Much of the appeal in
the combat simulation game "Cliffs of Dover" is the variety of color schemes
for the Bf 110C-4. The original camouflage pattern, which was the livery
of the aircraft from its introduction until mid-1940, is represented by the Haifischgruppe from 6./ZG 76
(ZG76_II in the game, but without the shark's mouth). It is a splinter pattern of black green RLM 70 (Schwarzgrun) over dark green RLM 71 (Dunkelgrun)
that extended almost completely down the sides of the fuselage, where it merged with the under-carriage in light blue RLM 65 (Hellblau).
But the contrast between the two darker colors was not sufficiently distinct, and just before the Battle of Britain a new splinter scheme
was introduced in which RLM 70 was replaced by gray green RLM 02 (Grau). The demarcation line was raised higher on the fuselage and
the sides given a random pattern of blotches in RLM 71 or RLM 02. This is the scheme represented by RLM02_71_65
in the game and ZG26,
which has the white nose used at the end of the Battle to provide quicker aircraft recognition. About the same time, a variation was
introduced: gray-green (RLM 02) continued to be used on the upper surface, but the light-blue RLM 65 of the under-carriage was extended,
without the mottled pattern, up the sides of the fuselage. This scheme is represented by ZG26_III_Stab.
Another type of camouflage appeared during the Battle, however, that is not exemplified in
"Cliffs of Dover." Instead of green, three shades
of gray were used: RLM 74 (Dunkelgrau), RLM 75 (Mittelgrau), and RLM 76 (Lichtgrau) on the underside in a mottled
array of more-or-less dense patches. By 1941, these colors were used in a splinter pattern: RLM 74 against a background of RLM 75 on the
upper surface, with the same colors mottled on the sides of the fuselage, and RLM 76 on the under-carriage. It is an attractive if
somewhat subdued scheme and virtually identical to its green counterpart, although difficult to discern in photographs of the time (at
least, on the Bf 110).
An example of this new gray pattern is 2N+AP from 9./ZG 76, which crash landed in Britain on August 16, 1940. Interestingly, the letter
"P" has been retained as part of the fuselage code, which properly should have been changed to "T" when the plane was re-designated from
6./ZG 1. Three small wasps (Wespen) decorate the nose.
Although not as flamboyant as Necke's 6./ZG76, this is a satisfying skin, given how relatively few examples of historical types there
are from which to work. One first must find a Bf 110C-4—then one that flew in the Battle of Britain and in the color scheme being
illustrated. Ideally, there also should be more than a single example so as to allow a proper comparison. It is a process that quickly
reduces the number of planes from which to chose, especially since there was only one theater of operations: aerial combat over
southeastern England from July through October 1940.
But such a narrow moment need not be a limitation. One can fly a plane in
virtually any livery. And, if one doesn't look down upon the broad,
sunlit uplands of the English countryside, one can imagine myself over Russia or the Mediterranean
(perhaps in a sand-colored
Bf 110C-4 that took part in the Libyan campaign).
Vasco and Estanislau remark that
"During the middle of 1941, culminating in an official instruction in November, new colours for the camouflage started to appear. The lighter and greyish RLM 74 and 75 would replace the previous dark greenish colours. For the undersides, a lighter RLM 76 blue would replace the previous RLM 65. However, it is not uncommon to clearly see both camouflages on different aircraft together in the same photograph. As a result, especially during this period, many times it was impossible to distinguish which of the two colour combinations the aircraft was painted in."
They describe the 2N+AP, based on a photograph of the downed aircraft dated August 16, 1940
(on which this skin is based) as follows:
"The lighter colour on the fuselage sides, becoming more prevalent on a lot of Bf 110s as the Battle of Britain progressed, is evident on
this machine."
Breffort and Jouineau, in a discussion of Bf-110 camouflage, embrace the same seeming contradiction.
"It was at the beginning of 1941 that a new type of camouflage (the so-called 'type 5') appeared on the Luftwaffe's daytime fighters consisting of three shades of grey (RLM 74 Dunkelgrau, RLM 75 Mittelgrau on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 Lichtgrau underneath), with more or less dense patches (RLM 74, 75 or 02) often being added on the fuselage sides and the fins. These three colours were painted according to a single scheme and as with the previous one, comprised dark (RLM 74) sharp-angled patches on a middle grey (RLM 75) background."
But they, too, illustrate the same 2N+AP (which is why it always is better to have at least two examples before skinning) for "summer 1940." Another Bf-110 from July 1940 "sports the later type of camouflage which appeared on the Bf 110s during the Battle of Britain, and was made up of three shades of grey (RLM 74, 75 and 76) with the sides covered in more or less dense patches."
References: The Messerschmitt Bf 110 in Color Profile 1939-1945 (2005) by John Vasco and Fernando Estanislau (p. 33); Messerschmitt's Twin-Engined Fighters from 1939 to 1945 (2009) by Dominique Breffort and André Jouineau.
