbrushed and the streaking visible on some portions of darker shade looks like plain poor airbrush work (insufficient paint coverage) from the chap(s) who had the task in hands or even a more diluted spraying.

Anyway, I am sure you will deliver a very interesting and unique 109 model!

Cheers
Pedro

Gents,

I have studied this aircraft many years ago and posted my thoughts on the old Luftwaffe Experten Message Board (2 September 2005). I went through my files and found some additional material and copy it below for your interest.

Cheers,

David

Heino Emmerstorfer’s Bf 109 G-8, White 14, WNr.20????, 2./NAG 12, Albania, 1944

This aircraft, of 2./NAG 12, is that of Oblt. Heino Emmerstopher, Gruppen Technical Officer. The photo series was taken somewhere in Albania in 1944. Back in the early 1990s, Dave Wadman and I studied the 20+ photos of this Bf 109 G-8 aircraft sent to us by Jean-Yves Lorant for comments on its identity and camouflage. They were sourced from originals held at the ECPA and I have reviewed these again to make the following comments.

The various features seen in the photos reveal the aircraft was a WNF-built Bf 109 G-6 trop as the mounting points for the supercharger intake sand filter are visible, though no clip holders under the canopy for the umbrella are present – bit of a hybrid. It was fitted with the “Gallandpanzer” head armour, but retains the older frame-type canopy, old-style fin and rudder as well as the small canopy-mounted antenna mast. Since there are no clear views of its underside, it is not known if it was fitted with the Rb50/30 combination (G-6/R2) or the Rb75/30 (G-6/R3). When converted to a G-8, mounting of the two cameras would require the D/F loop to be repositioned from between frames 2 and 3 to under the rear fuselage near the tail (though this portion of the aircraft is not visible in any of the photos). Taken together, I believe that these attributes point to an aircraft completed sometime in the summer of 1943, originally completed as a G-6 trop and converted on the WNF assembly line to a G-8/R2 or G-8/R3.

Presumably the aircraft was originally finished in the ‘grey’ 74/75/76 scheme at the factory, then it would make sense that White 14’s undersides were 76. What would not make sense would be for NAG 12 to repaint the aircraft with 75 all over again. By what logic would this be done? Assuming that the undersides were finished in 76, then the light uppersurface colour can’t be the same colour. There are several possible options as to its identity:

1. It is a lightened shade of 76.
2. It is an Italian colour.
3. It is a unique, field-mixed colour.
4. It is the poorly known high altitude colour RLM 77.

Option 1 is a possibility and well within the capabilities of the unit’s painters. Lightening 76 does create a whitish tone as evidenced by late-war Ju 88 G nightfighters which appear almost white in both colour and black and white photos. But this did not take place until the latter part of 1944. But, it could have been done at the unit level.

Option 2 is less likely as there are no extant shades of Italian camouflage colours that have this light a shade. Another question would be where and how the Luftwaffe unit would access such stocks. Again though, a unit-generated lighted version of an Italian colour such as Grigio Azzurro (Colore 1 1941) cannot be ruled out.

Option 3 could be a combination of the above two options – field mixes or blends of German and/or Italian paints to create new colours. How this would affect the quality of the paint can only be guessed at, but what is seen in the photos is a neatly applied and quite opaque light colour. It must have had sufficient density of application and pigmentation to completely and effectively cover both a medium and very dark shade of grey. Thus, I think that a lighted existing colour, or a field mixed paint would not be best suited to achieve complete elimination of dark uppersurface colours.

Option 4 is an interesting possibility. RLM 77, the so-called high altitude grey camouflage colour, is increasing seen in images used as an uppersurface colour in combination with RLM 75. Based on the study of many photos of Bf 109s and Fw 190s, in many cases there is often observed a very light colour on the wing uppersurfaces that could be interpreted as RLM 76 or 77. What is interesting that the darkest and lightest colours are always in the same position as defined by the respective aircraft Oberflachenschutz. That is to say, if RLM 74 was not applied, RLM 75 was painted in its place and a lighter colour being painted where the RLM 75 would have been. The Australian War Memorial Bf 109 G-6 was painted in this 77/75 scheme and confirms its use.

This leaves the dark uppersurface colour. It obviously cannot have been 75 as indicated above. Its use makes no sense whatsoever – delivered in a grey scheme and repaint in a grey scheme with a slightly different pattern. Possible, but certainly not logical. The alternative choices are a green shade or a brown shade.

