It appears that 109's issued to the legion condor were issued in a topside light/medium grey and a lighter color for the undersides. I have seen photos of 109C's and E's with this scheme. What colors were they? Up to seeing these photos I had assumed that the condor legion aircraft were an overall light grey but the demarcation of two colors is unmistakable.
al
old hoodoo wrote:
light/medium grey and a lighter color for the undersides.
Up to seeing these photos I had assumed that the
colors is unmistakable.
Al:
The color of Condor Legion 109s is not nearly so simple. Evidence is that the first 15 109Bs were delivered in a commercially available light gray primer. The Luftwaffe wasn't long out from under wraps and they didn't even have supplies of their color standards completely in place yet. These were the 109's with the wooden fixed 2 blade props. The next batch delivered, some 45 109Bs were delivered over a period of several months in the standard German 2 tone green (70/71) with light blue (65) undersides. These were O.K. while the Condor Legion was supporting the campaign in the North of Spain, but with the fall of Bilboa the action shifted to the South. Here the climate is dryer and there is less vegetation and the dark greens stuck out like a sore thumb. Apparently they took to overpainting the 109s with the lighter colors that had been developed for the 3 tone bomber scheme, Green (62) and Green-grey (63), with blue 65 undersurfaces. There is some evidence that the three squadrons of J/88 were experimenting with different combinations, as there are a couple of photographs that apparently show 109s with three colors on their uppersurfaces, one a darker tone. It is not possible to tell from black and white photos whether the darker color is one of the two dark greens (70/71) retained or maybe a patch of the dark brown 61. By 1938, Werner Molders had apparently settled on green-grey 63 uppersurfaces and blue 65 lower surfaces for his staffel and the other squadrons followed suite. Be it noted that some sources believe that the final single tone uppersurfaces were really green 62, not green-grey 63. Take your pick! Ain't history fun!! :-)
Bill Shuey
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