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Corrections for H.Morgan's Osprey Vol.#15 Color Plates

  1. "White 50" is in fact finished in the usual AII Black over AII Green 1941 pattren scheme.
  2. Maj. Biskup's "Number 102" is finished in an AII Black over Green livery, as well. The tactical numeral "102" loooks to be in yellow, but certainly Blue-Green Primer (MUP) is also possible. It certainly does not seem to correspond to white.
  3. Lt.Redko's "White 10" looks to wear a solid coat of AII Green. It very probably has Circle-type Stars on the wing upper surfaces, as did many other machines from the 78 IAP, Baltic Sea Fleet, at this time. Also of interest is the undersurface color, which might well be Aluminum instead of Blue.
  4. Cpt. Solovyov's "White 24" is finished in AII Black over AII Green.
  5. The "Za Stalina" logo for Safanov's famous Type 18 "White 11" was likely completed in yellow with a white exclamation point (on the photo, a difference in color tone is quite clear between the letters and the exclamation). The upper wing surfaces have plain red stars. Upper surfaces have a solid AII Green finish.
  6. "White 13" also has plain red stars on the upper wing surface. The finish is hard to determine from most of the photos available of this machine, and while it is likely to be AII Green, Zavod 1 Factory Green cannot be rules out.
  7. SLt. Lomakin's "White 16" was originally finished at the factory in an AII Green single-color scheme. Areas of applique AII Black were then added in the field. The tactical numeral "16" has a thin red outline, and the rudder was a very dirty white shade. The strange and bloated Victory Star on the tail was hand painted by the Defense of Leningrad Museum staff, and was not present on the machine during its operational career.
  8. The camouflage on Vasiliev's "White 28" is mysterious. The aircraft looks to have started life as a single-color AII Green job. Thereafter, areas of Black were applied, and some observers see a third color acting as a border to this, perhaps in AII Light Brown.
  9. Pokrishkin's "White 5" might well have been a MiG-1; certainly it was a very early MiG. As such, it would not be carrying underwing ShKAS guns, as illustrated, and Pokrishkin makes no mention of this fact. The spinner color is purely speculative, but yellow is a fair guess. AII Green upper surfaces are likely.
  10. The scheme for "White 67" was taken from the AJ Press volume, "Stalinist Falcons". In this book it sometimes appears as the unlikely scheme of green and some kind of brown. The problem is related to the book's color reproduction, and the artist intended to show AII Black over Green, which is correct.
  11. Cpt. Polyakov's "White 04" is finished in a typical AII Black over AII Green scheme, and the wing upper surfaces most unusually carry plain red stars, positioned well outboard. The fuselage stars are unusually large, as well.
  12. The white finish of Cpt. Shlopov's "Black 7" was extremely worn and weathered, not pristine as shown here.
  13. "White 76" wore a Black over Green scheme (probably AII lacquer). The spinner color is speculative, and may well have been yellow. As well, this machine was also photographed wearing white MK-7 applied on the fuselage in a winter livery.
  14. Grigorev's "Yellow 6" was finished in a Black over Green, and given the timing it could be AII or AMT finishes. The fuselage and tail stars did carry a small black outline, as shown.
  15. Cpt. Lvov's famous "Red 30" was unfortunately rendered by this particular artist. The machine's temperate Black over Green camouflage on the nose and lower fuselage is completely exposed, with heavily worn patches of white MK-7 color remaining on the upper fuselage, tail, and wings. The rudder is a crudely hand-painted yellow color, and the fuselage star has a small black outline.
  16. Yuri Shipov's well photographed late series LaGG-3 "White 43". The scheme carried by this aircraft was the standard later war scheme of AMT-12 over AMT-11. The spinner's color is matter of debate, and might be white or yellow. The tail striping has remained a matter of extended debate also, but some new evidence seems to indicate that it may well be white, not yellow, and the background color of the 'heart' motif is thought to be red.
  17. The scheme here for Grigori Kostlyev's "White 15" is based on a photograph of this machine in the Defense of Leningrad Museum. In that photo, the aircraft is finished in what appears to be Zavod 1 Factory Green (though, how this Moscow finish would end up in Leningrad is beyond me), or just possibly in AMT-12, has a yellow spinner and rudder, and Yellow-bordered national stars (not 'Victory' stars, as illustrated). However, it is unknown if "White 15" ever wore this scheme in service, and more probably carried a single-color scheme of solid AMT-11 on the upper surfaces.
  18. "White 75" wore an AMT-6 over AMT-4 scheme, and is profiled in our Valeri Chkalov article.
