The outbreak of the civil war meant that steps had to be taken to identify to which side aircraft belonged, and also to reduce the visibility of at least land-based aircraft (a large proportion of the aircraft of both sides were destroyed on the ground in the first few days of the war). The latter problem was overcome by the application of washes of green or earth-coloured paint over the original metal finishes, often in a mottled pattern, before purpose-designed schemes were applied. Naval aircraft often retained their metal finish throughout the war.The problem of identifying the side to which a military aircraft belonged was even more pressing, and various different combinations of markings were used in the early stages of the war, becoming somewhat more standardised later in the war. It should be remembered however that there were many exceptions to the general rules given below. Russian aircraftRussian aircraft in the mid 1930s, at least those that served in the west, were usually painted in a standard VVS AII green lacquer on the upper surfaces and AII blue lacquer (a quite dark sky blue - not unlike the background to the picture to the right) on the under surfaces. The Polikarpov fighters and reconnaissance aircraft sent to Spain retained this colour scheme, and had red bands and the rudder tricolour applied over this.
The SB-2 bombers, however, were finished in a greater variety of colour schemes, with various forms of mottle or wave-band camouflage. For more details of VVS colour schemes (albeit in WWII) see. German aircraftThe aircraft used by the Condor Legion in Spain mostly had one of two basic colour schemes:Bombers, attack and reconnaissance aircraft were usually finished in the standard 1930s German splinter camouflage of grey, brown and green, with pale blue under surfaces. Later in the war, some aircraft were also sent in two-tone green splinter camouflage, which was becoming standard in Germany at that time.Fighter aircraft and seaplanes were usually finished over-all in a shade of grey (see discussion about colours below), sometimes with pale blue under surfaces. Later in the war it seems that aircraft sent from Germany were finished with green upper surfaces, although these seem to have quickly faded in the Spanish sun.Condor Legion aircraft were fairly consistently painted with black discs on the fuselage sides and upper and lower wings, the wing discs typically bearing white crosses from quite an early stage in the war. The fuselage discs often provided a canvas for various personal and squadron emblems, usually in white.Many German-produced aircraft were either provided direct to the Spanish Nationalist air force, or handed over to them after use by the Condor Legion.
The colour schemes of these aircraft were often modified, typically with wave-band camouflage. The Nationalist yoke and arrows were often painted on the fuselage discs of Spanish Nationalist fighters late in the war. Italian aircraftFighters and attack aircraft used by the Aviazione Legionaria were usually finished in the 'sand and spinach' camouflage typical of Italian military aircraft in the 1930s and into WWII. Blotches of green and/or dark brown were applied on a light brown or sand coloured ground, with pale grey under surfaces. Some bombers were also finished in such schemes, although it appears that Savoia Marchetti SM-81s were initially painted pale cream over-all.Italian maritime aircraft and the Fiat CR 32s based on the Balearics early in the war were left in natural metal, the flying boats and seaplanes typically having black bands around the fuselage as well as across the wings.
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Later in the war, the Italian land-based aircraft on the Balearics were painted in various forms of wave-band camouflage.The large black discs on the slab-sided fuselages of the Italian SM-79 and SM-81 bombers seem to have been particularly tempting canvases for the squadron artists, and were often adorned with fantastic designs (see below, although several of these are from other Italian aircraft types). A black letter 'm' - A stylised version of Mussolini's signature, was also often seen on bombers and attack aircraft (see, for example, the ). After the civil war the Spanish Air Force adopted markings based on those of war-time nationalist aircraft, but replacing the black discs on the wings with roundels of red yellow and red (which were also used as the nationalist colours during the civil war). The black fuselage discs were initially retained, usually with the yoke-and-arrows device applied, but were eventually replaced with the same red-yellow-red roundels. The rudder retained the black St. Andrew's cross on a white ground, and this form of national marking can be seen to this day.The system of type-numbers applied during the war was continued afterwards, so, for example, single-engined light aircraft taken over from the Republicans at the end of the war were numbered 30.75 to 30.188 (for example, the D H Fox Moth below). In the 1930s, colour photography was still in its infancy.
There are few contemporary colour photograph of aircraft from the Spanish Civil War. It's often forgotten, 'though, that the photographic emulsions used in black-and-white photography in the 1930s were also far from perfect. So-called Panchromatic films, which responded in a similar way to the human eye to the range of colours in a scene, although developed, were far from standard. Most films of the period were far more sensitive to light of some wavelengths and less sensitive to other wavelengths.
Typically, for example, green hues would appear much lighter than they were in reality, and red hues much darker. This means that the many black and white photographs that exist of Spanish Civil War aircraft should not be interpreted at face value, and guessing at the colours of aircraft based on such photographs is an endeavour doomed to failure. This can be seen in, for example, the range of shades that appear to adorn the upper surfaces and tails of I-15s in Spain. As far as I know, these aircraft were actually painted in a very consistent colour scheme, with standard VVS AII green upper surfaces, and a presumably fairly standard tricolour on the rudder. However, depending on the film used to take photographs, the relative shade of different parts of the aircraft vary tremendously.
For example the yellow, purple or in at least one case, the red section of the tricolour can appear to be the lightest colour in different photographs.yellow purple green redpurple yellow = green red. A very strange picture, apparently with redyellowpurple. This machine in fact fell into Nationalist hands and was photographed while being repainted in Nationalist colours.A further good example of this is provided by the grey upper surface colour used on Condor Legion fighters, examples of which are given to the right. 20 years ago, every colour reproduction of Bf109s in Spain showed them bearing a light neutral grey scheme, often called 'gull grey'.
However, recent research, based on contemporary German records and surviving aircraft parts, seems to point to the grey being a much darker, greener hue. In fact many of the fighter aircraft sent to Spain may have been finished in a colour much closer to, if not actually, the famous RLM Grau 02.Much of this research was incorporated into the recent title by Mombeek, Smith & Creek (1999), which caused many reviewers to remark unfavourably on the dark colours they had given to their aircraft. (2005) expands on this research considerably, suggesting that the earliest Bf 109s were finished in bare metal with a yellowish-greenish-grey protective varnish applied, and that all Bf 109s were repainted in RLM 72 or 73 on the uppersides at some later point.The pictures to the right show scans of profiles of the same aircraft from (Top to bottom) Flying colours (1981), A mid-1990's decal sheet and Mombeek et al.
(1999).Of course, trying to reproduce colours on a web page to be viewed on a computer screen adds yet another layer of complexity to the whole question. So I would like to proudly claim that all the colours on my web site are completely and utterly inaccurate!The difficulties of estimating colours from monochrome photographs are discussed further.
Has it been sporterized?
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