Blue or Blue-Gray Camouflage on Bf 109E

[Sylvester Stadler]

In the color-photo section of Ken A. Merrick's German Aircraft Markings 1939-1945 (1977 edition), there appear three photos of the BF 109E-4/N. White 4 + -, of Horst Perez of 4./JG 26, the camouflage of which appear to be two shades of blue on the upper sides. The aircraft lies on its belly in a field next to a blue VW, so a comparison can be made as to its colors. Also, there are green trees in the background, the color of which does not match the blue-gray of the wings.

In the book Full Circle by Johnny Johnson, there is related the story of Adolf Galland flying over Dunkirk in a new camouflage scheme. Johnson claims that his Bf 109 is painted olive-green which replaced the previous blue color scheme. I have never heard of this story before. Galland hears over the R/T that a German fighter pilot is going to dive down on him and he avoids the "friendly fire" when he sees tracers and he realizes he is the target. I don't know the source of the story but since green was the standard color of the Bf 109 at the time of Dunkirk (May-June 1940) and not blue, perhaps Galland in his mind had reversed the color schemes. Perhaps this is additional evidence that some kind of blue or blue-gray scheme was experimented with in Galland's units.

RAF intelligence reports frequently described the colors of captured German aircraft. Are there any reports which mention blue or blue-gray as an upper camouflage on the Bf 109E?

[Graham Boak]

There was a lot of experimentation carried out by the 109 units during the BoB. This generally involved the use of different shades of grey, and eventually evolved into the mid-war standard of 74/75/76. In colour photos of the time, grey does tend to "pick up" the blue of the sky and look bluer in the photos than in real life. Yes, I am sure there are a number of comments in RAF intelligence reports, although it seems that their use of colour terminology was , unsurprisingly, very loose.

However, the Johnson/Galland story may refer to the painting out of the very obvious blue 65 fuselage sides of the earlier 109 scheme. Previous to this a fighter with a high demarcation was German, a low demarcation was Allied. Overpainting of the light blue with a camouflage colour would negate this difference.

[GrahamB]

Hi,

Graham is quite right about the experimentation with blue-greys in the Battle of Britain period and this aspect of Luftwaffe colouration has been through various periods of acceptance or refutation. Quite often these reports are dismissed as poor perception or description of the 'standard' RLM 74/75 scheme but remember that the former is actually a grey-green, not a blue-grey and the latter is basically neutral, perhaps with a hint of blue in some circumstances.

In any case, there are some beautiful, well-balanced, colour prints of Bf 109 Es (including yours)- with some in recent issues of Luftwaffe Im Focus, the last issue with a wonderful close-up of the tail with a dark blue-grey mottle and RLM02. In an earlier Luftwaffe Im Focus there was the bizarre, no, risible instruction that what we were looking at was not blue-grey but greens! This is the power of 'authority' over reason - just like religion. I suspect that the editor was told by an 'authority' that the colours should be green/grey and dismissed the evidence in front of him.

Best wishes

GrahamB

[Adam]

Prisoner interrogation reports from 1940 do note that Galland had varying camo schemes and that one was green and brown. This particular scheme was regarded with considerable anxiety by other fighter pilots within JG 26 as it made his aircraft look exactly like a Hurricane and the fear was one day Galland would be shot down by a friendly.

[Franek Grabowski]

I have had long discussions with Ken Merrick and Claes Sundin concerning RLM 74. Well, perception of colour is variable among people but at least according to my eyeballs, all the samples of authentic 74 looked for me a dark neutral grey, perhaps with a drop of green but definetelly not a grey-green. This of course could be due to fading or different paint composition, but it is noticeable, most of German fighters from the period 1941-1945 is described as "silver".
That said I believe that several reports of green-brown German aircraft were of 71/02 painted ones, perhaps in a distorting lighting.

