Hurricane camouflage in Middle East

Sky came into use in late summer 1940. Before that, the black/white undersides were conceived as a recognition marking for ground defences and used between 1938 and summer 1940.

On the question of upper surfaces, the normal temperate Dk. Green/Dk. Earth/Sky combination was used until around the time the Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk.1 (P40E) was introduced - late '41, early '42. The middle stone replaced the Dk. Green pattern in the camouflage. American aircraft would have been delivered in U.S. 'nearest match' colours, and may account for the different tones seen in contemporary photos.

Chek

were the all blue planes painted that just for travel? i did an all blue malta spit.

There was no single scheme in use before the desert scheme. To the best of my knowledge the following applies.

Initially Hurricanes were delivered in the temperate scheme of dark earth and dark green. The first Hurricanes in Malta also appear to have used this scheme as do atleast some of the ones used in Crete and Greece.

Some Hurricanes were delivered in some sort of desert scheme but RAF Headquarters in the Midddle East found this scheme inappropriate for use in the irrigated areas of Egypt, hence the dark green and midstone.

A lot of black and white photos show Hurricanes in the desert with a very high contrast between the two upper colours. It has been proposed that these were in light stone and dark earth.

Some Hurricanes carried the well known 'sand and spaghetti' camo on the leading edges of the wings and underside of the nose.

As to undersurface colour - some were delivered in black and white, but these appear to relatively few. I would assume that sky amd sky-blue were used.

Anders

"Antonio M" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

I've seen German color photos of junked RAF aircraft captured in Greece. Some of these are in Dk Earth/Mid. Stone, so the scheme had to be in use by early '41.

PT

There are some fine profiles in the Osprey "Hurricane Aces 1941-1945": Europe, the Desert, Burma and Singapore. Lots of life in the old girl after the BoB.

There were dark and light mediterranean blues and there was a deckload of Spits painted 20-B deck blue (according to logs) while being ferried by the Wasp (or was it Ranger?, I'd have to dig the log info back up down at NARA).

PRU blue? That was supposed to be for photo recon planes. It started showing up on postwar aircraft not specifically in recon work, ie. Hornet F.3s.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

yeah, and posted a pic? or do you have a blue one also, bill?

D'uh, we were talking about those several months ago. I believe Bill Shuey made one thusly.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

I painted and ecalled one in desert scheme then masked the markings and painted it deck blue, leaving little bits of brown showing.

What people often forget is that Malta, though beseiged, had been the main FAA depot in the Mediterranean, and had a fully equipped repair shop. Most of those planes that survived the raids that day were stripped of that coat and/or repainted--they didn't want dark blue planes sitting around the fields.

in article snipped-for-privacy@mb-m01.aol.com, Tom Cervo at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 10/23/04 8:35 AM:

The camo was not so much to protect them on the ground. Initially they were painted blue while onboard the Wasp because the 600 mile or so flight to Malta was over the bright blue waters of the Med. That desert scheme of mid-stone and dark earth really stood out against the water so they got the blue paint over the upper surfaces. It must have been a success. Records indicate that some were painted blue in the shops on Malta.

MB

"Tom Cervo" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m01.aol.com...

Not necessarily. Initially the desert scheme was needed to camouflage Spitfires on the ground, but quickly it became apparent that camouflaging them over the sea, where most of the fighting took place, was more important.

Anders

pic

I have to say I've never seen any RAF fighter aircraft in anything but standard RAF Temp or RAF Desert all the way from Malta through to Rome. (The Wasp flight incoming Spitfires being a well known exception). Any photos that illustrate your assertion?

Chek

Once I manage to finish painting the kitchen so I can move crap back in and then unpack the planes.

cool.

in article cle3st$6bd$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com, Chek at chek snipped-for-privacy@boosinternet.com wrote on 10/23/04 12:20 PM:

There are photos in "The Air Battle For Malta: The Diaries of a Spitfire Pilot" by James Douglas-Hamilton. Although B&W, some are clearly of a single upper color. There is a brief discussion of the Spitfires transported on Wasp. I cannot find the reference at the moment that discusses Mediterranean blue or blue-gray upper surfaces being applied on Malta.

There is a fairly good color photo (page 16) in Mushroom Magazine Special "Supermarine Spitfire Mk V" which also has some additional B&W. The color photo is of a Calendar aircraft (but with yellow codes) still in the blue-gray paint that was shot down on Sicily.

MB

Thanks for that lead Milton, I'll try and follow it up.

Though my feeling at this point without seeing the pic would be could it possibly be a Seafire in FAA colours, which merge easily in B&W photos into a single tone, especially when subjected to strong sun and salt fading.

I'd also think it would take a while to get round to removing the 'temporary' Calendar colours from all the aircraft. Remember the 'removable' temporary alkaline finish on pink Gulf War I Tornadoes and Jaguars that was found to be baked hard and anything but removable or temporary when they returned to Germany and the UK? I'm sure 40's paint technology fared no better.

Interesting subject and a change from the usual schemes applicable to Spitfires.

Chek