German Prop Colour?

[dogsbodymk1]

Hello. My name is Chris and I just joined up, though why I didn't years ago, I don't know.

My first inquiry is:

In "The Official Monogram Painting Guide To German Aircraft 1935-1945" it states that the blades of metal propellers were painted 70 Black-Green and that wooden blades were painted 71 Dark-Green. Is this true? Most other sources I have say all props were 70 Black-Green or do not say directly.

[Oxby R]

Hi Chris - I see you haven't had any response yet from anyone here, and I can't really help myself as I'm not really a modeller. I would suggest why not check out the link below. There are plenty of good close up shots of German a/c there..

For what it's worth, 'factory colours' only remained useful for a certain period of time anyway. Most a/c were soon repainted to suit the purpose they were being used. For example - my old man flew RAF Beaufighters in the Western desert at night and they slapped on flat/matt/lamp black over everything - props, flying surfaces the lot. In the desert, the paint was soon stripped off anyway by the wind blown sand - so even a newly delivered a/c looked worn after a month or so. There were very few that stayed pristine looking for any length of time. The Jerries who were flying at night did the same - sometimes even covering up their big German crosses to make themselves less obvious at night. If an a/c was re-painted on the front line, it's unlikely they would have been over fussy as to whether it was a precise shade as recommended by German High Command. Truth be said, they used what was available. Some colour schemes were even devised by the fliers themselves - depending on which theatre you were flying in; daytime or night, (or desert vs Eastern front) - and on who you were. I think Adolf Galland for example had his own paintjob if memory serves me right. Anyway, take a look at the 'Luftwaffe in colour' w/site and you won't go far wrong. Enjoy, and welcome to the forum ! atb, richard.

http://www.webshots.com/search?query...affe+in+Colour

[Graham Boak]

Given that the propellors had (and have) to be very carefully balanced to prevent damaging vibrations, I'm willing to bet that paint was not slapped on willy-nilly. It may have seemed that way to the aircrew, with only a passing interest or involvement in the processes involved. The more I find out about the subject, the more I discover that even the oddest schemes (yes, even the Luftwaffe ones) are rooted in careful planning, and good engineering practice. Just slapping on any old paint is not the way it was done: that would have been the way to reduce the aircraft's performance and affect its handling, particularly when the control surfaces were involved. Having said that, most aircraft have a fair margin on both, and a poorly-trained or less-sensitive pilot might not even notice the difference, but the difference would be there, ready to bite in combat or extreme flying conditions.

There was a large amount of engineering effort put into determining the best kind of paints for aircraft use, and the correct application and maintenance of these to gain advantage. Throwing this away by carelessness or ignorance may well have happened at times, given all other priorities, but was never good practice.

[Oxby R]

Of course Graham, you're right. A lot of thought did go into the paint job - and I wouldn't want to give the impression it was in any way 'willy nilly'. Performance was indeed very important for both sides - here's a taped passage (below) that illustrates your point. In this case the paint job was stripped off altogether in an attempt to get that extra edge over the intruder:.

'The E/A were coming from Crete, at an altitude of about 26,000 feet, but equipped as we were, we could only reach about 24,000 with our fully armed Beaufighter VIs. So, to surprise our high-flying visitors we decided to lighten up. Everything that might have added weight was stripped from Slippery Ship II, including the drag-inducing camouflage paint, all the armament and ammunition, and three of the four cannon from the Beaufighter IV. We decided to hang onto the radar too, as it could usefully assist our navigation and guide us back to base in bad weather. We even flew on a reduced load of fuel to increase our ceiling. And it very nearly succeeded. When we eventually got airborne the aeroplane felt noticeably quicker, and soon we were within two miles range of our German friends, at exactly the same altitude - but frustratingly, we found we still could not reduce the range further. How infuriating.'

[Graham Boak]

Thanks, that's a story I hadn't encountered before. In-service tales normally link to intercepting the Ju86s with stripped-down Spitfires, particularly in Alexandria. Remove weight for altitude, smooth the exteriors for speed.

The classic quote is supposedly from Geoffrey De Havilland, who complained that the RDM2 Special Night cost the Mosquito 23mph. Ken Merrick quotes trials on early Halifaxes where good reductions in climb time, and cruise altitude, were obtained. But Special Night was very rough!

[Oxby R]

No offence intended, but this is no line-shoot or tall tale, Graham. The fella I'm quoting is my father and I know him very well indeed - he's not inclined toward exaggeration, or patting himself on the back. Quite the reverse in fact. Rest assured - what I'm saying is exactly what happened. From what I understand, they failed to get the reconn a/c they were chasing (a Ju88) because he'd stripped down in a similar manner to themselves to gain ceiling - and was most likely completely unarmed.

Anyway, none of this helps our fella with his prop colour, does it ?! (chuckle) Atb, richard.

[Graham Boak]

No criticism was implied or intended. Just the literal - it was a new story to me.

[Oxby R]

Hi Graham, No worries. Sounded remarkable to me too when I heard the story first time round (aged about 15). By all accounts the visitor made a regular run high overhead each morning, behaviour which Ship and Doug took exception to - hence their plan hatched over a number of days to catch him out. I think they were quite disappointed to find the enemy was able to pick up speed downhill whenever they got too close. Followed him for 40 miles or so taking a deflection pop at him every so often. No joy observed. Eventually ran out of shells, and decided to turn for home in case the Ju88 called for reinforcements. By then, they were of course completely unarmed themselves !

[dogsbodymk1]

[quote+Anyway, none of this helps our fella with his prop colour, does it ?! (chuckle) Atb, richard.[/quote]


Anyone have anything else?

[George Hopp]

In "Luftwaffe Colours 1935-1945" by Michael Ullmann, the author has 1 1/2 columns on the painting of metal propellers, from LDv 521/3 (1937 Edition with amendments 1-3), on page 247. So, applying paint to the propellers was NOT a casual affair, as Graham noted earlier.

On page 53 there is a photo of an early 109E with the comment "It is clear that the spinner and the propeller blades were painted in RLM 70 in accordance with the regulations (see page 247)."

On page 71 there is a photo of probably a 109 G-14 (wooden props) with the comment "... gives a good view of the different colours of the propeller blades (RLM 70) and the black spinner."

It would seem to be common sense to use the same colour for all prop blades. And Michael Ullmann would seem to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject of aircraft colours.

Hope this helps, dogsbodymk1
George