By the time that 450 Sqn was at Martuba in Dec 1942, the airframe had undergone a complete repaint of the upper surfaces in Dark Earth and Midstone desert colours. Lower surfaces appear to have mostly remained in the original Luftwaffe RLM 65 colour (in some images one can see where the letter 'C's, surrounds to the roundels and White wing tips have been overpainted in a slightly darker colour, likely Azure Blue). The old codes 5F+OK were overpainted completely and 'OK' remarked in White on the rear fuselage each side, along with a Yellow fuselage band (often used on captured airframes).

'C1' roundels (Red, White, Blue and Yellow) were neatly marked on each fuselage side and under both wings. There still does not appear to be any upper wing roundels even at this stage for some reason. The scheme was completed by a Red spinner and engine cowling. The above image from Colin Bond shows well the over painting in Azure Blue under the wings. One should ignore the colour profile that I have seen where they believed that the airframe was in the 'Day Fighter' scheme (Dark Green and Ocean Grey uppers with Med Sea Grey lower surfaces). Really... in the desert in 1942..., whoever drew that has absolutely NO idea.

A quality image from Doug Norrie showing details of the pattern on the Stardboard side and the tropical filter just behind the engine cowling that will have to added to a model unless you are using the Sabre Hobbies kit which seems to include it. Photo:Doug Norrie (450 Sqn Historian).

I will finish off the look at the scheme with a selection of additional images (I had more but no need to repeat the same info)

An image from Leon Henry showing the pattern on the Stardboard side to advantage. BTW the fitting above the tail wheel is a glider tug hitch (another small detail to add) and the wheel hub here seems to be painted Red. Photo: Leon Henry.

And finally an image from the AHMWA which shows that there still appears to be no upper wing roundels which is a bit strange. Photo: AHMWA P015775.

Thanks have to be given to the following 3 and 450 Sqn veterans who allowed us to copy images from their collections decades ago: Colin Bond, Cec Cartwright, Leon Henry, Laurie White, Doug Norrie (450 Sqn Association) and the AHMWA.

On page 3, I will look at some modelling options to build the 450 Sqn Henschel 126.