French WWII aircraft colors

[flypaper2222]

I have been chasing this dragon since the 1970's. I have reams of notes, color chips, and photos. But what I will post here are the colors directly from their color chip book. But, the mixing of the colors was left to what paints were available at the maintenance level. In1939 all front line aircraft where to be painted overall in Khaki undersides remained from the original color. Later dark gray and dark brown were added to the khaki finish. I'm going out on a limb here as to when green was added, but I have read that green did not appear on any D-520 until built AFTER the armistice. The myth that there was no rime or reason behind aircraft camo patterns. The truth is many builders kept to a certain "style", a good example is the Morane 406 where 3 manufacturers each had their own approach. Sorry to ramble.......

 

[DDonSS3]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.
It might be worth comparing the chart here to your originals:

AIRCRAFT COLOUR CHARTS

The French colors/colours are CC010. I've got a set, but can't get to mine at the moment.

 

[flypaper2222]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.
It might be worth comparing the chart here to your originals:

AIRCRAFT COLOUR CHARTS

The French colors/colours are CC010. I've got a set, but can't get to mine at the moment.

Funny you should mention them I have several which I purchased years ago From MSAP of Quebec Canada. And one of them is the French chart. I have a good part of the selection but strangely missing the one on USAAC Europe, probably because the hobby shop I used had sold out of them or I didnt know that made that chart. I have been doing a deep dive into what paints I have that closely match the new information I have for the closest matches for a D-520. I don't think there are any perfect matches out their mainly because the French themselves made it impossible. They had the color chart book but left it up to group to mix what paints they had to match the colors in the book. Things may have settled down after the Armistice but with the country split in 2 producing camo paint to a pre war color book wouldnt be very high on the list.
As for the color chart you mentioned Kaki, Ombre Calcinee, Gris Bleu Fonce, all look good to my eye. I mentioned in another post that the D-520 did not have green until aircraft produced AFTER the armistice so aircraft production numbers would come into play. And to make thins

 

[fubar57]

Good stuff