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Fiat G.50, 352 squadron Camo question


opus999

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I'm planning my next build, which is going to be the Airfix 1/72 Fiat G.50. This is my first Italian build -- I've been a WWII aircraft fan my whole life but am woefully uninformed about Italian aircraft of the time. The painting instructions show the subject to be green mottles on tan (352a squadron, 20 Gruppo, N. Africa 1941).

 

I did some research over the last few days and almost all of the pictures of G.50's from 352 squadron I could find were green and red-brown "stripes" over tan.  I found one black and white photo of a mottled 352 sq. G.50, which I assume is green over tan.

 

My question is: which is right?  or are both right?  It's possible that camo schemes changed over time.  Or maybe Airfix had it wrong? 

 

One page I found (https://micheleraus.blogspot.com/2011/07/) was a modeller who made a "striped" G.50 of 352 squadron which he says is from Martuba Libya, 1941.  He includes a picture of a "Striped" aircraft -- 352-4.  So it seems like, if he did his homework correctly, this would be the scheme that the Airfix kit should be.

 

If anyone has some hard evidence for a green mottle over tan scheme, I'd be interested to see it... otherwise I'm leaning toward the "Striped" scheme.


Thanks everyone!

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Hello mate,

 

There were several different schemes available so it's hard to say with any certainty which may have been applied to the aircraft in question - certainly you can find photo's of CR.42s flying in a formation with at least two different types in the same group, so it's possible that not all the 352 sq. G.50's carried the same scheme.

 

These links might be useful to you, the first shows the colours and prescribed patterns (but you have to scroll down a fair way) - bear in mind they are guides and given the nature of mottle-painting they would not be identical on two given aircraft. The second is a colour guide, which I think is an updated version of the first guide; I'm not sure how current the information is in either article, but if lacking a more authorative alternative it may be a help to you:

 

https://www.stormomagazine.com/RegiaAeronauticaColorsinWWII_3a.htm

 

https://www.stormomagazine.com/RegiaAeronauticaColorsinWWII_VitoCharts.htm

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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Camo schemes did change on the G.50 and there are examples of a few on the aircraft of 352 Squadriglia, however Airfix's scheme is not really one of these, although it was seen on some aircraft in other units.

The "striped" scheme was just a variant of the standard green/brown over sand scheme and was used on machines in a production batch, 352 Squadriglia got several of these so the schemes appears quite often in pictures. Earlier build aircraft had the more traditional mottling. Later a scheme was introduced with brown "blobs" over dark green, a scheme seen on several Fiat aircraft in 1943, and some aircraft of the unit carried this scheme

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According to a list of all Regia Aeronautica camouflage schemes from 1936 to 1943 on the Italian web page www.flyinglions.eu/colori-regia-aeronautica.html Fiat G50 were painted either in paint scheme C "a reticolo a macchie rade" with the aircraft painted in giallo mimetico with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico and marrone mimetico or scheme C3 "a reticolo macchie verde mimetico scuro su fondo verde mimetico chiaro" with the aircraft painted in verde mimetico chiaro with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico scuro and scheme C3a with longer splotches of verde mimetico scuro over verde mimetico chiaro.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

Edited by GiampieroSilvestri
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11 hours ago, GiampieroSilvestri said:

According to a list of all Regia Aeronautica camouflage schemes from 1936 to 1943 on the Italian web page www.flyinglions.eu/colori-regia-aeronautica.html Fiat G50 were painted either in paint scheme C "a reticolo a macchie rade" with the aircraft painted in giallo mimetico with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico and marrone mimetico or scheme C3 "a reticolo macchie verde mimetico scuro su fondo verde mimetico chiaro" with the aircraft painted in verde mimetico chiaro with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico scuro and scheme C3a with longer splotches of verde mimetico scuro over verde mimetico chiaro.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

 

Ciao Giampiero

Regarding the schemes C3 and C3a as described in the CMPR book on Italian WW2 camouflage, my understanding is that they have now been proven as incorrect interpretation of a number of pictures taken in the Aegean Sea theatre.. Better quality prints of these same pictures of aircraft supposed to be in the "dark green over light green" schemes have shown these to be in the standard green/brown over sand.

 

 

Edited by Giorgio N
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On 8/25/2022 at 3:59 AM, Stew Dapple said:

These links might be useful to you,

 

20 hours ago, spitfire said:

m with Stew, Stormo Magazine is a great source of information on all things Italian, as is Giorgio N.

Yes, these are helpful... in fact I looked at that first link when I first got the kit a couple months ago!  I'd forgotten it was at Stormo.  So... I'm a bit embarrassed :)

 

22 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

Camo schemes did change on the G.50 and there are examples of a few on the aircraft of 352 Squadriglia, however Airfix's scheme is not really one of these, although it was seen on some aircraft in other units.

The "striped" scheme was just a variant of the standard green/brown over sand scheme and was used on machines in a production batch, 352 Squadriglia got several of these so the schemes appears quite often in pictures. Earlier build aircraft had the more traditional mottling. Later a scheme was introduced with brown "blobs" over dark green, a scheme seen on several Fiat aircraft in 1943, and some aircraft of the unit carried this scheme

 

18 hours ago, GiampieroSilvestri said:

According to a list of all Regia Aeronautica camouflage schemes from 1936 to 1943 on the Italian web page www.flyinglions.eu/colori-regia-aeronautica.html Fiat G50 were painted either in paint scheme C "a reticolo a macchie rade" with the aircraft painted in giallo mimetico with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico and marrone mimetico or scheme C3 "a reticolo macchie verde mimetico scuro su fondo verde mimetico chiaro" with the aircraft painted in verde mimetico chiaro with widely applied splotches of verde mimetico scuro and scheme C3a with longer splotches of verde mimetico scuro over verde mimetico chiaro.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

.Thanks @Giorgio N and @GiampieroSilvestri!  This was very helpful information.  I think, given what you've said, the photos I found and the websites you pointed me to, I think it's safe to do the "striped" version of schema C1 a reticolo a macchie rade

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On 8/25/2022 at 5:31 AM, opus999 said:

I found one black and white photo of a mottled 352 sq. G.50, which I assume is green over tan.

 

Looking at the photo from Your link, dark stripes (probbably Dark Green) are clearly visible.

But take a closer look between them - there is a second stripe color, for example right below the tailfin serial, or under the left half of fuselage fascia.

Acc. to Table 1 of the Stormo guide, this is either Marrone Mimetico 1 or Marrone Mimetico 2, since no other brown was used by FIAT.

I'd say MM 1, since it is the lighter of the two (and thus almost blended with the base Sand color at the photo)

 

spacer.png

 

Therefore, I agree with the model interpretation from Your link - green and brown blotches over a Sand upper overalls - a variation of C1 template with same colors.

Do not use tan, as this is more reminiscent of Nocciola Chiarro - a color used much later in the war.

 

Some more good pics of this unit:

https://waralbum.ru/412361/

https://waralbum.ru/412397/

https://waralbum.ru/389968/

 

And a couple of great models where IMHO colors and blotches look spot on. 

https://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/fiatg50rt_1.htm

http://hsfeatures.com/features04/fiatg50ws_1.htm

 

Regards,

Aleksandar

 

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Plenty of exemples are found in the very good book of Daniele Gatti:"20° Gruppo Caccia". Text is in Italian but pics are international Aviolibri Dossier 24.Profiles of G50 on pages 227/228 will be helpful.

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