Bf 109E-3 'White 4' flown by Uffz. Horst Perez

[Brian J]

In response to Dave Wadman's invitation to discuss the subject of the well documented 'White 4' flown by Horst Perez I will proceed with a brief background.

I first became aware of this aircraft as a fifteen year old who (with great acticipation) monthly biked to the news stand at the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel exit to purchase a copy of 'Royal Air Force Flying Review.' In the December 1959 issue (which I have on my desk as I type this correspondence!) was a COLOUR 3-view drawing of a Bf 109 that took my breath away. It was only recently that this publication had introduced colour and I treasured each issue. I have always wanted to do a build up of this subject, but over the decades collected conflicting information as to the camouflage/colours used on this aircraft. I know, I know, get a life and just build the damn thing...life is too short...but I'm the kind of modeller who 'has to have it right' before I start. I've sought medical help but to no avail. It just dawned on me as I type this that it is exactly 50 years to the month that I first saw that article! Excuse me for a moment, there's a knock at the door...god, I hope it's not the Grim Reaper, I'll never get that kit built! But I digress.

In the article, entltled 'That 'One-O-Nine' a gentleman who was at the crash scene within a few hours stated, "...the finish of the aircraft was a follows: Upper surfaces of the wings and tailplane, and the top of the fuselage were dark grey---about the same shade as the old naval "Home Fleet Grey." On the extreme top of the fuselage, the grey had a near-brownish tinge, as this had been sprayed on as an absolutely final finish." The accompanying 3-view by Endsleigh Castle shows the upper port wing completely grey (in error, the '4' on the fuselage is solid black). Boy, did that description fly in the face of the commonly accepted theories on Luftwaffe markings in 1959!

As I stated, over the decades I have collected any article/photos I could find on this aircraft. As they were in b&w it was always difficult to interrept shade/hue (whatever the experts call it!) of grey and the splinter scheme pattern on the upper surfaces (as I indicated earlier, the colour 3-view showed a solid grey port wing)...and what about that brown mentioned in the article?

I looked forward with great anticipation when I heard that Classic Publications was going to produce their 'Luftwaffe Colours' series, and I was not disappointed! I was particularily pleased to see colour profiles to go along with photos of the subject aircraft. On page 280-1 of 'Battle of Britain, Phase Three' of the Jagdwaffe Series, can be found a colour profile and several b&w photos of 'White 4.' The profile caption reads, "...detailed examination of surviving sections of original paint prove it was finished in non-standard locally mixed greys on the upper surfaces and not the 74/75 as described in previously published accounts." In my opinion the colour profile is the most accurate artwork of the subject I have seen to date.

I won't bore anyone who hasn't already nodded off with more mindless detail (or will I), but I would enjoy reading opinions on the September 2004 issue of Model Aircraft Monthly in which Paul Lucas discusses his experience when studying parts of the airframe of 'White 4.' I found it to be a very worthwhile read. The fact that over the decades the wings may have been replaced and so are of little value when trying to finally solve the camouflage colours of this airframe is worthy of note. The article also includes investigations of Bf 109 airframes in local museums that indicate that grey/brown schemes were also applied during late 1940. That elusive brown colour comes up again!

To conclude, my questions to Dave, and anyone else, are:

1) What colours would you choose to represent those used by the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940 as they experimented with camouflage? Should some shade of brown be included in any interpretation of 'White 4'?

2) What upper surface splinter pattern would be used when aircraft were repainted in the field? Did ground crews try to replicate the exact splinter patterns or did they just free hand it? Which colour would replace which colour? Soft edge or hard edge?

One final question/point. In an earlier correspondence this week Dave mentioned that there may be several colour profiles in the 'Luftwaffe Colours-Jagdwaffe' series that are inaccurate. Would it be possible to identify them and suggest a correction? In anticipation of a response to the above...thank you for your time and patience!

Edited December 6, 2016 by Brian J

[Pauls9cb]

I recently came across Brian J’s post on the IWM’s Bf 109 “White 4”and discovered another fanatic out there who saw the Flying Review article back in 1959. I live about 1,000 yards from where the a/c came down on 30/9/40 and have developed a bit of a fascination with W Nr 1190. I’m now working on my 3^rd version of the a/c, the first 2 finished in camo schemes that I’ve since decided weren’t right. Hopefully 3^rd time lucky. My interpretation of all the b&w pics I’ve seen suggests the following comments are relevant. I’m sure there are different views out there.

a)       All the upper surfaces of the fuselage and flying surfaces are in one of the standard splinter patterns used at that time, with the rudder and engine housings probably painted in RLM 04 Gelb. On both wings, the darker of the 2 upper surface colours covers the wing surfaces adjacent to the fuselage, with a lighter colour shown in contrast. JG 26 was noted for its adherence to RLM camo guidelines more than many other Jagdwaffe units.

      Any changes would have been made after Ebbighausen went missing on 16 August and probably several weeks before the end of September. With a/c shortages already affecting JG 26 serviceability, I doubt that W Nr 1190 would have stayed as it was with his chevron markings for very long. The pictures of W Nr 1190 that survive clearly show that the chevron and black bar markings were over-sprayed with RLM 65 or similar, with the “White 4” and 4^th Staffel bar replacing them. However, the other markings (JG 26 emblem/Ebbighausen’s Abschuss tally) all remained as they were when he flew last flew the a/c in early August. In my opinion, it’s likely that the II Gruppe/4^th Staffel workshops would have made only the changes that were necessary to obscure the Gruppen Kommandeur’s chevron markings, adding the 4^th Staffel’s Tiger emblem, the white 4 and 4^th staffel bar. With this as a premise, the overall camo scheme would probably have remained the original 02/71/65 when the aircraft came back in service, albeit perhaps slightly faded since JG 26’s a/c at Marquise were normally out in the open, even if in camouflaged pens or parked among trees.

c)       Apparent from Nigel Parker’s LCA 5 are 2 further points. The upper surfaces of the wings, and by implication, the tail-plane show a shade comparison which suggests RLM 02/71, definitely not just grey. Secondly, the leading edge of the wings (particularly the right wing) show an irregular overspray of what’s probably RLM 65 extending marginally onto the upper wing panels, rather than a straight-line demarcation between the upper and lower surfaces.

At least, this is how I’m spraying my current “White 4” project, using the pattern that’s apparent from all the b&w pics I now have, in particular those from Nigel Parker’s Luftwaffe Crash Archive Volume 5. I expect that by now Brian J has already finished the model he was planning so all this may be redundant, as well as ill-informed.

[jimmaas]

One minor add - the '4' is different on one side from the other.  On the port side, the '4' is pretty much standard Luftwaffe font.  On the starboard side, however, the slanting line extends much further to the right of the vertical stroke.  It clearly was not done by the same painter.

 

I'm another who was led into this hobby by RAF Flyting Review, and 'That 109' certainly was part of it.

 

As far as the camouflage, I believe it was 74-75 or something close to, but that's a personal thing.

[Pauls9cb]

I'd seen the idea  that W Nr 1190 had slightly different "4s" on port/stbd (perhaps an earlier post by you) and went throught the references I have, mainly looking at the overall height/width but missed the difference in the extent of the diagonal line. I always thought the ground crew would have been using stencils, reversing them as required. Obviously there's some reason for this but beats me!

 

I understand your thoughts on the 74-75 camo. I went that route on my last "White 4" model which was a 1/24 scale Airfix kit, much modified, of which I was unreasonably proud, even though it took up so much room on my shelves. I duplicated the scheme as far as I could having taken pics at Duxford and it looked neat. Since then, I've reverted to the theory in my earlier post for better or worse, taking the view that any traces of locally-mixed greys or even 74-75 found on the airframe during its restoration were more likely from earlier restoration attempts. Always fascinating to some of us.

