MiG-1 and MiG-3 with early livery profiles summary Click on each profile to see a bigger drawing with photos and comments. |
Updated on February 21, 2023
All the early series production MiG-1s and MiG-3s were painted with:
This scheme was common for MiG-1s and early MiG-3s, till the war outbreak. Only,
the position of the red stars on the fuselage was usually higher on MiG-1s than
on MiG-3s.
The metal surfaces (aft fuselage, horizontal tail surfaces, central wing plan)
appear lighter and worner than the wooden surfaces (rear fuselage, outer wing
panels); this is well visible on nearly all German photos (forthemost representing
aircraft captured or wrecked during the first days of war), but not on Soviet
photos (few of which represent this scheme, and they show forthemost new aircraft
from the factory; however, shown examples could have been painted with all uppersurfaces
in AII green for a better look).
The difference between green shades on wooden and metallic surfaces is very
marked in aircrafts abandoned for a long time. It was probably due to different
paintings on separed sub-assemblies before the final assembly, that led paint
on metal parts to fade quickly if exposed to the sunlight.
The green/blue demarcation line was sharp on the nose and metallic parts of
the wing and tail, while it was soft on wooden parts; besides, wooden and metallic
parts were painted before the final assembling, and this can be understood because
demarcation lines are often discontinued on junctions.
This way to paint MiG-3s was abandoned contemporarily to the war outbreak, when
a new black-green camouflage was introduced and the position of numbers and
national markings was changed; planes painted with the prewar style fought with
this livery until they were lost or repainted.
Click on each profile to see a bigger drawing with photos and comments.