The FW-190 and its rather unusual paintjobs

[Sprogg]

(This is more a historical question than anything else- I would like to try my hand at the old Butcher Bird but my backlog at the moment is a little non-conducive to such things...)

 

I've always had something of a fondness for the Focke-Wulf FW 190. Even aside from its formidable pedigree it's a rather handsome warbird, and in part this is helped by the interesting liveries I often see it festooned in. Some of these are relatively "tame" usually consisting of the fairly normal mottled camo in various shades of green, grey and brown, but with the distinctive spiral pattern on the prop spinner...

Spoiler

I'm assuming the nose spinner was done this way simply as an embellishment, as fairly obviously the last thing the enemy is going to be trying to do in a dogfight is try and work out the colours of your plane's nose. However I also came across this rather wacky example...

 

Spoiler

Whilst mostly feasible (mottled drab camo again) that checkerboard pattern on the engine cowling, whilst very nice to look at, seems a bit of an odd choice. From my limited understanding of the finer points of aircraft camo, it seems to scream "I'm an engine shroud! I protect vulnerable stuff! Shoot me!" which doesn't seem terribly wise. Is this a rather fanciful postwar addition, or did actual FW-190s actually take to the skies with this sort of slightly nutty scheme? And if it was real, did it serve any purpose (successfully or otherwise) beyond mere decoration?

[Troy Smith]

13 minutes ago, Sprogg said:

or did actual FW-190s actually take to the skies with this sort of slightly nutty scheme? And if it was real, did it serve any purpose (successfully or otherwise) beyond mere decoration?

yep.  IIRC Fw190 A of JG1 1943, , reich defence.  Purpose, decoration, quick unit recognition, esprit de corps....  not sure in this specfic case

 

Focke Wulf Fw 190A5 1.JG1 White 4 Bernhard Kunze being greeted Holland 1943

Focke Wulf Fw 190A6 1.JG1 White 5 Rudolf Hubl forced landed Nienburg Oct 8 1943

 

in the link below you will see that they also used red and black, and yellow and black checkers. 

 

stripes too

Focke Wulf Fw 190A7 cowling showing I.JG1 emblem Dortmund early 1944

 

more here

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Fw-190A/JG1-I.html

 

15 minutes ago, Sprogg said:

I'm assuming the nose spinner was done this way simply as an embellishment, as fairly obviously the last thing the enemy is going to be trying to do in a dogfight is try and work out the colours of your plane's nose.

supposed to put gunner off their aim.  Was very very common on Luftwaffe fighters.

 

I'll @SafetyDad @G.R.Morrison @FalkeEins who maybe able to answer the origin/purpose of the markings.

[G.R.Morrison]

The replicas are decorated in realistic schemes.  Your first image, wearing a black-white-black band, was with the Sturmstaffel 1, formed in late 1943 for close-combat with the 8th Air Force bomber formations.  The spiral painted on the spinner was a common, nearly-universal decoration ordered for all fighters and reconnaissance aircraft of Luftflotte 3 and Luftflotte Reich on 10.Feb. 1944 (the spiral had been used earlier, the first on appearing on a Bf 109E in 1940).

 

The checkerboard cowling was used briefly by the I/JG 1.  The 1./JG 1 had used white cowlings in early 1943, black checkers added later in the autumn.  Markings like this were for the Germans' benefit, the sky is a big place and these help with formation assembly/reassembly, and reveal "who's who."  Fuselage bands (usually 900mm) as seen on your Sturmstaffel 1 example became more common during 1944, with colors and numbers of bands/stripes distinguishing units.

 

GRM

[Sprogg]

Thanks very much for the information! I hadn't thought of them being identification markings, which makes perfect sense and has me feeling a bit silly in retrospect for not thinking of it...

[Werdna]

56 minutes ago, Sprogg said:

I'm assuming the nose spinner was done this way simply as an embellishment,

 

The spinner spiral was effectively an IFF/ID aid, as far as I'm aware.  So yes, an embellishment, but with a functional purpose.  Having said that, there is evidence of some late war 109Gs and Ks still using a 1/3 triangle segmented design...

[noelh]

If you want another example of identification markings being colourful. You  only  have to look at the 8th Air Force. While it may look like the often brightly coloured B17s and P51s were a work of Whimsy by crews or individual pilots. In reality they were in fact a way of identifying individual squadrons. Particularly when it comes to bombers where finding your group was particularly important.

 

Now for fighters there was an element of unit pride but the main reason was again unit identification. Americans were also copying what they saw on Luftwaffe fighters who led the way with colourful identification markings. The yellow nose Bf109s being an early war example.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by noelh

[e8n2]

Here's another idea for a FW-190 in a different color scheme:

 

The good ole three color (really four color) Navy scheme from the mid war time period.