[GrahamB]

Hi Frank,

quite right - but the 'official' name for RLM 74 is given (depending on source, such as the Monogram Painting Guide, Eagle Editions, Ullmann, Kookaburra series etc etc) as Graugrun or Dunkelgrau (grunlich) [note, rpelces typo 'Dunkelgrun in first version of post]. My point was (is) that it was by no means a definite blue-grey as seen in several photos and therefore cannot account for, or be used explain away these schemes (also with a paler blue-grey on the upper surfaces). The other stock 'excuse' or 'put-down' is that it was poorly mixed standard colour. Hmmmm..

Cheers

GrahamB

[Graham Boak]

The main reason for discounting 74/75 is that these colours are not known (add emphasis here perhaps?) to have been in existence before 1941. Given the references to blues and various greys, it does seem more likely that 74/75 evolved from experimental hues, rather than being continually (and varyingly) misreported. On the other hand, ruling them out completely may be going too far, given that a 109 in dark grey was reported shot down in Belgium in May 1940.

I do feel, and Ken Merrick posted something similar on one site, that any greenness in 74 has been grossly exaggerated. (Particularly in those *** In Action specials, with Luftwaffe fighters in RAF Day Fighter scheme!) I don't think that the title of the colour would prevent it appearing blue on period colour film taken under a clear sky, though whether it would look blue to an RAF Intelligence officer is clearly another matter.

It has been suggested, rather desperately perhaps, that French paint stocks were used. Well, there was a rather natty blue-grey, was there not?

My conclusion, for what it is worth, is that these 109s were not painted in 74/75, but in colours remarkably like them. Maybe a little bit bluer.

[GrahamB]

Hi,

Graham, what on earth has the 'title' of a colour got to do with anything in your argument. My point was that it merely confirms the fact (backed up by the various colour charts - for what they are worth, considering the variation in some colours between publishers) that RLM 74 was not a blue-grey. Are you saying that all neutral greys change to strong blue-grey in WW2 colour prints? Some desperation here to avoid the issue I think.

Why can't anyone just accept anything other than what they are told by 'authority'?

Cheers

Graham

[Graham Boak]

In the colour chips I have seen (Reis, Kookaburra, and the recent Merrick), and in various high-quality reproductions of original colour photos, it does not look at all green to me. Those who have seen many original examples of the colour on surviving parts, or have studied recent colour mixes to original formulae, say that it does not look at all green to them, except perhaps only very slightly when new. The colour has also been referred to more simply as Dunkelgrau, but never (to my knowledge) as Dunkelgrun. My point was, and is, that the title has mislead others into picturing it as a definite green.

As for accepting what is told by authority - that I bounce straight back. What outside of "authority" supports your apparent belief in a green appearance? Certainly nothing of what I have seen, or what has been put forward by people whose judgement I have come to respect over many years.

Yes, a neutral grey will take on a blue tinge when photographed under a blue sky. You write as though this idea is new to you? If so, I regret I can claim no originality in the suggestion, as it has been noticed since colour photography began, as just one of the ways that ambient light can distort colour reproduction - or, perhaps, mislead the casual observer. I mentioned it to show how an observer could be misled from photographs into assuming a blue scheme where none existed, but this would be unlikely to influence an observer of a crashed aircraft. If the RAF Intelligence reports speak of blue uppersurfaces, as they do, then they are unlikely to be reporting the standard versions of 74 and 75. However greenish these may have been.

[Cpt_Farrel]

I can't recall if it was mentioned in Ken Merrick's books but I've read other sources that claim that the experiments with grey colors was made by mixing exsisting RLM Colors like RLM66 and RLM65. That would surely make for a blueish grey, but RLM66 was made for internal use in an aircraft so I'm not sure if it would have been mixable with the external RLM65?

RLM70 and RLM65 could have ended up blueish grey as well with enough 65 in it though...

About written reports - not even they seems to be reliable as I've heard of cases where aircraft has been described very differently by different intelligence officers. Armin Fabers Fw190A that he landed intact in Britain has been described as using both RLM02/71 and 74/75 depending on which report you'll read...

/Anders