As mentioned in an earlier  decal review, the D.520 was the best French fighter of the war. When the French surrendered in 1940, those aircraft that were in territory under German control were seized and put to use with the Luftwaffe. Most of these were used as fighter trainers. As the war went on, a number of them were given to various friendly countries, including Italy and Bulgaria. In both of these countries, the D.520 was used as an interceptor, and when the political situation changed, those surviving aircraft had new insignia applied.

The first two aircraft are from the Italian air force. Since the planes were built in France (even after the surrender, the factory continued to build planes for the Germans), they have French camouflage schemes. The first one is an ex-Vichy aircraft with the French markings painted over with a thin wash of Italian blue-grey. As you can see, the older markings still are apparent. The other Italian D.520 is in ANR markings with the rudder stripes over painted.

Next are a pair of Bulgarian D.520s. The Bulgarian aircraft were overhauled prior to shipment so are in Luftwaffe colors of RLM 74/75/76 with a 74 mottling. The first plane has all the required wing and fuselage yellow Eastern Front markings and the simplified black X insignia. The second plane has the yellow over painted and the pro-Allies markings applied. The aircraft number is speculative, but representative of other markings of the time.

FInally, one of the new built fighter trainer D.520s. This one is in a rather interesting scheme as the only info available is 'brown over light blue over yellow'. You can interpret that any way you wish. Aeromaster states RLM 81 over RLM 76 over RLM 04. It also states that the upper wings may have been in a splinter camo, but no proof of this was available in 1996 when the sheet was produced. Any additional info?

Review copy courtesy of my ever-expanding decal collection.

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