Later,

Dave

 

P.S. You do know that the FW-190 was the inspiration for the F8F Bearcat right?

Edited August 9, 2022 by e8n2
Added P.S.

[Casey]

I love the one in Navy colors.

 

I am so going to paint one in glossy sea blue!... for fun.

[Phoenix44]

On the photo showing the undercarriage, what's going on withvwhat look like drilled holes surrounded by primer?

[MDriskill]

6 hours ago, Phoenix44 said:

On the photo showing the undercarriage, what's going on with what look like drilled holes surrounded by primer?

The bolts that hold the gear strut cover to the leg were fitted through stamped recesses in the sheet metal, which were covered by flush doped fabric patches. Normally all this was concealed by the underside camo paint but field repairs, etc., could muck things up.

 

The spinner spiral may also have functioned as a safety device, making it easier to see a rotating propeller whilst the aircraft was on the ground. Modern jetliners still use that.

Edited August 9, 2022 by MDriskill

[Werdna]

11 minutes ago, MDriskill said:

I've seen speculation that the spinner spiral was safety a device, making it easier to see a rotating propeller whilst the aircraft was on the ground.

 

People also speculated that they were a form of hypnosis - designed to mesmerise B-17 rear gunners.  There's been some very entertaining speculation over the years..  

[MDriskill]

The Fw 190 is definitely a great choice if you like interesting colors.

 

If you will forgive the bad pics of old photo prints, many years ago, two friends and I did this collection of Fw 190's with various home defense markings. One pal is a professional museum exhibit builder who did the tall display base; the 17 models are all 1/72 scale Hasegawa kits save the lone Aoshima Ta 152. The building and research were a lot of fun, and we took our share of model contest trophies with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by MDriskill

[Sprogg]

Thanks again everyone, some really interesting information here! And wow, they really did do some interesting colour schemes for it, reminds me a little of WW1 "Flying Circus" patterns (albeit a bit less extreme).

 

On a more fantastical sidenote, it reminds me a little of the sort of colour schemes and embellishments that Orks in earlier editions of 40K would paint on their vehicles (including planes). I wouldn't be surprised at all if these were direct inspirations for GW at the time in fact...

[Tail-Dragon]

The queen of the odd color scheme's has to be the 'Parrot' scheme of JV44 ...

 

 

 

[MDriskill]

On 8/9/2022 at 1:27 AM, Casey said:

I love the one in Navy colors.

 

I am so going to paint one in glossy sea blue!... for fun.

No need to make things up, LOL...besides the wartime German schemes, plenty of other wacky stuff existed in real life.

 

Karaya makes a whole series of decal sheets featuring schemes applied to various captured Fw 190's - some of them quite extreme! They are based on the well-researched Kecay books by Jacek Jackiewicz, and available in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 scales.

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by MDriskill

[Tail-Dragon]

Do you suppose that was the inspiration for Aurora's 'alternate universe' FW-190 and BF-109 markings?  😆

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Tail-Dragon

[Chuck1945]

That 109 box really irritated me at the time. I had built the kit previously in an earlier boxing (original 1953 edition) when I was eight years old. By the time the kit appeared in the new box (1960 according to Scalemates) I knew enough to recognize the box depicted a 109G and was rather disgruntled to spend my hard earned lawn mowing funds only to discover it was the same old kit inside!

[GiampieroSilvestri]

On 09/08/2022 at 19:11, MDriskill said:

No need to make things up, LOL...besides the wartime German schemes, plenty of other wacky stuff existed in real life.

 

Karaya makes a whole series of decal sheets featuring schemes applied to various captured Fw 190's - some of them quite extreme! They are based on the well-researched Kecay books by Jacek Jackiewicz, and available in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 scales.

 

Aha,so the last aircraft on the decal sheet is the famous yellow allover Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-4 of Hermann Graf that Pierre Clostermann describes in his book "le grand cirque".🙂

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

Edited August 10, 2022 by GiampieroSilvestri

[tempestfan]

17 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

Do you suppose that was the inspiration for Aurora's 'alternate universe' FW-190 and BF-109 markings?  😆

 

 

 

Wonderful! I confuse the names - was it TOM Tom Morgan who loved to put a great number of ragged holes on his subjects, be it Aurora, Hawk, Monogram, Lindberg, or (Steve?) Locher?

Other strange things are going on there. A Spitfire IX (or XIV) with SIX evenly spaced wing cannon. Or perhaps it's an MB.5 on secret mission... Funny thing with the 190 is that apparently they had no idea whatsoever of anything Luftwaffe and copied the USAAF inventory number...