The Little World

I am not a naturally suspicious man, as anyone who has seen me in the police lineups will attest. I am ready to take anyone at face value…as long as I can pronounce them guilty. This benign attitude even extends to looking at pictures of fighter planes and trying to figure out their colour schemes.

The new ME 109 model is to be a captured plane – and I’ve located Google photos of EB 101 and EB 102 – Messerschmitts in the US as part of assessment testing during WW2.The photos are well done and very clear as far as basic structure goes, but are not in colour. I need other sources for that.

I’ve found a drawing of this plane in colour a tiny thing – that suggests an olive drab upper works with neutral gray underside – and a yellow EB number – perfectly feasible. But the spinner is also portrayed as olive drab and I suspiciously disagree…

The spinner has a shine to it and a lighter colour than the body of the fuselage. it is also lighter than the blue of the national insignia in other pictures taken at the same time. I have found colour pictures taken in Libya of Messerschmitts in German service with red noses…and this one was captured intact in Tripoli.

So I am going to respectfully disagree with the unknown artist and paint my spinner red.