 

It'll be interesting to see if I change my mind again if I get round to a 4th version of W Nr 1190.

Cheers.

[Brian J]

My apologies for taking so long to respond to the above comments.  I had to find out how to post again as the 'system' appears to have changed since I last posted several months ago and I couldn't locate my eight year old neighbour to help me out!  Contrary to 'Pauls9cb's' comment, I have not finished my build-up of 'White 4'.  Alas, as with over twenty or more kits I have started, it remains on a back burner waiting for the stars to line up or me being confident enough that I finally have found THE definitive colour scheme for that subject.  

 

Hopefully, with Dave Wadman's permission, I will share some of the observations he sent me by e-mail back in January, 2010.  His comments are in italics.

 

"2)  Are you satisfied with the artists profile on page 280 of Jagdwaffe, Volume Two Section 31?

 

More or less, yes...Aside from published and unpublished photos, intelligence reports and the like we even had access to strips of paint taken as souvenirs (along with a couple of other bits) from the aircraft by one of the Canadian soldiers mounting guard on it in the field along with some fragmentary paint samples from the airframe provided to us by the late Mike Payne.  Thus in all, there were quite a few of these strips of paint from both upper and lower surfaces as well as from one of the fuselage crosses and tiger head emblem.  Also, while on one of my yearly trips home to the UK I was able to have a close look at the airframe immediately prior to and during its 'renovation' at Duxford where I was allowed to 'borrow' some of the remaining original paint fragments still attached to the airframe. Subsequent examination of all 'strips' made available to us after various forms of rubbing and polishing to remove dirt, oxidization etc clearly showed that the upper surfaces were finished in two separate shades of grey far removed from 74 and 75.  Similarly, the same treatment given to the lower surface blue 65 strips clearly showed several different shades of blue!  I was also given some of the original aluminium skin from one of the wings during a visit to Duxford (it had been intended to reskin both wings but I understand that due to the costs involved, only one, the one in worst condition, was re-skinned).  Three of these pieces of upper surface skin retained a substantial amount of paint which allowed us to continually but gradually 'cut back' the paint in some areas which showed that the greys had been lightly applied over the original 70/71 colours.

 

  3)  As I indicated on my Britmodeller post, what concerns me the most about all of these 109's is the colour and the camouflage pattern on the upper wing and tail surfaces.  I read the September 2004 issue of Model Aircraft Monthly with keen interest and using that as a reference...what are your impressions of the four view drawings on page 52?  They suggest RLM 66 Schwarzguau and RLM 61 Dunkelbrun.  What about the camouflage pattern?  Was the same pattern used when an aircraft was repainted and what colours would replace what colours?

 

As far as upper camo patterns on 109Es go, yes, there were set standard patterns as outlined by my good friend Ken Merrick in his recent camo books but these were subject to some interpretation as clearly evidenced by period photos of the aircraft of the various Staffeln.  I presented a summation of these in section 1 of my four part B of B series in the classic Colours series.  I too read that article and have had access in the past to the pieces mentioned but what the author failed to make clear was that the few distinct brown shades mentioned were under the extant colours which, as the aircraft they were from had been in service for some time prior to being brought down and strongly suggests that the brown had been applied to the airframe, during the known pre-B of B trials to find optional camo schemes.  The other browns mentioned are nothing more than badly oxidized 02 Green-Grey.  Given the variety of grey shades used to adapt the upper camo on 109s during the later stages of the B of B, I have no doubt that applications of 'straight' 66 may also have been used on some airframes.  What must be remembered is that these various grey and grey/green schemes were adaptions of the basic camo pattern insofar that they were only lightly applied over the existing 70/71 or 02/71 finishes and were generally applied to follow the existing pattern lines."

 

From the above comments you can see why I lack confidence in finishing my 109E!   I don't know if Dave still tunes into this site but maybe he can add to his above observations.  For that matter I would enjoy hearing from anyone else who can add to the conversation.

