Sydhuey

Very much depends on Sqn and aircraft type, Boston's and Mitchell's had the Sqn code on rear fuselage with individual code letter on nose, some Sqn's had all the letters on one side of roundel AB-C @ and on opposite side @C-AB, there were the directives laid down and what Sqn's did!

A point of interest the upper wing grey applied to the Black to break up the Black in night ops was also applied to US Navy Black cats that went thru RAAF maintenance depots.

Dennis as you can see , Peter and I are in the same general Direction but slight variation (Peter mostly corrects my interpretations , occasionally I correct one of his ;-)) , make up your own mind out of the mix, Cats are a minefield as I said. would post pics but I don't like using hosting sites so can only describe. and yes I meant 8" for serials.

I don't agree with the colours on the Aussie decal sheets from the pictures available she looks over all night with disruptive pattern Grey only on top of wing, serials medium Grey 6", Sqn codes pale blue 24" ( the RAAF changed the colour to white in Jun 44 as the pale blue fades to white anyway), Fin Flash 24" by 12' (6 and 6) , upper wing roundels 5/3 48" white over painted with Medium Grey same as serials (for night ops), fuselage roundels 24" with reduced white centres 5/1 ratio (the fuselage roundels up close look like a triple roundel as the white is reduced so you end up with the outer 2/5 th dull insignia blue , then 2/5th overpainted so the Dull insignia Blue is a little lighter then the 1/5rh White) (these reduced size white in the fuselage roundels were not an official marking but done at the Sqn's to reduce the white on night ops similar to the grey in the wing roundels) , she had a single gun nose turret and .50's in the blisters and the std ASV antenna setup I mentioned before. the lower hull and floats are painted with a coat of lanoline to reduce corrosion so it looks like a third colour on the lower hull, I just paint my models with semi gloss clear on the lower hull and floats to give the gloss look of the lanoline. I think the Grey on the Top wing is EDSG , Peter Malone thinks it is lighter like a DSG or Medium sea Grey, up to you for your interpretation. The RAAF colours are a weird mix , What the RAAF call Ocean Blue (Grey?)is a mix of 3 3/4 Gal EDSG, 1 Gal Matt Dull Blue, 1/4 Gal Matt Black and the Matt Black (Night) 4 gal Matt Black, 3/4 Gal Matt Dull Blue and 1/4 Gal Matt White to me I don't think the Sqn's went to that much trouble , Matt Black and EDSG or DSG .

Dennis, pick a couple of serials you are interested in and I will give you an estimate of colours and markings and equip fit for that particular aircraft, but to ask what colour are RAAF Cats, how long is a piece of string !

RAAF Catalina colours are a minefield, choose the actual serial of the aircraft you are doing and timeframe and work out colours from there , Roundels only upper wings and fuselage in the 5/3 ratio (white 3/5th of roundel diameter), once again work out the serial you want and go from there , some had the Fuselage roundel ratio down to 5/1 with a much smaller white, and the upper wing roundels sometimes had the white over painted with medium Grey (same as Sqn codes), Std ASV antenna fit with a large homing receiver array antenna under each wing and the smaller homing transmitter array outboard on the right wing. From mid 1944 eyeball nose turrets started to be fitted and .50's in Blisters from mid 43. Late ASV Radar radome above cockpit fitted to PB2B-1 (late PBY-5) (A24-200-206) and later big tail PB2B-2's (300-309 and 350-386), most RAAF cats eventually ran the fishtail exhaust as well.

Unless you have a photo of the R/H side of the aircraft the Ic's didn't run the hedgehog exhaust, initially they only had the short intake but the tropical intakes were added fairly quickly but the exhaust generally stayed short on the Ic's.

As a general rule RAAF Brit build Beaufighter's were in 3 schemes the first 54 x Ic's were in DG/DE over Sky, the second delivery Ic's 55-72 were in the TSS scheme of EDSG/DSG over SKY, also all VI's and X's and XI's up to 198 were also in this scheme, the last X's 199 to 217 were in the later TSS scheme of EDSG over Sky. 30 Sqn operated in any colour they were delivered but 31 Sqn didn't like the DE for over water ops and preferred the TSS scheme, any of the first 54 that went to 31 Sqn may have been repainted in TSS but no one really knows , the aircraft Butch Gordon flew for his victories , 70, 140, 144, 149 would have all been in the std TSS scheme of EDSG/DSG over Sky, , A19-40 EH-G while initially operated by 30 Sqn and delivered in DG/DE over Sky in May/Jun 42, was first used by 30 Sqn then 31 then 5 OTU and was overhauled and delivered back to 31 in Jun 43 so was more than likely repainted in TSS scheme, it also had a modified Nav canopy with a gun mount in it. Only 16-18 of the first 54 were operated by 31 Sqn and I am pretty sure by late 1943 any of these left were in the TSS scheme like the rest of the aircraft in the Sqn. The DE/DG scheme seems to permeate thru most info on Beaufighter when less than 1/4 of the fleet were ever in this colour scheme.

I use lead shot , got about a Kg from a mate who reloads, were possible I just pour the shot in to fill the hole and hold in place with white glue, for some models without much room I have made little moulds and melted the lead to get max weight for the space, takes a bit of time but yields results with more weight.

G'day Nick , Comparing the photo's to Sqn History Ops records, the Sqn went thru an on again off again attempt to Convert to Boston's from Jan 43 to transition to Boston's in Mar 43 till the final conversion to all Boston's in Apr 43. ( in this period sqn had Bisleys , several Blenheim IV's, A-20B's borrowed from 47th Bg and Boston III's) The Bisley photo's are generally of Desert scheme with red codes but the schemes are different aircraft to aircraft, I have pics of "A" BA803 and "T" BA797 (desert scheme black code letters)but at least one aircraft "C" BB148 or "G" BA792 (lower code cut off in photo) may be in DG/DE with grey code letter , the time period appears to be Dec42/Mar 43 at the end of Bisley ops as I can date 2 photo's to the 29th of Mar 43 (last Bisley ops), Smoke plume of "F" EH318 crashing and killing crew on take off (F/Sgt Mayne, Sgt Kirk , Sgt O'Neil) and "A" RH312 returning from last mission with crew ( S/L McCurdy, P/O James, F/S Parish) . Photo's from what I think is the first Bisley period Mid Nov 42 till 04 Dec 42 when most of the Sqn written off the aircraft were in a fairly sharp desert scheme (the aircraft were fresh from the UK in Mid Nov), the second Bisley period late Dec 42 til mid Mar 43 were with replacement Bisley's from other units in a hotch botch of schemes and markings Hope that helps.

Thanks, I have pics of "A", "T" and I believe "C", Interesting how I have read the name Bisley was dropped and Blenheim V used , but the hand written text under the photo's they are called Bisleys, and I have seen 18 Sqn ops records and they refer to Blenheim IV's and Bisley's . not Blenheim V's.

I have recently acquired a photo album of 18 Sqn aircraft in North Africa and Italy and there are a few Bisley photo's in it , what was the code letter of Hugh Malcolm's Bisley on his V.C. mission ?

Juanita has done more than a dozen A-20/Boston profiles for me and she is outstanding , highly recommended . She posts on here occasionally looking for info for a profile, she does her best to ensure they are as accurate as possible.

As a side note I believe an F-3A was supposedly the first Allied aircraft to land at Itazuke, Japan after the August 1945 surrender .

There is a good web site on this http://www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com/ , covers many aircrew and ground crew from the Caribbean who served in the RAF.