Yellow "noses" of Me 109? Who and Why?

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Mirek Wawrzynski

Second what about holy tradition (Great Red Baron). Army is one of the conservative society.

In this case it is mixing apples and oranges.

Yes, red is a traditional color for the Richthofen Geschwader, which can be seen with the reintroduction of JG 2 and its red color code, however the tactical identification markings of 1940 are of a different nature and yellow seems to be the choice (compare with yellow on other types operating above water in pre-war times).

So we have tradition of one unit versus tactical standardization of the whole Jagdwaffe. (Actually in this sense the color red would demand exclusivity).

OTOH, it might have to do with the fact that the color red was associated with the enemy markings.

Poles, French, Brits and later Soviets.

These are thoughts, nothing based on hard fact or documentation.