jagdgruppe 10\jg300 fw190 black 12

[digiartist]

I guess this is a question best pointed to Jerry Crandall, but some of the other guys here might know too.
Anyway, to the question! Eagle Editions offers up a decal sheet of Fw-190s (EagleCals 79) depicting a former Jagdgruppe 10 Fw-190 with snake motif wearing the colours of Jg-300. I've seen a photo of the aircraft in question (black 12) but in the photo the aircraft has had the snake painted out.
So my question is, is there any evidence that black 12 like the decal sheet wore the snake paintwork with the jg-300 markings before it was painted out?
As always, thanks to anyone who can help with my question.
cheers
Gareth

[Eric Larger]

Yes

It is real , I know this picture , In Jean-Yves Lorant and richard Goyat's book JG300 , if my memory is correct this machine was found at Bayreuth .

It was then posted to II./JG300.

Eric

[digiartist]

Thanks Eric for the reply, I have the Jg300 book too, but I only remember the photo showing the snake painted out.
Is there any suggestion that the snake wasn't painted out immediately after transfer to Jg300?

[Eric Larger]

No

I don't think so , markings of the new unit were applied as soon as possible , especially the tactical code .

I don't think that both snake and JG300 existed at the same time (we discussed several times about this aircraft with Jean-Yves Lorant) .

It is the same withe Fw 190D-11 white < 58 ,/ red 4 of JV 44 . At a time it wore the VfS der GdJ markings , then the markings of JV 44 .

Both appears because the machines were photographed after war after several months spend out side . The tactical codes, indivisual markings were applied with brush , so the paint is thicker that the paint applied with airbrush .

Eric

[digiartist]

makes sense Eric they would paint it out straight away, just wonder why eagle editions show the jg300 decals with the snake

[Eric Larger]

Eagles offers all possibilities for modeller , every one is free to interpret what they can decipher on the photos .

Their version is one of the several hypothesis one could admit as correct or understandable .

My self I have several questions concerning this aircraft .

The sole point that I would not have depicted is the snake head , because there are no photos to show it precisely , and perhaps this head could not be wivible on the cowling if this one was repalced .

But this is not visible on the photo .

Eric

[digiartist]

Hi Eric, Jerry very kindly answered my question over on LEMB, he points out the snake has in fact not been painted over but is actually just faded...I hadn't looked properly but you can just make out the sharp edges to the snake and the yellow trim around the red body.

[Eric Larger]

Hello

Yes I have read his answer , that makes sence too .

For me the faded aspect was a result of thin over painting to tone down the colours of the snake , perhaps with a dark camouflage colour .

But of course after 7 months or so in operational service conditions , the colours had a different aspect too .

Now , as I said earlier , no close up shot or other photos of this aircraft exists (known to me) so it is difficult to have a final thought about it .

Eric