I believe that the use of green in this theatre is highly unlikely given the topography, vegetation cover and climate. This region in summer is dominated by brown shades. Any vegetation extant has a scattered distribution, and have dark olive-coloured hues that over the seasons tend to darken and become browner. It is not bright green. Indeed, all the Italian, and later German shades of green used in the Mediterranean theatre are dark tones, and their application styles reflecting the dispersed nature of the vegetation. Browns tend to be the preferred camouflage colour in the Mediterranean region. Most Bf 109 Fs and early G-1/2s sent to North Africa in 1942 were factory finished in overall 79 Sandgelb. There was no use of any other desert sand colour – German (non-existent) or Italian.

Tunisia is another story, and in 1943 aircraft operating temporarily from there and Sicily retained their 74/75 scheme, though many were painted in 79. The grey scheme was soon recognized as a not very efficient camouflage. To prove this point, the NASM G-6 was originally completed in 74/75 but hastily repainted in Italian green and sand shades prior to transfer into the southern Med. theatre.

The Luftwaffe’s use of 79 Sandgelb was not exclusive and was far reaching, the colour seen on aircraft operating from near the Arctic Circle to the equator. JG 5’s II. Gruppe received 52 Bf 109 F trops wearing the 79/79 scheme delivered between April and December 1942. This unit was operating in northern Scandinavian during that period and on into 1943 and did modify the scheme with the addition of other colours such as 70 and 75. For details on this subject, see Kjitel Aakra’s excellent article here: http://www.ahs.no/storydisplay.asp?folder=News&file=news20040228001.xml .

JG 54, in action over the northern Russian Front, was renowned for its hybrid camouflage schemes and as Ken Merrick has recently confirmed, 79 was applied to its Bf 109s and Fw 190s along with other colours. I./JG 3, operating in southern Russia, also received its F-4 trops in the 78/79 scheme and like JG 5 modified them with application of Grau 75 and Schwarzgrün 70 in a splinter pattern. Ken Merrick also notes in his recent Classic camouflage book that USAAF B-24 aircrew debriefed after the Ploesti raid in 1943 described the German fighters as being painted in “green and brown”. And why not if the local conditions dictated that these would be more appropriate?

For NAG 12, operating in a dry and dusty region, no doubt believed that the grey 74/75 scheme was not effective for their purposes. Their camouflage needs required both ground and air concealment, the former to break-up the outline of the aircraft and the latter to make it blend into the ground below when observed from above. This also explains why the upperwing balkankreuze were overpainted. Study of the background in all the White 14 photos shows barely a stick of vegetation so greens would be of little use in this environment. Thus, if we look at it from the point of view of camouflage principles, of what they wanted the aircraft to do, where and when, then 79 makes every sense, as it did for the other units noted previously.

It all comes down to what the units themselves considered the best camouflage scheme they believed better suited the conditions they operated under. Factory-applied schemes reflect the one-size-fits-all philosophy. The Luftwaffe was operating in an increasingly diverse collection of climates and terrains which necessitated local solutions to local problems. Standard schemes always played catch-up and in the case of the late-war colours 81 and 82, they were rarely if ever applied to those aircraft types they were specifically designed for since they were no longer being produced!

Regarding White 14’s markings, the national markings on the fuselage, underwing and tail were clearly masked prior to receiving this new scheme. The upperwing balkenkreuze was not and was overpainted. The '14' was then applied and thinly outlined in black. Unfortunately, the aircraft's Werknummer was overpainted. The spinner was divided into four quarters of alternation black and white portions with the white applied over the black. There is no evidence of the white theatre marking applied as a tailband or white wing tips.

So, in the final analysis, I believe that White 14 was originally received by NAG 12 painted in the standard grey 74/75/76 scheme which they believed was totally unsuited to their operational conditions. It was thus immediately repainted in colours better reflecting the local colours. My hunch is that the uppersurfaces were painted overall 77, and then finished with a zig-zag pattern of 79 Sandgelb. Alternatives to the lighter colour cannot be completely ruled out as discussed above, but I think that here we are seeing further evidence of 77’s use and it fits with its application on aircraft operating at higher altitudes.

Cheers,

David

Thank you for the exhaustive explanation!

I think I will try to do an all-over RLM76, then lighten the topside a bit, and finally paint the RLM 79 using a combination of freehand and masking.

I would assume only the most important stenciling was masked and/or repainted, the instruction from AZ just calls for the fuel-markings, but I'd assume the red cross for the first aid kit would also be present.

As soon as I'm done with the Figure 4 campaing I'll start the kit and add some pictures in this thread.