Kinda OT: Orchid FW-190?!

H

Human Drone

Charter Member
Hello, all, it's been a while. No I won't complete that and put a cheesy 1980's "earworm" into your heads.

My brother in law rec'd a die-cast FW-190 for Christmas. Pics will show that it isn't quite museum quality, but hey - it's the thought that counts, right? What's really bothering him, though, is the paint. Thre is only a light orchid or lavender on the upper fuselage, an don the wings and elevators, it looks as though the paint machine was running out, as the orchid does not cover the leading or trailing edges of the wing or the leading edges of the elevators. The rest is silver, with no markings (and ugly black screw heads) on the bottom.

Is there any chance that this is anywhere close to authentic? I know the Luftwaffe (both at home and in the field) was pretty imaginative, and one only needs to recall the pink Spitfire to think that maybe this is was a Luftwaffe dusk-dawn expereiment, and is just a defective model that was supposed to be orchid all over, but was completed on the nightshift without lower wing markings.... We were thinking of a little airbrushing and some spare decals to make it right, but I just wanted to pick the brains of the masters here first.

Thanks everyone, Happy New Year, and I see it's time to reach in my back pocket again...!


Tom

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They certainly did have Bf109g-6/AS aircraft more-or-less that colour. It should in fact be overall RLM 76, which is a pale grey with a blueish tinge to it, usually used for the undersurfaces of most single and twin engined fighters from 1941 onwards. Unpainted undersides were common enough on FW190s from mid/late 1944, so overall, yes, this scheme did exist in theory. Well, if the paint were a little less lilac-coloured, anyway!

Some claim that these aircraft were not actually painted RLM 76 but were rather natural metal. I don't follow that theory. I believe that as JG 1 and JG 300 were supposed to pool their aircraft in late 1943 - it didn't last - some aircraft may have been delivered not in the normal day fighter colours of RLM 74, 75 and 76, but in overall 76 for use (after appropriate on-squadron camouflage painting) as Wilde Sau night fighters.

As I'm no expert on FW190s, I can't say with any authority whether JG.1, which used this insignia from early 1944 with a red Reichsverteidigung band around the rear fuselage, ever used FW190s carrying this scheme. Certainly their Bf109g-6/AS aircraft did, although it was pretty rare and may not have been used that long. Various squadrons within JG 1 did use the FW190, but by the time this scheme was introduced, these would have been the a-7 or a-8 subtype.

Given the absence of prominent gun breech bulges on the cowling just in front of the cockpit, this isn't an a-7 or a-8, but rather an earlier model with 7.92 MG 17s in the cowling, not the 13mm MG 131s of the a-7, a-8 and successive types.

If you look towards the bottom of this page, you'll find a couple of profiles of JG 1 Bf109g-6/AS.

http://luftwaffeprofile.blogspot.fr/p/jg-1-gustav-profiles.html

So let's just say that while this aircraft is not quite the right subtype for the period, this scheme was in use within the Geschwader, although on a different type of aircraft. It's not entirely impossible...
 
OK, why not waste my time?

I did the Stigler & Brown add-on at your request, and you never followed up. Then I spent some time checking up on this question for you, and ditto. After a good week, not a word of thanks or recognition.

Not the way things are done around here, Tom.
 
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