P47 Thunderbolt in RAF service ....colours were ?

Steve wrote: : Hi, what were the official names of the colours used on P47's in RAF service : WW2 ? : From a quick google search, it looks like they were painted olive drab and medium grey on the upper surfaces, and the belly was painted light cream/off white color.

Upper surfaces remind me of Tiffies in the paint colors and patterns.

Bruce

snipped-for-privacy@realtime.net (Bruce Burden) wrote in news:8zJRl.29573$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:

I'm fairly certain that most Thunderbolts in RAF CBI service were repainted with Dark Brown over the grey. I remember painting one up in a very neat grey and green scheme only to find out here that few served that way.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Thanks for the gen, so it looks like they would be RAF Dark Green (as that is the only Green for fighters the RAF used) and RAF Dark earth (again the only Brown used on fighters). Light Earth and Light Green looking at my WW2 RAF colours chart being for lower wings on biplanes I recall. Underside a cream or off white ...thats a little surprising as one would think in the Far East the skies were also blue, more so than ours ;-)

Steve

The best resource I've found on the subject is "Royal Air Force = Thunderbolts" by Geoff Thomas. That may be hard to find but "P-47 = Thunderbolt" by Richard J. Caruana, Famous Aircraft of the World, = Squadron Signal / Periscopio Publications, has good info. For such a = relatively small number of aircraft, this can get pretty involved. Most = RAF Thunderbolts went to South East Asia Command (Burma, India, etc...) = but several went to England for test and evaluation. A number of others = served in Egypt as an Operational Training Unit. AFAIK, all combat = operations were in the SEAC.

Most were delivered in the U.S. equivalents of the standard RAF day = fighter camouflage; Olive Drab, Sea Gray and Light Gray. The ANA numbers = are, respectively, 613, 603 and 602. When the aircraft arrived in India, = they were stripped (not always completely) and repainted in the standard = RAF Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green, Dark Earth and Medium Sea Grey = with Sky code letters. At some point they were delivered in bare metal = (KL288 being the first) and were not repainted in-theater.=20

Thunderbolts were badly needed and there is evidence some may have seen = action in the factory camouflage, at least until they could be = repainted. It is also possible some were stripped of their camouflage in = India and not re-painted. Thomas mentions that the RAF paints came from = a variety of mostly local sources and so, when combined with the usual = field-applied constraints, there was considerable variation. One = interesting note is that the Dark Earth, being applied over the Sea = Gray, was sometimes described as dirty or "purple-ish" as it weathered.

In addition to Sky, the code letters were also applied in many = variations of locally mixed paint.=20

Curt KVPS

Curt. This is great feedback, Thank you all repliees so far. In the absence of finding the books mentioned this will still allow a representational scheme to be created, books give actual schemes or interpretation thereof, my friend who needs this info, armed only with a japanese kit instruction leaflet scheme but no english translations is most grateful for the help received. I am glad to have been able to help him via your help. I couldnt see any schemes on the net, a little surprised there is nothing there, www still has gaps to fill. Steve

The best resource I've found on the subject is "Royal Air Force Thunderbolts" by Geoff Thomas. That may be hard to find but "P-47 Thunderbolt" by Richard J. Caruana, Famous Aircraft of the World, Squadron Signal / Periscopio Publications, has good info. For such a relatively small number of aircraft, this can get pretty involved. Most RAF Thunderbolts went to South East Asia Command (Burma, India, etc...) but several went to England for test and evaluation. A number of others served in Egypt as an Operational Training Unit. AFAIK, all combat operations were in the SEAC.

Most were delivered in the U.S. equivalents of the standard RAF day fighter camouflage; Olive Drab, Sea Gray and Light Gray. The ANA numbers are, respectively, 613, 603 and 602. When the aircraft arrived in India, they were stripped (not always completely) and repainted in the standard RAF Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green, Dark Earth and Medium Sea Grey with Sky code letters. At some point they were delivered in bare metal (KL288 being the first) and were not repainted in-theater.

Thunderbolts were badly needed and there is evidence some may have seen action in the factory camouflage, at least until they could be repainted. It is also possible some were stripped of their camouflage in India and not re-painted. Thomas mentions that the RAF paints came from a variety of mostly local sources and so, when combined with the usual field-applied constraints, there was considerable variation. One interesting note is that the Dark Earth, being applied over the Sea Gray, was sometimes described as dirty or "purple-ish" as it weathered.

In addition to Sky, the code letters were also applied in many variations of locally mixed paint.

Curt KVPS

On May 23, 4:21=EF=BF=BDpm, "Steve" wrot= e:

e official names of the colours used on P47's in RAF

Thanks tomcervo. Interesting the very small wing roundels, as if to not compromise camouflage, then someone decided to kill the camouflage effect and add white panels. Nice models. At least Hyperscale have done a little on plugging the gap, or at least allowed us to see a modellers efforts at plugging the gap.

Steve

"Steve" wrote in news:NMVSl.34271$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.virginmedia.com:

The white panels were an ID feature. I've seen natural metal P=47s with black stripes in the same positions. Check your sources for stripes on the vertical tail surfaces too. I've got to find that "Air International" issue with the article on RAF P-47s. I know there were photos with that.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Some post-war natural metal P-47s had the ID stripes applied in roundel blue.