Reserved for further info....
Bf109F-4 (Trop?) Hptm. Horst Carganico Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG 5 , Petsamo July-August 1942.
This aircraft was most likely a Bf109F-4 Trop destined for the Mediterranean Theatre judging from it's original mid demarcation RLM 79/78 desert finish, before being reassigned to it's new Northern surroundings where additional camouflage and markings were added.
This Bf109F-4 is unique in that it has the older BF109E Rounded style Canopy fitted rather than the Squared frame Canopy introduced on the Bf109E-4 and universally used on the Bf109F series aircraft.
Camouflage on this aircraft has been discussed as being 70/79 over 78, 70/75/79 over 78 and alternatively in 74/75 Greys over 78. I discount this last option as the contrast between the 2 fuselage colours is too great to be the 75/75 Greys.
A number of aircraft shipped to JG 5 were delivered in the Original Desert Scheme and it has been determined that further camouflage was added, these colours were RLM70 and 75 and were applied in large segments over the 79/78 colours
After careful study of photo's of Carganico's aircraft it certainly appears to have RLM70 applied to the Upper fuselage and quite possible that RLM75 could be applied to the wings.
In a side 10 o'clock shot of this aircraft the dark pattern of RLM 70 is clearly obvious on the fuselage over the original RLM79 scheme.
A shot from the rear 7 o'clock position shows a more subdued colour of the wings and similarly along the upper fuselage as you look forward, leading one to believe the colours may be the same.
However the darker colour of the upper portion of the air intake compared to the wing would clearly demonstrate that there are more likely 2 colours in use.
The Bf109F-4, Yellow 10 of Hans Dobrich clearly has 2 additional colours applied over the original 79 Desert Scheme, these colours have been defined as RLM70 Black Green and RLM75 Medium Grey respectively.
The available images of both Carganico's and Dobrich's aircraft when studied alongside each other seem to show a distinct similarity in tonal values for the 70/75/78 colour combination being applied to both aircraft.
Additionally the rudder of this aircraft has been noted as being painted Light Grey or Yellow. It is certainly light in tone and could be either, I will run with Yellow in this instance as the wing tips were painted in this recognition colour and likely the lower nose, so it is possible this colour was used here also.
My reasoning for a Yellow rudder is if you are spraying this colour as a recognition marking on various locations of the airframe, why change to another neutral colour during the process….
It is also possible in the side shot that the rudder is tilted slightly to the left/port in the side photo reflecting sun and making the rudder look lighter in appearance than it actually was.
The rudder carried 50 white Victory Bars edged in Black and within each bar the nationality of each claim can be seen in the form of a British Roundel or Russian Star.
Carganico force landed this aircraft on the 12th August 1942, after sustaining damage in combat.
It was recovered in 1980, been restored and it is currently on display in Canada.
However I will point out that some of the paint work is not quite accurate to the original aircraft, the RLM70 Green painting on the wings does not match what can be seen in one Primary photo (if it in fact is Green?) and the fuselage Green is slightly different also.
The Yellow recognition paint under the wings should also extend inboard to the national insignia.