Hi Mikhail,
your page on 122 IAP looks extremely interesting. It would be nice to have an English version on line. Thank you for the link.
I am happy that this allows to identify the unit of some planes of which I had images and even profiles.
About your suggestion to reconsider some profiles of my site, I really appreciate some occasion of comparison. I have tried to do it with much attention yesterday.
I have modified my old profile of blue 75 into red 76 some time ago, after that Audrius reported that you reached this conclusion by examining the original photos of this plane. I had to agree with this observation.
About remaining discordances, I think that you refer in first place to Za partii Bolshevikoi, in particular to the red arrow.
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/mig3/bolshevik.htmI drew it because the image of the camo plane seems to show a small light triangle exactly where the image of the white plane had the tail of the arrow. So, my idea is that it was not deleted at the date of the photo.
I had a look to the image printed on Istrebitel MiG-3 too.
In second place, there is discordance on the presence of the fuselage star on the supposed "Za Rodinu".
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/mig3/rybalko.htmlI agree that the star is compatible with your scan, again from Istrebitel MiG-3 I think; as you see on my page, I have found also a scan showing a white star on the tail only, found on a page of Artem Drabkin if I don't miss.
It's difficult to explain this difference between two images that are probably from the same movie; one hypothesis is that a red filter was added on the camera objective during the work. Without red filter, green and red have low contrast; the filter darkens greens and makes reds like white. This is the idea on which my profile is based.
The alternative explanation, a reflex on a gloss red star, looks less consistent to my eyes with the reflexes visible on the nose that show the sun well above the horizon.
However, I see also that a lighter triangle resembling a part of a star looks visible on your scan. Perhaps the red star on fuselage survived to the camouflage in a first time, but was repainted green in a second time, leaving its trace on the darker bands. However, it's only a supposition.
It would be interesting to find the original movie, the succession of images should allow to distinguish between the hypothesis of the red filter and the one of reflex.
I am reconsidering the writing: as you see, it can't be read clearly, but a part of it looks darker than the other one; now I suspect that the writing was left red as during the winter, and the light shade visible on the photo could be due to different amount of white paint left between and within the letters. It would be consistent with the apparently unrepainted canopy frames.
Massimo
