Luftwaffe units in Normandy

[PR19_Kit]

I know naff all about the Luftwaffe in WWII really, so can anyone tell me where to find which PR units they had in the Normandy area around D-Day please? And what markings they'd have used, I guess on the Fw 189s, which seemed to be the normal tactical recce type they used around then?

It's a bit of a daft question as having applied the markings to my Bv148 I'll paint over them as it'll be modelled after the Allies had captured it, but I'd like to look vaguely plausible.

WHAT AM I SAYING!    I'm modelling an aircraft that's a zillion feet long with it's prop in the middle and I'm worried about it being PLAUSIBLE?!     

[The Wooksta!]

Away from my references, but if it was me doing it, I'd start with a Ju 88 unit and a Ju 88T.

These may be helpful.

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2023/05/02/history-of-mistake/
https://www.super-hobby.com/zdjecia/4/7/1/39697_rd.png
https://www.lfmodels.com/images/korasets/Ju%20005.jpg
https://www.mustang-hobbies.com/v/vspfiles/photos/TAL-7215-2.jpg?v-cache=1675874351

[perttime]

The ones with a dark web on topside look pretty cool: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235082243-172-hasegawa-junkers-ju-88-t-3/

[Dizzyfugu]

Some units that operated He 177s for maritime opertations over the Atlantic wre also based in Western/Northern France. These typically had - similar to the RAF Coastal Command - light blue undersides with high waterlines, sometimes with light grey "clouds" added to lighten them up even more. Upper surfaces were quite standard RLM 70/71. Another frequent addition were wavy patterns with RLM02 on top of that. There is a lot of freedom for individual camouflage, though, esp. concerning recce aircraft. One of my Germanized Ki-46s reflects such a land-based aircraft from the D-Day period, including the "light clouds" and individual wriggles over a worn standard RLM 74/75/76 camouflage.


1:72 Gotha Go 146 B-1 (license-built Ki-46 III 'Dinah'); aircraft 'P3+KN' of II(F)/FAG 104 (5. Staffel, 2. Gruppe, Fernaufklärergruppe 104), Deutsche Luftwaffe; Biblis (Hessia, near Mannheim), late 1944 (Whif/ARII kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


BTW, a unit code would be the standard xx+yz pattern, with xx denoting the unit, y (in a special color to mark the squadron) the individual aircraft and z as control letter, based on unit and squadron. Better overpaint that, because puzzling together an authentic code is really tough.

My Do 217 from last year is a typical (and simple) example for a German aircraft operated over the Atlantic from France, together with a plausible (yet unusual) code of a staff flight aircraft:


1:72 Dornier Do 217 F-0; aircraft "1A+BA" of the Deutsche Luftwaffe, Erprobungskommando (EKdo) 104 "Münchhausen" (assigned to KG 40 1. Gruppe beim Stab ); Bordeaux/Merignac (Western France), summer 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[The Wooksta!]

Most oddball prototype recce aircraft flew with the Versuchsband ObdL at one point or another, so I'd find one of their aircraft and mirror the code.

[PR19_Kit]

BTW, a unit code would be the standard xx+yz pattern, with xx denoting the unit, y (in a special color to mark the squadron) the individual aircraft and z as control letter, based on unit and squadron. Better overpaint that, because puzzling together an authentic code is really tough.

My Do 217 from last year is a typical (and simple) example for a German aircraft operated over the Atlantic from France, together with a plausible (yet unusual) code of a staff flight aircraft:


1:72 Dornier Do 217 F-0; aircraft "1A+BA" of the Deutsche Luftwaffe, Erprobungskommando (EKdo) 104 "Münchhausen" (assigned to KG 40 1. Gruppe beim Stab ); Bordeaux/Merignac (Western France), summer 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Your Dornier looks pretty much what I had in mind for the colour scheme Thomas, and I take in your comments about the codes, it's a minefield! RAF squadron codes were simplistic in comparison.

[The Wooksta!]

Or you could swerve the whole issue by painting it in RAF colours and have it with the captured enemy aircraft flight.

Whatever you choose, if it's 1944 then your interior cockpit should be in RLM 66 (02 for cockpits being discontinued in 1942) and the first chunk of your code should be smaller letters/numbers, roughly the same size as RAF 8in serials.

[PR19_Kit]

RLM 66? Heavens, it never ends, but there's a good chance it'll be matt once I've found the correct shade.

Code sizes are the least of my problems as they'll be coming off my printer of course, but I didn't know that, so thanks for the tip. 

[The Wooksta!]

A flip through vol 3 of the Kookaburra Luftwaffe camouflage and markings gives a profile of a Ju 88T operating in France 1944.

You cannot view this attachment.

Code is T9+FH

Supposedly the colours are RLM 74 on top with an RLM 21 squiggle pattern and RLM 65 underneath.  Could lock spectacularly good.

[perttime]

Looks like there were at least two very different versions of RLM 66: 1939 and 1941

[PR19_Kit]

Looks like there were at least two very different versions of RLM 66: 1939 and 1941

Terrific, that's ALL I need! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Supposedly the colours are RLM 74 on top with an RLM 21 squiggle pattern and RLM 65 underneath.  Could lock spectacularly good.

Looks like an improvised winter pattern? Uniform RLM 74 was rare, but AFAIK carried by some late-war recce aircraft like Ju 188s; the lighter RLM 75 was used, too. The RLM 65 undernath is rather untypical for the period, but He 177s operated over the Atlantic were painted in the brighter light-blue tone for a very long time, when elsewhere the more subdued RLM 76 was already standard.

[The Wooksta!]

Well, the book was written in the 70s and Erich Sommer lived well into the 1980s, so it's possible, but my own gut says it's come from the factory in a 70/71/65 scheme and then been overpainted.  Late war Luftwaffe is such a minefield it's so much easier to just make it up.  They did.

[PR19_Kit]

I just KNEW this question would descend into posts that consist solely of numbers. 

'How can tell a Luftwaffe modeller at a show or convention?'

'They only speak in RLM numbers!' 

[Gondor]

Hope this helps Kit



And if you are using Hataka paints, they do it as well. Their Blue range has it listed as HTK-B040

Gondor