JG11 hellgrau paint scheme
 

JG11 appears to have been unique the scheme applied to their aircraft in the winter-spring of 1944.

I have a copy of Prien's unit history but am not a very good German reader, despite access to a German-English dictionary.

Can someone fill me in on when the paint scheme was adopted and why it was only utilized by JG11? It would appear to have been very effective.

Re: JG11 hellgrau paint scheme
 

Do you think on the overpainting of the fuselage cross and swastika on tail?

Re: JG11 hellgrau paint scheme
 

I'm not sure how valid this is, but Fritz Engau (I./JG 11) contributed to Prien's history and wrote his own account, 'Frontal durch die Bomberpulks'. On P.38 he writes;

'When I arrived at I./JG 11 in early 1944 a number of our FWs, including the Kommandeur's machine, had been sprayed in a light grey scheme overall, toning down the usual mottle finish, while on all our machines the Haken- and Balkenkreuze were only barely visible ('schwach erkennbar')...It has often been imagined that this unusual finish served as 'camouflage' (in English in the German text) so that our opponents would find it harder to pick us out as German a/c in the air..although you could hardly disguise the distinctive form of the Fw190 or the Bf 109.. In addition all JG 11 fighters displayed a yellow fuselage band which was highly visible in the air...Ultimately the reasons for adopting the finish were obscure and it can be supposed with a certain degree of certainty they probably had more to do with 'Farbgebungsversuche' - testing of colours/paint finishes- than any other consideration. Certainly at the time the subject was not one we pilots discussed...'

HTH

Re: JG11 hellgrau paint scheme
 

Thanks Neil...very enlightening.