Colour Conundrum

Colour Conundrums of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain Part 2.

- Paul Lucas

The questions surrounding the apparent use of a brown and grey camouflage scheme on Bf 109s during the Battle of Britain was examined in the April 2016 issue of SAM so it is not intended to go over the same ground again here. That said, following publication of that article and the comments made with regard to the possibility that some Bf 109s might have employed a single shade of very dark grey on their upper surfaces, the author’s attention was drawn to an article that appeared in Aircraft Illustrated Extra No.6, published circa 1970.

The article by Kenneth S. West was entitled ‘An 'Emil' Enigma Solved’ and concerned the Air Historical Branch's Bf 109E that in those pre-RAF Museum days was being held at Biggin Hill. Following an article that had appeared in an earlier edition of Aircraft Illustrated Extra, Mr West had been allowed to conduct what he described as 'a detailed inspection of the dismantled airframe' on the basis of which he made several comments about the colour scheme. Having identified the aircraft as being a Bf 109 E-3 W/Nr. 4101 of 2/JG 51, brought down on 27 November 1940, he went on to describe the original Luftwaffe colour scheme apart from the engine cowlings, which he described in more detail later in the article as being:

'Hellblau (65) on under surfaces and up to the fuselage top decking, with a single shade of dark grey, believed to be Schwarzgrau (66), on all upper surfaces. The change from (65) to (66) is not sharp and the latter is mottled over the former. There is no trace of either Schwarzgrun (70) or Dunkelgrun (71)...'

After noting that the rudder had traces of an identical 04 finish applied by brush over the Farbton 65 and 66 finish he described the markings on the rear fuselage as follows: