Richard Goyat on Fw 190 colours 74/75/76

The classic Luftwaffe fighter colours, Farbton 74 Graugrün, Farbton 75 Grauviolett and Farbton 76 Lichtblau.. Courtesy of Richard Goyat, herewith some photos of wreckage belonging to a Fw 190 retrieved from a 'dig' that took place a few years ago at Semallé, (Orne, Basse Normandie) France. The location suggests that this was an aircraft possibly of JG 1 dating from August 1944. Click on the images for a closer view.

View of the lower wing surface -  no surprises here, RLM 76

Below; a view of the horizontal stabiliser. Note the bright red of the dotted stencil markings - an indication that the colours on this piece appear not to have undergone any sort of 'shift' and therefore must be pretty close to the colours as applied during the operational career of this machine. The 'darker' colour is either a 'grey-green' or 'green-grey' 74, almost certainly the Graugrün variation of '74'. The shade appears overwhelmingly 'green'. Richard makes the point that this '74' as applied to the Fw 190 differs from the typical '74' seen on a Bf 109 cowling part which has a distinctive 'grey-blue' cast.

The lighter grey colour corresponds to the typical '75', although very thinly sprayed and revealing an undercoat of  RLM 02 which appears to have given the part a tint of what is described as 'violet' - the classic Grauviolett perhaps. Again this tint is more marked on the Fw 190 than that seen on the Bf 109.

Note that these parts have been wiped over with a dampish rag to achieve a certain 'lustre' and that when dry the colours appear much more 'matt' and 'dull' in tone and that the differences in 'shade' and 'tint' are much less marked.