Much of the appeal of the Bf-110C-4 is the variety of formulated color schemes. The original camouflage pattern, which was the livery of the aircraft from its introduction until mid-1940, is represented in Cliffs of Dover by the
Haifischgruppe from 6./ZG 76 (ZG76_II, but without the shark's mouth). It is a splinter pattern of black green RLM 70 (
schwarzgrun) over dark green RLM 71 (
dunkelgrun) that extended almost completely down the sides of the fuselage, where it merged with the under-carriage in light blue RLM 65 (
hellblau).
But the contrast between the two darker colors was not sufficiently distinct, and just before the Battle of Britain a new splinter scheme was introduced in which RLM 70 was replaced by gray green RLM 02 (
grau). The demarcation line was raised higher on the fuselage and the sides given a random pattern of blotches in RLM 71 or RLM 02. This is the scheme represented by RLM02_71_65 (hence the name) and ZG26, which has the white nose used at the end of the Battle to provide quicker aircraft recognition. About the same time, a variation was introduced: gray-green (RLM 02) continued to be used on the upper surface, but the light-blue RLM 65 of the under-carriage was extended, without the mottled pattern, up the sides of the fuselage. This scheme is represented by ZG26_III_Stab.
Another type of camouflage appeared during the Battle, however, that is not exemplified in Cliffs of Dover. Instead of green, three shades of gray were used: RLM 74 (
dunkelgrau), RLM 75 (
mittelgrau), and RLM 76 (
lichtgrau) on the underside in a mottled array of more-or-less dense patches. By 1941, these colors were used in a splinter pattern: RLM 74 against a background of RLM 75 on the upper surface, with the same colors mottled on the sides of the fuselage, and RLM 76 on the under-carriage. It is an attractive if somewhat subdued scheme and virtually identical to its green counterpart, although difficult to discern in photographs of the time (at least, on the Bf-110).
An example of this new gray pattern is 2N + AP from 9./ZG 76, which crash landed in Britain on August 16, 1940. Interestingly, the letter "P" has been retained as part of the fuselage code, which properly should have been changed to "T" when the plane was re-designated from 6./ZG 1. Three small wasps (Wespen) decorate the nose.
Although not as flamboyant as Necke's 6./ZG76, this is a satisfying skin, given how relatively few examples of historical types there are from which to work. One first must find a Bf-110C-4, then one that flew in the Battle of Britain and in the color scheme being illustrated. Ideally, there also should be more than a single example so as to allow a proper comparison. It is a process that quickly reduces the number of planes from which to chose, especially since there was only one theater of operations: aerial combat over southeastern England from July through October 1940.
But such a narrow moment need not be a limitation. One can fly a plane in virtually any livery. And, if I don't look down upon the broad, sunlit uplands of the English countryside, I can imagine myself over Russia or the Mediterranean, perhaps next time in a sand-colored Bf-110C-4 that took part in the Libyan campaign.
A link to the 9./ZG 76 is
here.