Why I think that 4./EKG(J) is actually
“blue + ~” and not red
1/ We do not have any proof about the red colour from both Fw190D “red 18+~” nor Fw190A “red 31+~”:
- In Eric Larger’s Fw190D books, we can read that in former I./EKG(J) pilot Gefr. Haferland’s logbook, the colour of the markings from the Fw190 he flew, is unfortunately not recorded.
- In Steve Scheflin’s Airfoil Nb2, the colour pictures extract from a colour film only shows a “red 5” on the front cowling when fuselage digits remain unfortunately not visible. And the B&W panchromatic pictures from this publication do not allow us to make the difference between red or blue digits.
2/ in 1945 white outlined digits were usually blue when red and black were far less often outlined than in the previous years (Cf: JG1, JG6, JG53, JG301…)
3/ personnel from I./EKG(J) came from KG27 and KG55 and in a four staffeln bombers group the 4th staffel colour was always blue (ie: 1> white, 2> black, 3> yellow, 4> blue, exactly same order as in I./EKG(J))
3/ And finally the most contributing proof:
On at least three B&W orthochromatic pictures from “blue 31+~” the small "red 5" on the nose is black when the big "31+~" on fuselage stay in grey tone instead of a deep black as expected if it has been also red!
Sources:
- Steve Scheflin, Airfoil Nb2 for the colour picture
- for the B&W part of the picture, you can find it on Roger Gaemperle site:
http://www.vintageeagle.com/album/fw...um_picture-132
- colour film:
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65...ine_P-47-lands
Regards, Olivier