Favorite aircraft paint or camo scheme, or lack thereof

[Timppa]

When i was a kid, we had a Finnish encyclopedia. It had an article about then current military planes. I thought the best ones were with the shiny aluminium finish. I have not changed my opinion.

 

[GrauGeist]

I thought I'd post two of my top-favorite schemes from the "Great War".

Both were highly unusual for their time and were both, oddly enough, on the Albatros and not the more common Pfalz or Fokker.

First one is the Oeffag 153 s/n 53.33 (Austrian built Albatros D.III) of StbsFeldWebel Josef Kiss, Austrian Army Air Service (19 victories), serving with Flik 24 (1917) and later, 55J (1918). What I like about his camo scheme, was the very modern-looking three color scheme of dark-green, light-green and khaki (tan) that would become popular late in WWII and carry over into modern militaries.

The next one is the scheme of Lt. Kurt Monnington, Imperial German Air Service (8 victories), serving with Jasta 15, 1917. His mount was the Albatros D.V (s/n unknown) with a color scheme that was considered borderline "morbid" by his contemporaries due to it's tattered dark-green pattern over a gray base, complete with a skull on both sides. Many other aircraft had the skull or skull crossbones because many of the pilots had been with an Uhlan regiment or related regiments that used the "totenkopf" as their icon.

 

[fastmongrel]

Strange how the RFC and RNAS planes were so restrained with the paint brush compared to everyone else in WWI

 

[T Bolt]

When i was a kid, we had a Finnish encyclopedia. It had an article about then current military planes. I thought the best ones were with the shiny aluminium finish. I have not changed my opinion.

That's just how I'm going to do up the 1/48 scale monogram F-105 I have in my kit stash. Not many Thuds had the natural metal finish.

 

[kettbo]

The Bf 109 in the winter whitewash really shows off the beautiful lines on the aircraft
The light blue-gray overall for the high altitude guys (short lived) and late JG300 109s rocks. I cannot find a color picture except of models

While not what I'd call camouflage, P-51 BIG BEAUTIFUL DOLL is sweetener atop a pile of sugar!

 

[Capt. Vick]

I forgot the Polish one with the shadow pics of WW2 Fighter pilots

You beat me to it amigo!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I have always been a big fan of the Luftwaffe camo schemes. I just love the splotches and in some cases angles.