Jump to content

WWII German Naval colours


Recommended Posts

Hi All,

I have a plan to do a few what-if German naval models. BF-109T, Stuka and JU-88 as they would have been if the Germans got their aircraft carriers in service.

My question is, hypothetically, what colours would they have used on the upper camo. I am thinking light gray and light blue splinter with white squiggles, sorta like the night fighter camo.

Anyone have any better ideas, or maybe even a possible photo/drawing??

kinda like this but with blue and gray

Squiggly2.png

Thanks,

Sean

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, Kriegsmarine colors for aircraft started as a light grey, but then eventually they started using the same standard splinter in the same colors as the Luftwaffe. BUT, I'd say since its a what if, make the colors up. A mix of light and dark blues might be cool looking. Post pictures when you start, I'd like to see this one.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Rightwinger26's call outs are incorrect. The standard Luftwaffe Marine camouflage consisted of a splinter pattern in RLM shades 72 and 73, over 65. AFIIK, these colors were carried by Luftwaffe aircraft operating in a marine theater, throughout the war. Ar-196s, FW-200s, Ju-88s, etc were flown in these colors. Many times, a spaghetti pattern of 65 might be oversprayed on top of them. I've also heard of 76 being used in the same manner.

Edited by Hal Marshman Sr
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info guys!!

Rightwinger26's call outs are incorrect. The standard Luftwaffe Marine camouflage consisted of a splinter pattern in RLM shades 73 and 74, over 65. AFIIK, these colors were carried by Luftwaffe aircraft operating in a marine theater, throughout the war. Ar-196s, FW-200s, Ju-88s, etc were flown in these colors. Many times, a spaghetti pattern of 65 might be oversprayed on top of them. I've also heard of 76 being used in the same manner.

This is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I thought I saw it somewhere but I couldn't find any official colour call outs.

All three of these kits are ones I built years ago and have decided to rebuild. I will have some pics posted once I get a few of the current builds out of the way.

Sean

Link to post
Share on other sites

If I were going to do this project, I would paint the Bf109T and the Ju87C in the 72/73/65 scheme (as far as I know when those two a/c were finally issued to Luftwaffe and used operationally, they were in the 70/71/65 color scheme). As far as the Ju88 goes, I doubt that it would ever have been used on the Graf Zeppelin, being too large. However, the Ju88 (and its younger brother the JU188) were used operationally in Norway on anti-shipping duty in the 72/73/65 scheme, with and without the thin gray stripes on the uppers. I'll check my references when I get home tonight. (Am currently at the airport getting ready to go to work on the "J3 From Hell")

Edited by Hawk10
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...

time to get this thread going again.

i should be ready to paint my German carrier aircraft soon. Here is the scheme i am going to go with:

cam1942-1.jpg

fw190atop1400white1.jpg

RLM 74/75/76 with squiggles over the top. I have a feeling this will look the most convincing for a naval aircraft over the North Atlantic.

I am going to try to use the white outline only crosses on the top of the wing, Not too sure what I have laying around. I may make masks for those. I also need to figure out what would make a good unit colour. I figure with the white in the desert, and the yellow on the eastern front, I would use a dark blue on these.

Spinner, lower cowling and rudder on the 109

Spinner, wingtips and rudder on the Stuka.

Sean

Edited by martin_sam_2000
Link to post
Share on other sites

True statement, RLM02 HE-60. I never specified dates in my original post to clarify what I meant.

That's actually standard Luftwaffe colours for the era. Lots of stuff in all-over RLM02 in the mid/late 30's. Maritime aviation got its own schemes later on.

IIRC the Bf109T's were actually produced in the Maritime scheme, although they never saw naval service.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...