James Kelley (CPTKelley) reviews Michael Ullmann''s second book on Luftwaffe Colours 1935 – 1945.

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Thanks!

Hi all
regarding people having poor recollection of colours I asked my mother, who saw F.A.A aircraft at short range nearly every day during the early 1950s, what colour she remembered the undersides being. I was expecting a reply that had something to do with Sky. Her reply - "weren't they a sort of dirty white". I didn't bother asking about the upper surfaces!
Cheers
Steve

I wish I could see any advantage to this book other than the newly colorized schematics. Ullmann spent way more space discussing arcane topics than I found interesting or helpful. There are several miscaptioned photos beyond what Kelley mentions. When writing about speculative matters such as the unusual JG 54 schemes, Ullmann offers some new guesses, but they are little more than guesses. The same goes for his discussion of late war colors, and while he does provide evidence that certain of the 80s colors were only used by specific manufacturers, his section pales in comparison with already published books on, for example, Bf 109Ks and Fw 190Ds.
In general, the photo selection is out-dated and prosaic. There is almost nothing from recent Eastern European publications or even modern (post-1990) Western publications, and most of the photos are the same old photos that appear in almost every other book on Luftwaffe camouflage without the unique photos that give extra value to those other books. Kelley is quite right that the color chips are too small and too glossy to be very helpful - they seem more a last minute inclusion by the publisher to improve the apparent value of the book.
If you have no other summary book on Luftwaffe camouflage, this will serve that purpose, but at quite an expense. If you have or can find any other summary book or series this has so little new as to be redundant, and I would not bother. I returned my copy to the seller.