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Re: Half painted Fw 190 wing undersides - the purpose?
This is very interesting information: do your sources cover British paints? My understanding is that the 1940 switch to the S or smooth paints with finer pigmentation meant that the British paints were equivalent to the smooth German ones: it is a bit of a surprise to find that the US lagged behind in this matter. This perhaps casts new light on the habit of some US fighter groups to use British paints.
Certainly the difference between a rough and a smooth paint finish could give a significant performance penalty: however I'm very surprised to see you discount the production story. Other steps taken at the same time, such as not painting the interiors with anti-corrosion paint, were certainly made in the direction of cutting production time and costs.
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