From: bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
Subject: Re: Why didn't Luftwaffe paint propeller tips?
Date: 11 Jan 93 06:37:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: giraffe.bakc.270.726734228
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

In article <gunnar.726605609@beppe> gunnar@beppe.ericsson.se (Gunnar Forsgren) writes:
>From: gunnar@beppe.ericsson.se (Gunnar Forsgren)
>Subject: Re: Why didn't Luftwaffe paint propeller tips?
>Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 18:53:29 GMT
>cwilliam@bbn.com (Christopher Williams) writes:
>
>>Anybody know?  I've looked at thousands of photos of WWII aircraft, and
>>it appears that the Luftwaffe is the only air force that didn't paint
>>some sort of bright warning color on their propeller tips.

>A German propeller had the functionality of acting as a propeller,
>nothing else. Who saw shark jaws,lightly dressed women or girlfriend's names
>painted on the Luftwaffe avional equipment ?
>
>This is a highly interesting topic which true answer could possible
>shed a new light on why World War II developed as it did.
>Did the fact that the German pilots were not allowed to express
>human feelings on the outside of their aircraft have a positive
>psychological effect on the performance of their aircraft ?
>Or was it possibly the opposite way around ?

	Isn't it true that especially early in the war, Luftwaffe Me109's
had the practice of painting the nose/engine cowlings in usually a bright 
yellow and sometimes in red?   Presumably, this was to aid identification in 
the heat of combat?   In addition, there are numerous photos to proove that
German pilots used to "personalise" their assigned a/c with cartoon figures,
inscriptions of various sorts, squadron badges as well as sortie/victory 
tallies.   Luftwaffe bomber crews seemed to be more restrained, esp those 
with twin engined mounts, although Stuka crews (as an elite force) seem to 
have, on occasion, let their creative powers loose with gusto -- there was 
one Stuka operating in the Med with a *huge* snake image daubed right along 
the fuselage.

	In the RAF things were highly restrained.  A cultural thing?  
Personalised a/c decoration was usually limited to a small squadron badge, 
and/or a brief signwritten inscription -- hardly visible at any distance.  
Maybe an other factor was that although in theory crew were assigned to a
particular a/c, in practice it might have been the case that crews were 
shuffled around between a/c according to circumstances.  Thus a novice crew
might be "bumped" from a/c to a/c whilst those with more experience were 
felt to have "earned" the right to "own" a specific plane.   Squadron 
commanders attitudes too must also have played a deciding role in terms of 
just how far crews could go in decorating their a/c; e.g. only one sqdron
flying P-40 Kittyhawks were "allowed" to paint sharkmouths on their a/c -- 
and that was only after high-level representations.
	Paradoxically before WW2 and afterwards, RAF fighter sqdrons were
noted for their bright and gaudy colour schemes -- esp those in the 
Auxiliary AF. 

	Mention must also be made of the Italian AF -- it seems to have been
very restrained in its use of a/c decoration; as were the Japanese forces 
too.

	Finally -- what of the Red AF?   Based on photo evidence, fitting out
newly completed a/c (presumably not Lend-Lease Airacobras, Hurricanes and 
Spitfires though!) with *huge* patriotic slogans was commonplace. 
Cheers,
Keith Coman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If we pay dogfood salespeople more than we   :  Dept of Management
 do teachers, we should not be surprised if   :  Rhodes University
 our dogs eat like kids, and our kids end     :  Grahamstown, 6140
 up reading like dogs."                       :  Rep of South Africa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military