No they were not, in fact the 56th FG 61st FS P-47M's were flat black, and not dark blue.
Quote "Often debated is the precise colour of the P-47M's of the 61st Fighter Squadron flying out of Boxted in 1945.
Delivered to the 56th in NMF the individual squadrons adopted their own colour schemes for these aircraft and its the 61st squadrons schemes that have been the subject of much speculation, so when the question was raised in the original SIG thread I wasnt surprised in the least.
Over the years these Thunderbolts have been described as being painted in purple,plum,black, red brown,and a mixture of automotive paint stocks amongst others.
Ive always upheld that the best way to find out any information is to ask someone who was actually there.
Luckily I was able to do this, and made contact with Russ Kyler, pilot of HV-J "Lorene". "

The following are extracts from emails I recieved from Russ at the time.
The ORIGINAL 61st FS P-47Ms were painted "FLAT BLACK". In some photos (due to light refraction)
they have a kind of "purplish" look to them. Roger Freeman lists them as being "Flat Black" as does the book
titled "BEWARE THE THUNDERBOLT" by David R. McLaren. (Both are correct).

Other pilots have also confirmed this.

Regards Duggy

Boy am I glad I asked that. Thanks for the answer, saved me from lot of reworking

Regards
Emel

I wish I had the same info several years ago when I spent several days mixing "Revell" paints in Germany, and built this 1/72nd scale model.

I found further evidence supporting flat black.
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=56&Style=item&origStyle=list&Item=512&Temp=2509&searchString=

http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=56&Style=item&origStyle=list&Item=511&Temp=2508&searchString=

Cheers
Emel

Two this week.
North American P-51D-25-NA Mustang 44-73304 'Blondie' 334th FS 4th FG piloted by Lt Marvin W. Arthur. This aircraft carried one of S/Sgt Don Allen's most famous pieces of nose art. This aircraft was later transferred to the Italian Air Force as MM4282 in 1946.

My kind of P-51



Do you know when those two photos were taken?

Regards,
Emel

No exact date but they were taken early 45.

Nice pictures they are, thanks. Btw I just noticed the serial number is different from mine. ...304, I have 305

Two this week.

Duggy,
My father flew the first production P-47M iven to the 56th FG in early 45.
He always said that his jug had a `dark plum' look to it but it was a VERY highly polished black (said it gave him an extra 15mph in a dive..!) and in certain light would develop the plum colour everyone refers to.
As a side note, there was a colour called midnight blue (RAF) which could possibly have been supplied to the 56th!!!! a lot of the thunderbolts were painted with whichever paint coulour was in the stores at the time, but who knows..!
last time i emailed Russ Kyler about the colour you are correct he said his was black. there is a guy in suffolk that has a piece of a mark M but wont give it up to Halesworth Museum who have been talking to him.
It does amuse me the colours the M's are depicted in profiles / models. By the way, nice model of Gladych's jug, he was the other half of the `terrible twins' as he and my father were nicknamed..!

Krys