[stephen f. polyak]

Hi again Batur,

Thank you for the lovely photo of the Fw 190 showing its main plate! Do you have more?

Specialist manufactured (acid etched) hexagonal main plates had a black background. You can see examples at Bookie's Fw 190 Page site. Alternatively, field or shop made plates, more common as the war wore on and materiel was repaired/swapped/reused, were simply cut pieces of unpainted aluminum sheet with hand-stamped entries.

As an exhibit to my earlier message, I show here a Lg N specification for an airplane recognition plate. This type of plate, fitted at the rear of the airplane, was made of steel sheet. It was designed to survive in even a severe crash in order to allow aircraft identification by airframe main W.Nr. On a 190 it was riveted to the main spar inside the vertical stabilizer. I believe this type of plate was widely if not uniformly used on all major warplanes; I have examples from Fw 190s, Me 109s, and Ju 88s.

Regards,
Steve