A Dewoitine D.520 under Italian flag - From the Azur kit in 1:32 (1 Viewer)

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I have in facts a number of B.W. pictures of Italian birds but the camou seems to be all times different.

According to sp�cifications of the Air Ministry : there should not be two aircraft with the same camo.

Four colors:

Uppersurface
- kaki
- Gris bleu fonce
- Brun mat
the GBF and BM was sprayed over Kaki, and soft edge.

lower surface
- gris bleu clair (underside and wheel well)
 
According to sp�cifications of the Air Ministry : there should not be two aircraft with the same camo.

Four colors:

Uppersurface
- kaki
- Gris bleu fonce
- Brun mat
the GBF and BM was sprayed over Kaki, and soft edge.

lower surface
- gris bleu clair (underside and wheel well)

Many thanks for your precious information.
Alberto
 
Alberto , I think the image may show the same D.520. Not sure but the shape of spots at the starboard look similar to the "6" you posted above. Also the number seen at the tail looks like the 510.

D520-36-Italianf.jpg


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254469.jpg



Also not sure but propably it can be the same machine...

d520italianf.jpg
 
By the way I started the painting job with fin&rudder in grey and yellow cowl.

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Some more underside colour is needed on the right side of the fuselage then I can go with kaki.
Any comment/suggestion is very welcome as always.
Alberto
 
Doing well Alberto. However I'm still not sure there was the yellow on the plane applied.
Neither I'm sure myself but it is likely to be correct so I decided to go this way. One of the main reasons to support my decision is that in 1943 all Axis fighter were requested to have yellow underside cowling.
Alberto
 

As I said, I'm not 100% sure that my decision is correct, but I take the risk, being ready to accept any comment that will help understanding the historical truth.

I also have an other doubt, concerning tail planes.
Period photos of my subject shows that the upper surfaces either were never given the Vichy red yellow over-paint, as seen here:
D-520 Vichy bande color.jpg

or the Italian ground people repainted them to restore camouflage.
But my question concern lower surface of tail plane.
If the Vichy identification stripes were applied according most of the pictures I've seen so far, they should be more-less like in this profile:
Vichy 6.jpg

so also on the final part of the fuselage under the tail planes.
But, again, this doesn't appear to be the case in my subject.
Therefore my question is: in your opinion, lower surface of tail-planes should be painted grey, similarly to the tail or should be left in the original blue-grey colour?
Thanks in advance
Alberto
 
The yellow colour appeared on the D.520 tails in Syria 1941. The yellow was applied overall the tail. ALso it should have been applied on noses of planes. However it seems that yellow noses were an exception.

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D.520C-1+4.jpg


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The Vichy marking was the "development" of the idea. But also there were exceptions. Noses were painted yellow with red strips either entirely or partially or without of the red strips. In the same way were painted tails what can be seen in pictures. So.. to answer your question ... in my opinion these tails were pinted with yellow-red stripes overall in general. It seems that the horizontal stabilizers and elevators were always painted overall. But there could have been exceptions.

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D520FinTB2.jpg


D520-15f.jpg


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fighter-dewoitine_d520-16.jpg
 
Last edited:
Very, very interesting, thank-you very much!!!

So, as the best pictures of "my" plane where wings and tail planes are visible is this one and the one posted a bit further down

6 rosso 3.jpg


I think that Italian ground-crew repainted upper surface to cover yellow-red stripes trying to obtain a camou effect. Which colour did they used? Big, big question mark! Hopefully they used French paint, most likely similar Italian ones. I will tale the risk to use same colours as in the rest of the upper surfaces.
About fin and rudder it seems acceptable that they were repainted in grey.
Then the two hottest matter: tail-plane under-surface and fuselage tail.
I will take for good the assumption that tail-plane under-surface were painted with yellow-red stripes, because this was the mandatory condition to avoid to be shot-down by German flak, therefore these parts should have been repainted grey by Italians and I will do the same.
I already painted the tail in the standard blue-grey and I will keep them as they are, because this is what appear on period photos and because latest pictures posted by Wurger show that this is an actual possibility.
6 rosso.jpg


By the way, today I was busy with many other things, including two grandchildren (five an two year old) arriving in sequence to my home, but tomorrow and in the week-end I should have some free time to grab my airbrush in my hands so there is still some time for more very welcome contributions.
Alberto
 
The main question is if the D.520 Nr.510 was wearing the Vichy markings at all.


Probably we will never have a definitive answer to your question. we can only try to get to a conclusion using some logics.
- Research done by Riccardo Trotta (see his article published by Stormo Magazine already mentioned above) reported the following:

" In 1941 .....the Armistice Committee .... issued the directive numbered 1/2508 that stated:

· The abolition of the fuselage stripes;

· The application on the wings of tricolor bands 0.30m width, 30° inclined with respect to the airplane axis, that diverge from the axis in the rear part.

Aircraft devoid of these markings were forbidden to fly from January 18th 1942; these measures, first limited to Tunisia, were extended to all areas of operations starting from February 6th 1942. However, the most interesting disposition concerning our subject is the one following the Free French zone of occupation, as a consequence of the Allied landing in North Africa on November 7th 1942, when the Vichy French airforce ceased to exist. Nevertheless the Axis partners were interested in recovering French aircraft, so such aircraft had to fly from French territory without risk of being mistaken for enemy aircraft. The Circular coded 549C/CAT dated November 14th stated that "only those aircraft that have around the wings and the fuselage white bands 0.50m width and the lower part of the nose or of the engines in bright yellow are authorized to fly".


Italian recovery party only brought in Italy aircraft in flying conditions so it is very unlikely that our subject, that become an operational machine, was not sporting Vichy markings.

By the way, if we look at available photos, this one indisputably concerns "RED 6"
6 rosso dett.jpg


On this one the number on the white band seems to be a SIX as well:
6 rosso.jpg

but it could also be a FIVE.
In any case the above pictures shows two different sides of the plane.

The third picture available shows the right side again
D520Italiang_zps1318718d.jpg


Camouflage is very similar, if not identical, but there are no call numbers on the white fuselage band.
The over-painting on the cowling is evident and it's also evident that the upper portion is darker.
Unfortunately fin and rudder are outside the picture.

It doesn't means too much, but for my curiosity I tried a little exercise.

I first took two different shades of grey and put them on a single picture together with the same dark grey and a yellow colour (FS 36473 doesn't refers to yellow)
grigio giallo.jpg


Then I converted the picture to grey-scale:

grigio giallo bn.jpg


The difference is evident.

Anyway, a very nice discussion on a very interesting subject.
Many thanks for your contribution.
Alberto
 

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