 

P.S.  It was nice to hear from Jim Maas.  He was kind enough to help me out on the colours of a 1/48 Grumman F2F-1 I started several months ago.  It is one of the kits on the back burner.  I swear Jim, I'm gonna get back to it in a couple of weeks.  So many kits, so little time!

Edited December 5, 2016 by Brian J

[Pauls9cb]

I can't help but be awed by the depth of research apparent from the replies you received from Dave Wadmann. My own thoughts are far more basic, but I can see why you're in a quandry when it comes to getting it just right. The Jagdwaffe series has been a staple source for all the models of various BoB casualties I've attempted and they're an invaluable resourse for all of us out there who don't have the in depth knowledge and background of the experten. I must admit I find it difficult to see a huge difference in the colour definition on the p 280 profile of White 4, compared with others in the same volume which are defined as having 02/71 uppersurfaces. That's probably my poor eyesight!

 

Anyway, all insight much appreciated and I'll see how my 3rd version looks before I apply the future coat and go so far as applying the decals and other markings.

 

Thanks to all!

[tango98]

Hi Brian and greetings from a balmy -21C Calgary. Boy, is it already six years since we corresponded about Perez?

As you mentioned in your post yesterday that you have still to finish your White 4 I thought that if you intend to show it with the engine exposed, you might like to add the correct engine number to apply on the crankcase (plus a couple of other bits of trivia about the aircraft)?

1190 was built by Erla with some parts manufactured by Weser Flugzeugbau circa mid-September 1939  and the DB 601 engine number stencilled on the crankcase was 11954. The yellow fuel triangle carried the numbers 100 to indicate 100 octane fuel.

I also believe that the canopy was fitted with a vertical sheet of armour for pilot head/shoulder protection but will have to check the remainder of my White 4 file to be certain.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave W.

[Pauls9cb]

I finally completed my 3rd version of Horst Perez' White 4 using an Eduard 1:32 scale E-3 kit as the basis. As I said earlier, my interpretation of all the B&W contemporary pics of this well-documented a/c led me to take the view that, whatever the locally-mixed greys actually turned out like, the camo scheme was probably more akin to the standard 70/02/65 scheme typical of most of the earlier BoB period, although in all probability, other shades may have been used to cover up most of Ebbighausen's markings after his death. I understand JG 26 may well have started experimenting with other shades that may have ended up as the basis for the RLM later schemes, but I decided to show the model with what is basically a faded variation of the earlier schemes. JG 26 was renowned for avoiding the experiental schemes of the likes of JG 2, JG 53 and other units. I recognise this may be a foot in the mouth position but take the view that any traces of other colours that may have emerged as the a/c was more recently renovated perhaps come from theearlier efforts once the a/c was recovered from Canada. There's a couple of pics here showing the latest end result and I'll probably put a more extensive range of views on this site 's Ready for inspection section.

 

   

 

As you can see, I prefer to depict BoB subjects as used annd probably abused but hope the weathering and staining is not too extensive. For comparison, I've also added a couple of pics of my second model of White 4 which was based on the old Airfix 1:24 kit. For the camo scheme on this one, I took numerous pics of the a/c at Duxford and used those to reflect the colours and style on this bigger model. I've subsequently founf several additional contemporary pics of the a/c both while still in East Dean and during its N American tour and concluded that the scheme of the Duxford a/c is too dark and there are several other concerms I had, not least that the fuel triangle in some of the N American shots seems to indicate C3 rather than 100. Maybe it's my eyesight but this would be more in keeping with Jagdwaffe practice I think. I wasn't aware of the actual engine number that Dave W had a record of so I invented something I thought might be reasonably authentic, sadly failing miserably.

 

 

I had a problem with creating my own waterslide decals on my inkjet printer and was never really happy with the Staffel Tiger Head which was hand-painted. I'd overcome the problem by the time I started my 3rd model so the Staffel emblem looks much more realistic according to the photos I've seen.