Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

What color was the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm of 5./JG 1 ?

The white, yellow and green ones of 4. and 6. Staffel and Stab/II./JG 1 had red tongues while the red one of 5./JG 1 had a lighter tongue - was it yellow or pink?

Re: Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

Not JG1.... but according to the colour profiles within the ClassicColours series "Jagdwaffe" has the red Tatzelwurm emblems on Bf109's of 2./JG3 as being yellow... so I would imagine that the red Tatzelwurm's used by of 5./JG 1 would be the same.

Cheers,

Peter D Evans
LEMB moderator

Re: Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

Of course, the place I should have looked was within the pages of ClassicColours "Defenders of the Reich" three volume set on JG1... and the many colour profiles of Fw190's with the red 5./JG1 Staffel emblem shows a red Tatzelwurm with a yellow tongue...

Re: Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

Thanks a lot. If the tongue was yellow it seems plausible that some Fw 190s of JG 1 had red lower cowls. There are a few photos where the lower cowl appears very dark (as dark as the red Tatzelwurm) while the tongue looks light - so they can't be the same color. Of course, the cowls could have been orange and orange could look much darker than the normal yellow in b&w photos.

The color of the tongue is the most reliable distinguishing feature - the red Tatzelwurm had a light tongue while the green one had a darker (= red) tongue.

Re: Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

Its funny that you mention the possibility of the lower cowls on these JG1 Fw190's being red. Several of the ClassicColours profiles in volume 1 and volume 2 have, as you can probably guess, been finished with red under cowls. These include in volume 1 alone:

Fw190A-2 "Black 8" Uffz.Josef Kehrle of 5./JG1, Katwijk, Summer 1942
Fw190A-3 "White 10" of 4./JG1, Woonsdrecht, Summer 1942
Fw190A-3, WNr.0427 "Black 2" Uffz.Josef Kehrle of 5./JG1, Katwijk, July 1942
Fw190A-3 "White 12" Uffz.Johannes Rathenow of 10./JG1, Holland 1942
Fw190A-3 "White 8" Uffz.Rudolf Haninger of 4./JG1, Summer 1942
Fw190A-3 (or A-2) "Black 9" Uffz.Robert Stellfeld of 5./JG1, Katwijk, Summer 1942
Fw190A-4 WNr.614 "Yellow 4" of 12./JG1, Munchen-Gladbach, late 1942

...and there are similar profiles in volume 2...

cheers,

Peter D Evans
LEMB moderator

Re: Color of the tongue of the red Tatzelwurm
 

Well, some people claim there were only yellow lower cowls (for instance there was a long discussion on Air Warfare Forum).