Nick Milham

Kari, Your point about Russians flying with no wing markings is persuasive. After a night to sleep on it, I'm reversing course! Flying German planes with no wing markings would have been risky indeed. And I also had it is possible Pat D's photo was taken as the white applied but before markings were added. That argues for freshly painted markings as opposed to following the frequent practice as Vlad described of simply not covering existing marks. Finally, I did find a pic of a G6 from this unit with black wingcrosses in about this time period -- so black it is. Thanks again to all for helping out.

Kari, thanks. I didn't know that. The quandry continues...

Thank you, gents, it does help. Vlad, I agree this is the most logical supposition. In photos of JG54 F-series planes, they look to carry repainted black crosses on their wings. But that was when black wing crosses were RLM standard. As you know, G's typically had white outlines only, perhaps filled with dark gray. So not overspraying them makes sense. Pat D, your photo is extraordinary. It looks like it was taken just as the ground crew is applying the camo! And there are no wing markings to be seen. And behold! White prop blades! It's a close call but I think I might go with no crosses.

I see about the prop blades. This plane operated on the Russian front so perhaps they took a lesson from the Soviets. Thanks.

I am modeling a Bf-109G6 of IV/JG51 in all-white winter camo and am stuck on 2 points:(1) I cannot find any photos that show upper wing crosses or lack thereof. I can find F-types but no G6's. (2) One photo appears to show the forward surfaces of the prop blades in white. Cannot figure out whether this is accurate or merely a sun reflection. Why would anyone paint the blades white as they are all but invisible when turning. TIA for any help!

I heartily recommend Mal Mayfield at Miracle Masks. [email protected] Cheers.

To add to the confusion, here is a passage from Macky Steinhoff's memoir "The Final Hours" in which he describes how he prepares for a hurried take-off in his 262: "I pulled the slotted flap out of the leading edge, letting it spring back with a loud clack." Sounds to me like the slats were retracted on the ground.

Beautiful job on a very colorful aircraft. In 1972 Gordon "Gordie Ace" Graham was a 3-star general and commander of Fifth Air Force in Japan. He endorsed my efficiency report that year when I was a lowly captain.

Yes the roundels are definitely there. (Now to get the decal to lay down over that silly bulge!) Many thanks for the look at these new (to me) photos!

You BM'ers provided a wealth of knowledge the last time I asked for help....so I'm back! This time the topic seems to be among your favorites: Malta Spits. After studying published photos I'm wondering if the Spitfires arriving as part of Operation Calendar had their upper wing roundels overpainted. I recently saw a shot on the RAF Museum website of a dark-painted Spitfire purportedly taking off from Wasp which appears to show no upper wing roundels. (This also is the photo that opened my eyes to those extra outboard wing bumps I am now attempting to add to my BR112.) I subsequently re-examined the shots of Barnham's Vc being re-armed and those of BR112 on the beach in Sicily. Though by no means clear, they seem to show the roundels overpainted on these aircraft as well (at least they do now!) What say the experts? Any evidence one way or the other? Opinions? This is the page with the photo in question: RAF Museum

Mystery solved! Many thanks!

Ahhhhhhh! I'd never heard of the anti-spin parachute but it sounds like the answer to me. I did some more poking around the web and came up with this: http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=75816 There's a link there to the photo which shows what looks to be just the thing. Apparently it was fitted to the first 20 production aircraft, which might explain why I've seen it only on pics of 19 Squadron a/c. Presumably they took them off at some point. Any idea when? Regards and thanks.

My first post to BM so hello to all. I'm researching photos of pre-war Spits and have noticed something curious in those well-known photos of 19 Squadron a/c -- some sort of fitting on the top of the vertical fin where it meets the rudder. Seems to be elliptical in shape and fairly large. I haven't seen it in photos of Spits in other squadrons. Any clues what it might be or when it appeared? I'm hoping to build an accurate version of a 19 Squadron Spit of that period. I've been mightily impressed with the collective knowledge of this forum, so I figured you were the ones to ask! Thanks in advance. Nick