Fw 190 D-9, W.Nr. 210xxx, "Brown 9 + -", 7./JG 26

[Eric Larger]

Hello Philippe

First of al many thanks to you for your kind words .

yes you are right "Brown 9 + -" is the one in Axel Urbanke "Green Hearts, Eagle Editions Ltd., p 211 . We did not have this photo for the publication, but we decided to describe this machine as it was important for us .

Concerning the tonal différence between the under and side engine cowling panels , two options can be retained

Either the underside panel is reapinted in yellow , possible as in summer 1944 a lot of german aircrafts on Western front had this panel painted like that

Etiher the aircraft was delivered with this panel in another undersides camouflage paint (one of the several variants of RLm76 or Green-blue)

This second option is confirmed by Marc's observation on wrecks of W.Nr 210102 found in Waasmunster and also by seval photos . Now on black and white photos is is difficult to determine which is which .

Concerning the machine in n Axel Urbanke "Green Hearts, Eagle Editions Ltd., p 180 this not the same than the one shown on page 211 .

The simpliest check is to look at the fin , on "brown 9" the leading hedge is not painted , but it is on the one page 180 . The limit between the upper and lower camouflage paints on the engine cowling of the machine depicted page 180 is more or less straigth without black area around the exhaust pipes .

This will then point at 2 hypothesis :

Either a machine built by Mimetal , an example is Fw 190D-9 , W.nr 500042 ,"JG26 Photographic history of the Luftwaffe top Guns", Airlife, p 147 knwon as having been a training machine of II./JG26 in late 1944. But we should find a blown canopy , and the machine on page 180 seems to have a flat canopy .

or a machine built by Fieseler , an early one, like the one in "Green Hearts", Eagle Editions Ltd., p 258

This is what I can say about this machine .

All the best

Eric