Airframes
Benevolens Magister
It's long been a subject of debate as to when the Winerot came into general use. Basically, the Dark Yellow was found to be rather distinctive in certain field conditions, and so crews applied their own schemes in the field - to all armour and other vehicles, not just Tigers. This lead to a varied selection of colours and patterns, mainly a dark green and a brown, similar to RAF Dark Earth. It's virtually certain that, before paints were issued for camouflage, various mixes were made in the field, with different tones of a red brown colour beong made from red and black, plus whatever else could be at hand.
These colours proved to be effective, and eventually were 'standardised' and issued under the names we now know.
At the time of Kursk, and after, and in other theatres too, vehicles could be seen with varying patterns, some with a single colour of stripes or mottle, others with two or more, and a shade of red brown being one of them.
However, even as late as June 1944, vehicles were still arriving at front-line units finished overall in Dark Yellow and, due to lack of time, and / or paints, other means were found to tone-down the colours. The 21st Pz Div in Normandy, for example, smeared mud over some of their newer PzKfw IVs.
These colours proved to be effective, and eventually were 'standardised' and issued under the names we now know.
At the time of Kursk, and after, and in other theatres too, vehicles could be seen with varying patterns, some with a single colour of stripes or mottle, others with two or more, and a shade of red brown being one of them.
However, even as late as June 1944, vehicles were still arriving at front-line units finished overall in Dark Yellow and, due to lack of time, and / or paints, other means were found to tone-down the colours. The 21st Pz Div in Normandy, for example, smeared mud over some of their newer PzKfw IVs.
