Skins by Aelius

[aelius]

It is unusual for a plane such as Q1+VB to be so elusive as to type. It has been described as an F when those external features that otherwise would identify it as a G are not visible and even then, either as a G-2 or G-3 sub-variant, the latter presumably because the plane was attached to NAGr.1, which was a reconnaissance unit, and the G-3 was configured for that role, having cameras in place of the MG 151 canons.

The confusion is understandable, given that all the pictures derive from a single sequence of photographs, which were taken, one suspects, only because the port engine of Q1+VB happened to catch fire when the cameraman was present. In some, the plane is obscured by smoke but others allow it to be identified as a G-2, most authoritatively by Rosch in Luftwaffe Codes, Markings & Units 1939-1945.

Although there were variations in the transition from the F-type, there are several features that represent the G-2 alone (there was no G-1): the location of the wing pitots and, less obviously, the small air scoop in front of the exhaust pipes; the three circular instrument windows on the engine cowling that were replaced by a single triangular window; and the fairing that surrounded the air inlet on the nose.

What is most apparent, however, is the dual barrel MG 81Z (for zwilling, twin) machine gun in the rear cockpit, which now opened from the side, characteristics that are most evident in this picture. (Note the binoculars around the neck of the observer.)

Modelers typically present the plane in a splinter camouflage pattern, either in gray green (RLM 02) over dark green (RLM 71) or, more correctly, splintered in gray (RLM 75 over RLM 74). I followed the latter scheme, mottling the colors to better replicate the photographs of the time (but also omitting the skeletal fingers on the top of the engine cowlings).

It can be downloaded in its original 2048 x 2048 format here.