  19. One of Kozhedub's numerous Lavochkin fighters that carried the tactical number "White 14". This illustration seems somewhat 'generalized', and does not specifically represent any of his La-5FNs so numbered. The closest machine to this drawing would be his "White 14" from the Winter/Spring of 1943-44, 240 IAP. This machine carried the famous "Ot Kolkhoznika Konyeva" (white lettering with border/trim) inscription on the starboard side (and perhaps the port, as well), featured Victory Stars of the fuselage and tail (mid-placement), and had a white spinner. The finish was the typical AMT-11 winter scheme.
  20. Cpt. Likholetov's "White 15" was finished in the standard later war scheme of AMT-12 over AMT-11. The inscription "Za Vas'ka i Zhoru" was rendered in white characters with a very thin red outline (not yellow, as drawn), and the tactical numeral "15" featured a thin black or red outline, as shown. The fuselage star is a standard White-bordered type, though the star on the fin is a Victory Star as shown. The spinner is white.
  21. "White 93", if we are to believe the date, would be too early to wear a two-tone grey scheme. I suspect the timing here is probably in 1944; if it were photographed at Kursk in 1943, it would be finished in AMT-6/-4.
  22. This illustration shows Popkov's La-5FN "01". In the Winter of 1943-44 "Yellow 01" was finished originally in a solid AMT-11 livery, then was subsequently completed in the typical temperate two-color livery with AMT-12 over that. The stars on the fuselage and tail were yellow-bordered types, and the twin bands were done in white. The spinner at this time might still have been dark blue (it was this color originally), and the fin/rudder might not yet have had a white 'tab' on the tip. Popkov did indeed later fly another La-5FN numbered "01", but no useful photograph exists of this machine.
  23. Kozhedub's famous La-7 "White 27" probably never wore a two-tone scheme as depicted here, and in fact was painted AMT-11 on all upper surfaces. Some photos purport to show a two-color scheme, but the view is always limited to a small area of discoloration under the cockpit; a wider view will be necessary to establish such coloration. The white outline of the red triangle section is much too thick and pronounced. The the 'wreath' under the two HSU markings was in fact a single-leaf drawing with a stem. The spinner is alleged to have been both white and red in various accounts, and so might possibly appeared in both colors from time to time.
  24. Dolgyushin's "White 93" was finished in AMT-11, and later the spinner was re-painted a dark 'orangey' yellow when he took command of the 10 GIAD in 1945.
  25. The tail stripes on "White 23" are of indeterminate coloration, and could be white or yellow.
  26. The spinner on Baranov's "White 1" was thought to be dark blue, or perhaps black.
  27. The color demarcation lines between the Black and Dark Olive on "White 50" were somewhat soft, and not as hard-edged as shown here.
  28. Litvak's "Yellow 44" carried a Black spinner.
  29. "White 58" was finished in the AMT-11, and carried Victory Stars in all locations, including wing undersurfaces.
  30. Reshetov's Yak-1 was finished in an AMT-6/-4 scheme.
  31. None.
  32. None.
  33. Pokrishev's Yak-7B M-105PA was in fact "White 33", not yellow. The small victory marking stars were finished in white and yellow (top 2 and bottom rows in yellow). The scheme was AII Black over AII Green.
  34. Grib's Yak-9D number "22" is a source of endless speculation amongst VVS historians. I am still not certain if the numeral is white or yellow; still-frames like this one seem to show white color, while if you watch the film (from which it comes) it gives the impression of yellow.
  35. Basically correct, and an AMT-12/-11 scheme here.
  36. Zakharov's Yak-3 carried a small white tactical numeral "1" aft of the fuselage star, which was a White-bordered type marking, as were those on the tail and wing undersurface. The 'shield' background to the mounted figure was red, and the demarcation lines between the upper grey colors were soft, and somewhat differently shaped than those shown. The upper and lower color demarcation was different than the illustration's, being higher up and more irregular. The spinner carried a red star feature (w/white trim) on the tip.
  37. "White 5" was finished in the usual AMT-12/-11 scheme, but the AMT-12 color appears to have been painted ex-factory (meaning that it probably started as a single-color AMT-11 job), and was rather 'messy'.
  38. Rekhalov's "White RGA" featured Victory Stars on the fuselage and wing undersurfaces.
  39. Basically correct, "Yellow 16" is now thought to have been finished in RAF Olive/Dark Sea Grey colors.
  40. "White 23" had baked in the Desert for 6 months before being handed over to the VVS, and when accepted by the 436 IAP the upper scheme was a dirty, washed-out Olive over faded Brown.