Russki Repaints - Cammo of the VVS before 1944
The best resource I've been able to find is:
http://www.redbanner.co.uk/History/i...louration.html
The Soviets used a very substantial number of paints during the GPW, and pre-War, years. This is similar to the behaviour of other nations, and should come really as no surprise. The primary aviation lacquer system in use at the outbreak of War was the "AII" (also written "A2") variety finishes. These are notable for being rather quite bright; most Western observers think that they are 'gaudy' looking. Some earlier finishes of the "A", "AEh", and "AE" systems also remained, but they were not the most common.
At the start of 1942 some limited use was made of a new type of lacquer called "AMT". It took a while for these new paints to come into wide-spread use, and they were not common until the summer of 1942. Even so, AII was still used quite widely at many aero factories, especially on bombers, until after the War. For many reasons, AMT paint was used much more widely on fighter aviation than on larger aircraft, like bombers, transports, recce, etc. The first AMT paints were simply replacements for the same AII shades (i.e. green, black, blue, etc), even using the same pigments in their manufacture. Later, in late 1943, new grey AMT colours came into use and supplanted the original AMT colours on fighter aircraft.The VVS was at the forefront of much thinking in aviation camouflage, from well back into the 1920s. In the pre-War era the there were many advanced ideas, such as "sky" camouflage and "ground" camouflage. In other words, many fighters wore colouration seen to be inconspicuous in the air, such as aluminium and grey lacquers, while bombers and such like wore colours suitable for operation near the ground. This kind of dichotomy in thinking stayed with the VVS through the GPW, and actually persists still to this day.
In the pre-GPW era, some aircraft were manufactured with a single-colour upper surface livery (often green, with blue unders). This kind of finish was not considered to be camouflage by the VVS, only a military finish suitable for covering the airframe (during peacetime camouflage was not seen to be required). For these "non-camouflage" schemes, AII green was typical, but also AEh-15 was used in this way. When, in 1940, the government instructed that all aircraft would be camouflaged, most of these examples were modified with appliqué, many using the ubiquitous AII Black paint. Some numbers of I-16s did carry on in this outdated way, and so too did some MiG fighters, and so this appearance has become a bit apocryphal in Western literature. However, in the main, this non-camouflage appearance was no longer seen after 1940 (and was against regulations, as well); aircraft like the La-5 or Yak fighters obviously never appeared like this.
The most common colouration for fighters at the outbreak of the GPW in the VVS was a two-colour disruptive pattern of black over green, and blue undersurfaces. A dark green paint was also used occasionally in lieu of black, but the former was by far more common. This combination remained the same with the introduction of AMT lacquers, except that the AMT system had no dark green colour (leaving only black). This is precisely how fighter camouflage remained until the end of 1943, even if the patterns and style of application changed quite a bit.
There were many specific patterns of application for these finishes, many of which are probably still unknown. The manner and style of application were highly individualistic. These would depend mostly upon the specific factory manufacturing the aircraft, and the time-frame in question, but could also depend upon the preferences of individual workers and even random fancy. What is most important to bear in mind is the factory, in which one can usually see a certain range of somewhat agreed methods for many pattern applications. Equally, the type of aviation lacquer in use was often decided per factory in many cases.
Freshly painted:Just prior to the GPW the Soviet materials industry produced an aviation finish known as MK-7 White. This paint was developed with the idea in mind that it could be easily applied over existing camouflage, and then subsequently removed. It was also considered to be essential that the paint be safe to handle for various ground crew personnel, that it be workable under severely cold temperatures and, obviously, that it not be overly expensive to manufacture. In its initial formulation, MK-7 was soluble in both water and kerosene, with the latter recommended only under very low temperature conditions. However, and remarkably for the Soviet aviation industry, this finish was not really tested in any systematic way prior to the GPW. It was thus that, during the winter months of 1941-42 when the finish was deployed on a very wide scale, the inherent properties of MK-7 came as a rude shock to the pilots and crew of the VVS.
MK-7 lacquer was manufactured in very large quantities during the autumn of 1941, and widely distributed to both aviation factories and field units of the VVS. The new lacquer was employed by both groups with the greatest enthusiasm, as one may see in the photographic record from this time (indeed, it is quite difficult to locate a VVS aircraft from the winter 1941-42 without MK-7). This new lacquer produced a very matte surface with a nice white colouration, and visually it was seen to be very suitable for seasonal camouflage.
Alas, it is also had quite a rough surface, which then imparted considerable aerodynamic drag onto the wearing aircraft. Fighter pilots, in particular, were horrified by this development, especially as it came so unexpectedly. Moreover, it was subsequently discovered during use of the new paint that it did not, in fact, adhere well to the existing aviation lacquers of the AII variety. With virtually all of the machines in the VVS inventory so finished, one can imagine that the situation was not particularly happy.
After 3 months of service:
Light/thinned to reduce drag
By the third winter of the GPW, 1943-44, the reputation of MK-7 had deteriorated to the point that it was not seen again. The mere mention of the finish in fighter aviation circles was enough to start a near mutiny. A very, very small number of bombers were seen to use this finish during this time, but even this branch of the VVS gave up on MK-7 White, not fancying the performance loss to their aircraft.The VVS applied national insignia in a manner dissimilar to other countries. Even dating back to the 1920s, many VVS theorists believed that having a large red marking on the wing upper surface was a violation of camouflage and spotting practices. It was quite common even during the pre-GPW years to see military aircraft with no national star on the upper wing surfaces (civil aircraft usually did, however). During 1940, when the government insisted on camouflage for all aircraft, these were specifically mentioned as inappropriate. However, as everywhere, pre-GPW practices died hard, and some aircraft (notably, for example, the I-16 and MiG-3, often the recipient of pre-GPW painting) did carry them in 1940-41. By 1942, however, one would virtually never see such, and in the main they were never seen on most GPW aircraft.
NB: It may be usefully assumed that unless the photograph of any subject shows them clearly, upper wing surface national stars were not present.
A handful of Lend-Lease types were seen with such markings, and during 1944 there was something of a 'mini comeback' of this kind of marking on Lend-Lease machines. The Americans were in the habit of applying stars, even VVS ones for L-L contracts, on the wing uppers. Mainly these were painted out with some kind of green paint, but in some unusual cases they were retained, and even more curiously sometimes made symmetrical with a starboard marking. It is rare, but not impossible, to see such an arrangement on some P-39s, and a few B-25s. Again, however, it must be stressed that these are exceptional cases, and the usual L-L aircraft did not feature such upper wing stars.
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Originally Posted by csadn
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