STORMO! Forums

Dear sirs,
I hope I found you well.
From my huge ignorance, especially in aeronautics, I was wondering if there was any systematic study on the coloring of the metal propeller blades of the Regia Aeronautica aircraft.
From what I can gather, it should be a fairly well-known topic, but I can't find any published organic study of this subject.
Seems to me that at the beginning of the conflict, the propeller blades "generally" had a black inner face and a gray outer face (Or light blue? A specific shade? Or were they a natural metal color? Or aluminum/alluminata?), sometimes with the manufacturer's logo stenciled, but not always (or the logo is always there but can't be seen in low-resolution photos?); later, the blades were more often painted black, even on the inner face, sometimes with a yellow (chrome) tip, and sometimes (at least on some SM 79s) a white longitudinal line.

What determines this variety? The production period? The manufacturer? The propeller model? The aircraft model or role? Were the colors applied in the factory or some modification was performed at unit level (i.e the yellow tips or the white line)?

Ciao

Mario

This is a good question.

The only researcher I know who has focused on this topic is Stefano Lazzaro. In the Stormo (CMPR) Color Guide there's a very brief entry on this subject. I began collecting this information only recently because this question comes up fairly regularly (you should also Search this forum and look for posts by Stefano on this subject).

Regia Aeronautica Propeller Blade Colors

Also note, I’m working on an article by Stefano concerning the C.200 Color and Camouflage schemes, and goes into detail on this subject and includes a discussion of the logos that appeared on the prop blades and when changes to the prop colors occurred that can be generalized, although keep in mind every plane-type was different. As all things Stefano, he did much work on this article and contains a lot of useful information and analysis. I should have the article finished this week or the next. Check the News forum here in a week or so:

Scale Modeling News

Many thanks,
I will wait for the article with high expectations.
Off Topic, regarding C.200 Color and Camouflage schemes, I'm waiting to receive a copy of the book Macchi MC.200 published by Gli Archivi Ritrovati.

Mario