Super Aereo

Hi Juanita, No, only published sources.

Hi Juanita, The 483rd BG red rudder and elevators were introduced during the summer of 1944, i.e. after the other insignia. The star on the elevators could be unpainted metal, rather than white.

I am pretty sure I have a copy somewhere in storage (a fiver from a charity shop - it is not exactly a rare edition), but if I remember correctly the info in such a booklet was minimal.

IIRC, that photo was published with a better resolution in Air War Italy 1944-45 by D'Amico-Valentini-Beale.

True that he has often been jumping to conclusions for a while, but his articles probably are good for sales, and often contain very interesting bits of information.

Trapani-Chinisia is in Sicily, quite a distance from borgo: https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-trapani-chinisia-592.html Borgo in Corsica was an airfield in its own right: https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-bastia-borgo-1278.html

I was not casting doubt, I was just asking a question: the last time I heard anything about AL246 , it was still being worked on. As much as I try to keep abreast with things, I can't follow everything...

Was there Extra Dark Sea Green on the unrestored aircraft, though? I mean, was the Museum staff 100% sure that the darker colour under the later blue coat was a green rather than a grey?

Mmmmm... It would be too much of a coincidence that the colour names were given as Extra Dark Sea Gray, Light Sea Green and Duck Egg Blue, if that was a French specification: let's not forget that France fell in June 1940. I'd suggest the colour names might point to a British request when taking over the French order...

IIRC, and I am damned if I remember exactly where I read it, the first Martlets to be delivered to the UK were said to be camouflaged in "lurid colours" and quite a few eyebrows were raised. The aircraft were subsequently repainted in TSS. at some stage.

Not all G-10 had larger wheels (the WNF ones still had smaller wheels and small bulges on the wing), and the position of the oil tank filler cap will be different. Ditto for the several variations of the rudder. Jean-Claude Mermet's writings are probably the best reference available at the moment for the late G series: Aéro-Journal hors-série N°1 (in French), and/or Messerschmitt Bf 109 published by Caraktere (available in French and in English). An older (self-published) summary of his studies was Les Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-1 a K-4 - Moteurs et Amenagements, which is from the 1990's and can be sometimes found in PDF format. BF 109 Late Versions: Camouflage & Markings by the late Krzysztof Wolowski (Mushroom Model) is also not bad, although some of the colour profiles are debatable. Poruba's books are also very interesting but so far have only covered WNF production and, in passing, Erla. I am afraid that when it comes to Bf 109 variants nothing is simple...

It would be advisable to check photos of the example you want to reproduce: oil pump bulges absent and smaller turbocharger intake on some early G-14/AS, otherwise oil tank filler cap position (on all MTT), possibly different wheel bulges on the wings and different size wheels, absence of heating tube in the back of the cockpit, different tail unit. These are the main things I'd check, off the top of my head.

Not on Sea Gladiators, where the demarcation line between upper and lower colours was at mid-fuselage.

It could be, but shadow shading was still mentioned in Air Publication 2656A of October 1944.

The shadow shading colours for the upper surface of the lower wing were supposed to be Dark Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey.