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In the Carlo Buscaglia excellent article there is reference to painting the SM79s a azure blue, white & grey color to match the Med in their attacks along the coasts of Egypt and Cyrenica...by Camicchi's outfit. This is stated in the part II of the article and the outfit is 281 Sturmo in fig 18. Are there any color pics of this scheme? Are the colors for this a/c in fig 15? Would a reasonable guess for the undersides be Grigio Azzuro Chiaro? or Grigio Mimmetico?

Appreicate any info that folks can shed on this reference.

Thank you for the appreciation of my work.
Sadly there are no colour images known, until now, on S.79s painted with that pattern. However, this is a closer snapshot that betters shows it:



It's hard to say wheter the colours meant by Cimicchi are in img 15. I believe they were applied on the field either by using or mixing available paints, or even buying them at local stores (yes, this happened too!). Possibly, the "white" could have been the same grey used early for the aircraft frontside, even mixed with actual white, the light blue a mix of blue and white or a underside blue similar to RLM 65, and the grey simply a rather dark mix of black and white, as the Grigio Azzurro Scuro will be introduced later that year. But all this is speculative.
As for the undersides colour, even though it seems that the Grigio Azzurro Chiaro had been unofficially used since the early months of 1941, I judge the shade in this aircraft too dark to be it, and it's likely closer to Grigio Mimetico. But keep in mind that RA used several hues of paints for the undersides, even after 1941, it seems. There is clue of S.79 bellies painted with a light blue-green, or with RLM 78! So, I added the Azzurro Subalare (underwing azure) as an example. It comes from a chip chart published in 1977 by Virginio Tosco, an artist who worked as an illustrator in FIAT during the war. He used to take samples of colours even from the paint cans used by RA personnel. Sadly, the text with the chart is concise, not so exhaustive, and sometimes it's contadictory, but I think it's nevertheless an important testimony. You can find an article on this chart in History Articles: www.stormomagazine.com/Articles/NewColoursRA.html

I hope this helps.
Stefano

Stefano,
Appreciate your writing back and sending the reference to the Vito charts.
I am confused...by my charts Grigio Azzuro Chiaro is lighter than Rigio Mimmetico. The closer photo REALLY helps ID the pattern.

Are you thinking that this a/c paint scheme is really:
Base Grigio Azzuro Chiaro
splotches of HellBlau & Grigio Azzuro Scuro
undersides => Grigio Azzuro Chiaro

Rich

Things were not so plain. The paints, even when official, were often a result of mixing when unavailable. I believe we can exclude all those three colours.
Italian Grigio Azzurro Chiaro and Grigio Azzurro Scuro started to be officially applied at factories in the following Fall. It is unlikely they arrived before in the frontline. As for the Hellblau RLM 78, I believe it was used, later, mainly or only in North Africa. I guess there were no stocks of it available for Italians, in Rhodes. Instead, paints from Regia Marina could have been applied, but I'm not a Navy expert and I don't know which kind of colours RM used.
The undersides of 281-5, were no more aluminium since May. Considering the colour of Mediterranean sky, I suppose that the paint was more blue than grey.
At a close examination, it seems that the lighter colour had been sprayed by first, then the darker, and last the mid-tone.
Lacking evidence, we must base our educated guess on b/w photos and on the memory of an old pilot who recalled this detail more than thirty years later, and with the help of paints found on contemporary wood models or chips took by an artist. There is enough to leave my job and go to work in FBI!

Stefano

P.S. Yes, Grigio Azzurro Chiaro was really lighter than Grigio Mimetico.