No. Now I will copy and glue the most interesting things... there will be some duplication.
HI
this is not my research, the diagram and text have been posted on Hyperscale by Steven 'Modeldad' Eisenman, but I'm posting them here as this is of specific interest to this site.
In short when the US dropped painting of aircraft in late 1943 this was not acceptable to the VVS, so they B-25s were then painted by North American in a scheme specified by the VVS.
this is a famous image, I have had it in a book for years but it was only reading the thread on hyperscale i found what it was, which is B-25 j on a test flight in the US, but in VVS colours.
here is a pattern diagram. Of note is the similarity to the 3 colour uppers for the Il2, Il 10 and Pe-2..
The diagram notes about US stars, but from the B-25J pics i have seen they were the coreect type. There are pics of B-25D's in Alaska with the red stars on white circles. I think it was only on early deliveries of B-25 C's you see painted out US insignia. Probably worth a separate thread.
B-25~/ camouflage Mon Jun 19 02:11:59 2000
Aircraft Colors of the 4 Guards Long Range Air Corps by Vasilii Vakhlamov, translated by George M. Mellinger.
The great majority of B-25s of the 4 Guards Air Corps had the traditional American camouflage colors of olive drab above and neutral gray below, The also applied to the Bostons of the "hunter-intruder" regiment. The color was basically simple, though it might change with time, the machines usually were not repainted. the individual aircraft of the corps commander by the end of the war was completely colored "coffee with milk" (very close to Russian brown A-21M orAMT-1) At the time the USA began to issue the B-25J in natural metal color, devoid of camouflage, Standard 407 was established for the Soviet Union. This introduced a three color camouflage above, consisting of olikovii (olive drab), zashchitno-zelyonyi (protective green -field drab,), and grifelno-seryi (slate gray), and black on the lower surfaces. it is necessary to note that while the prescribed arrangement of color fields is supported firmly, the demarcation lines for the black colors did not conform to either form or location. These wavy lines varied, ascending to the top and descending to the very bottom of the fuselage.
The B-25 C & D arrived in the Soviet Union with American markings, a white star in a blue circle, in a diameter of 45 inches, located on the fuselage 94 inches from the trailing edge of the wing, and on the wings 92 inches from the wing tip, above left, and below right, with a diameter of 50 inches. In June 1943 bars were added to circular insignias. On the already produced machines these bars were added, and the B-25G, H, J relocated their markings, but such
aircraft almost never reached the Russians. Red stars were painted over the blue circles. there were also aircraft which
received at the factory an insignia of a white circle with the red star. Sometimes when the blue and white colors were
over-painted, a red star was carried additionally below the left wing. What was done with the upper surface of the right wing is difficult to establish from photographs and memoirs. Sometimes stars were also added to the vertical tail surfaces. Standard 407 specified that the red star with border, without any background was to be painted at the factory in Kansas City. The stars on the fuselage had the size of a circular diameter of 50 inches, and on the wings 55 inches. the whit e border was 2 inches. Whether the Russians added the missing" tail stars in this instance is unknown.
The system of designating the aircraft within the regiments of the corps was well established by 1944. Thus, in the 4 GBAD, the number was placed beneath the cockpit. the numeration was separate for each regiment, but the script was the same and the numbers wee based on the American serial numbers. In the 5 GBAD, the numbers wee placed on the tail rudders, and were sequential beginning with the 14 GBAP, progressing to the 22 GBAP, and ending with the 251 GBAP. the forms of the numbers was different and their color regularly changed according to orders or local
initiative.
The guards badges, honorary names, and other orders at first were barred from display on aircraft. From 1943 the Guards badges shyly began to appear on the B-25s, and in 1944 the order of the red Banner and the inscriptions "Roslaviskii" (13 GBAP), "Smolenskii" (14 GBAP), and "Sevastopolskii" (15 GBAP). Proving more effective and stable at distinguishing the regiments, the decision was taken to follow the practice. The distinctive markings for the Bostons of the 27 GAP was a lightning flash on both sides of the fuselage nose. Various individual emblems and inscriptions began to spread quite widely. Thus on the aircraft of the commander of the 22 GBAP {- 5 GBAD}, {Lt. Col. Aleksandr Andreevich} Balenko was emblazoned an eagle wearing a gold star {symbolic of the HSU}. V. V. Doveiko, a pilot of the 341 BAP {- 4 GBAK}, who had worked in the circus before the war, on the nose of his aircraft had the head of a clown and the words'iZa Sovetskoi iskusstvo" {For Soviet Artistry}. V. Skomorokhin of the 14 GBAP {- 5 GBAD}- "Mstim za krov cLeningrada" {We avenge the blood of Leningrad}. Yu. S. Filimonov of the 250 GBAP {- 4 GBAD} a red falcon on a white circle . As late as 1946 there still appeared on the aircraft of Hero of the Soviet Union {Captain Gora Grigorevich} Agamirov {251 GBAP- 5 G BAD} a drawing representing a white bear. Like all American machines, B-25s had a yellow serial number on the taii fins in 9 inch figures. These were occasionally painted over by the Soviets, but mostly left in place. More rarely, the serial numbers wee removed from the tail and placed on the rear fuselage. On the B-25C & D on the fuselage by the propellers there was a red warning band. Appearing on the B-25D-30 & -35 and B-25J were an additional four machine guns beneath the pilot's cabin. These were removed in the Soviet Union and the uncovered area was painted over with a wide variety of paints from silver to black."
COMMENTS:
Ilya Grinberg
In the translation you provided zashchitno-zelyonyi (protective green -field drab,), and grifelno-seryi (slate gray)are incorrectly translated from English by original authors of the Russian magazine. Field drab is far from being protective green (it is close to RAF dark earth) and slate gray is incorrectly interpreted by them as grifelno-seryi, which means graphite-gray. In fact it is green and has nothing to do with gray.
Likewise, the translation by George carries out these mistakes.
Regards,
Ilya
Note: I believe the colors that were most likely used were ANA 613 Olive Drab, ANA 617 Dark Earth and ANA 603 Sea Gray.
this a famous image, note the overpainting of the gun pack area with black, and the addition of stars to the fins as mentioned in text above.
The tail star seems a darker colours than the fuselage star (maybe a kremlin star?) , and i can't see evidence of a star added under the starboard wing. (I'll try to do a better scan later)
This scheme has featured on a now unavailable Cutting Edge decal sheet,CED48055, though the top colours are shown as just Olive Drab. N
I think it's an option for a decal sheet for the upcoming 1/32 B-25.
the pic appears in Red Stars 4, with another picture of a B-25 "white 17 " listed as the same plane below it, which is not the same plane as this is a B-25 C/D model as you cannot see forward mounted top turret!
one final point on the B-25 martin turret, the 'panel lines' that are often seen painted on models should not be there, as the turrets were made of pieces of glued perspex, what you see are the plastic join lines which appear white at certain angles.
Close study of a good close up will show what i mean. I will post one when I can find a suitable image.
cheers
T