[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Christian, Michael, and Franek,

Thank you for your added comments. I have finally heard from Ken Merrick. Ken sent me what I would call a "white paper" on the subject and I've asked his permission to share it in this thread.

In summary, Ken's latest approach has been to mix paints per the original RLM specifications as opposed to attempting to color match against old paint chips or paint on remnants of recovered aircraft, the approach which has pretty much been institutionalized until now. His argument is that paint fades and if a part has been excavated it could have been subject to chemical attack. Even museum aircrafts' paint will fade with time.

On the opposite side of the fence, adhering to the old approach, is Michael Ullmann, who has brought up the idea that the different aircraft manufacturers ended up with somewhat different shades for the same RLM numbered paint. I have his 2002 book on order, so can't comment much further on this until I have it in hand.

I can say that, despite the best of intents, paint manufacturer's quite likely were forced to use whatever base materials they could get their hands on, materials that could have affected the final color produced. If true, this could support Michael's thinking.

In a phone conversation with Manfred Boehme this morning, he noted that when it came to the official RLM specification for the camouflage pattern, he has never seen a photo of an Me 262 that had camouflage that adhered to the official pattern for the type. I would assume that this comment might be applicable to the Me 163, as well.

As for being extremely careful in noting the existing original paint and pattern, unfortunately some sections of the aircraft arrived in the U.S. without paint. For instance, there is no paint on the rear fuselage. Hopefully, someone has notes or photos of what it looked like before it was removed.

Thus, we will still be interested in seeing exactly how the AWM Me 163 B was patterned prior to repainting to act as a guide for the aircraft now at Legend Flyers.

Regards,
Richard