The earlier screenshots of T6+MP and T6+CP were skinned in standard tropical livery: RLM 79 (
Sandgelb) mottled in RLM 80 (
Olivgrün), with the undercarriage in RLM 78 (
Hellblau). These were the desert camouflage colors of the
Luftwaffe in North Africa but, while the scheme does make for a satisfying plane, they are not accurate for the one thought to have been flown by
Leutnant Pölz.
The
Luftwaffe had not envisaged operations in the Mediterranean and so had made no provision for a tropicalized version of its aircraft. As a result, the first Stukas to be deployed in North Africa retained their original European camouflage: a splinter pattern of RLM 70 (
Schwarzgrün) over a dark green background of RLM 71 (
Dunkelgrün), with RLM 65 (
Hellblau) on the undercarriage. The German Air Ministry (
Reichsluftfahrtministerium) would not officially select the specific shades of RLM 78 and 79 until late 1941 or early 1942, although they were being issued by late April 1941, less than two months after the first planes were transferred to Libya. In
Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings 1933-1945, Merrick contends that these planes retained their European scheme until they could be repainted at the factory and that, since it was not practical to paint them in the desert, they must have been serviced at depots in Sicily and Italy. Urbanke disagrees and argues that, with airfields being shared with the Italians, it was more likely that their own camouflage colors were used and applied in the field.
When the Ju-87 of Lt. Pölz was repainted in the summer of 1941, the undersides of the plane probably remained in RLM 65 and the upper surfaces sprayed in
Giallo Mimetico ("camouflage yellow"). There were four shades of this color, each designated by a number and supplied to the
Regia Aeronautica by four different manufacturers. The precise shade is therefore uncertain, but in skinning the plane, I've used the darker
Gaillo Mimetico 4 splattered with
Gaillo Mimetico 3, a color lighter than "sand yellow" RLM 79. Because it was applied directly over the European scheme, one still can discern the original green splinter pattern of the sections that were not oversprayed.
The white and red snake, too, did not look as it usually is profiled, which is reasonable, given that such a gaudy creature hardly would have enhanced the camouflage of the plane.
This color scheme is discussed by Axel Urbanke in an article that appeared in 2005, "The 'Snake' Stukas of Sturzkampf Geschwader," published in
Luftwaffe im Focus, Edition No. 7. The first photograph of the plane (above) had shown only its front, and for the next thirty years the overall appearance would be the speculation of profilers and modelers. (The picture referred to by Urbanke has been taken from
Die Deutsche Luftwaffe im Afrika-Feldzug 1941-1943 by Held and Obermaier, which is available in an English edition as
The Luftwaffe in the North African Campaign 1941-1943).
In one of the photographs, which were published by Urbanke for the first time, the plane is clearly shown to have the unit code T6+DP (and not "C" as supposed by Obermaier). And the snake, rather than having been painted in red and white, to have sand-colored markings. But Urbanke also suggests that the trailing half of the tail rudder was painted in the same RLM 65 light blue as the undercarriage (as can be seen in the upper photograph). It seems more likely, however, that the difference in shading is due simply to the shadow cast by the rudder having been slightly turned. (The "J" under the port wing, by the way, is the manufacturer's code.)
Here, then, is T6+DP of 6./St.G 2 based on a modification of the color profile by Egbert Friedl that accompanied the article. The markings have been redrawn from photographs, the trailing blue edge of the rudder omitted, and the inside of the wheel spats camouflaged. The result, I think, is the most accurate historical rendering of the
Schlange Stuka to date.
Although identified by Obermaier and by others later as an R-2 sub-variant, the plane in the photographs does not have drop tanks and seems instead to be a B model, as indicated by Urbanke.