[cheruskerarmin]

Hi acred99,

just in case you like to make your skins fairly historical here are some facts for you:

- The I./StG3 (former I./StG76) consisted of StabI./StG3,1./StG3, 2./StG3 and 3./StG3.
The assigned codes were S1+?B-H-K-L, (?= individual a/c letter) not S7(wrong profile)! Squadroncolours were white, red and yellow. These appeared on the spinner tipp and the individual a/c letter. The latter was painted on the fuselage and on the upperwings too, between the balkencross and the wingtipp. Many but not all wingsunder letters were painted in the squadroncolour too at this period.
All three squadrons had a squadronbadge, a white forward marching lion in a black shield on a disc background in squadroncolour.
- all balkan campaign stukas were painted yellow on their tail rudders, including the horizontal ones (completely upper).
Original pics with missing markings or emblems are showing
individual replacement aircraft with incomplete paintwork, oftenly due to lack of time for paintworks in the field. These were exceptions, not the rule.


- The extraordinary yellow eastern front tailband displayed on S1+AH was an individual/personal feature as well as the unusual dark a/c letter with white outline. The latter should have been simply white. The blue emblem shield without a disc background is very unusual too. Do you have an original photograph of this a/c? I would like to see this very much but anyway i can say a conclusion there were all a/c of this squadron painted this way is wrong. I know a wrongly recoloured image of several aircraft in flight. I suspect the profile is simply completely wrong - as unfortunately many of such.

- The yellow underwings on your R2 trop of 1./StG3 MTO were a eastern front marking introduced in june 1941 with the start of operation barbarossa. It appears together with a white MTO theatreband here. This could have been the case if an aircraft switched units from the eastern front theatre to the MTO by still retaining the 'old' campaign markings. While the unit only served in the MTO from 1941 to 1943 it is quite unlikely all a/c of a squadron had yellow underwings at any time. If the profile isn't simply wrong it shows an individual aircraft feature.

Yellow undercowlings on stukas weren't standard but a rare exception too.
Being a skinner (good old Il-2 Sturmovik 1946) myself: check the opacitiy/saturation of your right fuse balkencross, the white tailband is shining through.

- It is generally wrong to conclude all stukas in the desert were painted completely
in desert colours. In contrast to widespread believe the opposite is true, they were all
delivered in the standard RLM70/71/65 ETO factory splinter scheme and if there was
any repainting in the field then it was an individual one. Well examples are the early desert stukas of II./StG2 or 3./StG1. Some patterns/blotches of desert colours (at first Italian gallico mimetico, later when available RLM 79). were simply
painted over the splinter scheme to achieve a better camouflage. The dark colours of the
RLM70/71 faded rapidly under desert war conditions, therefore original pics are
often misjudged here. There isn’t a single proof until today any batch of stukas was delivered completely painted in RLM 79 or repainted completely so in the field.
This applies to all stukas in the MTO until the end of 1943.
Are you sure with the completely black spinner of A5+MK? The profile is bad, the
Individual a/c letter is black instead of red. In my opinion the spinner should have been either painted in desert colour or/and with a red tipp. You are relying too much on a single (bad) profile.

- the profile of A5+AH, which was the squadronleader’s aircraft of 1./StG1, is much
better, even if it displays the RLM splinter colours not correctly. The location in lybia
must be corrected to Bir Dufan.

- From 1940 onwards the wing upper a/c letters were placed to the outside of the wings upper crosses, meaning between the crosses and the wing tipps.
The norway campaign started in april 1940, check the wrong time period of Paul Hozzel’s aircraft. The fuselage markings are clearly indicating 1940.

The diving raven emblem of I./StG1 was outlined in squadroncolour during 1939 and 1940.

- Your skin of FT+AR is wrong, it must be F1+AM – like you did well on the rest of
the squadron. A good example how original pics are the better way to go –
no white spinner tipp at the period. Many profiles are wrong here.
The location must be corrected to Sebastopol or Sewastopol.
A complete Staffel or Squadron of Luftwaffe stukas usually consisted of twelve aircraft. Individual aircraft letters therefore were ranging up to L,M,N or P.
In exceptional cases up to Z. Such an exception isn’t known from III./StG77 in
1941.
Servicable strength was oftenly below twelve aircraft, there were always
some in repair or replacements to wait for.

Hope this helps – a general advice from me: Never rely on a single source
alone – there are many wrong ones. This applies especially on profiles and recoloured images!
Always go for original pics. There are many well Luftwaffe forums in the web
to get free help from. Asisbiz is a good source for original pics – the pic comments
are oftenly wrong as well as the unit histories. They are taken oftenly from doubtful sources like Mr. Holm’s ww2.dk which unfortunately is full of errors.

This all is only important if you like to call your skins historical…
If not, just forget it all…

All the best