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Graham Boak

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  1. I entirely agree with Dave Swindell on the value of a careful reading of Paul Lucas' articles. However, in advance of me doing just that, there is evidence that was not covered in his pieces. When this was discussed on the Steel Navy website some years back (now quite some years) the American researcher Ron Smith stated that he had searched Wasp's stores record, and there was no mention of paint being taken on board. Also negative, NZ ace Rae includes in his autobiography how he saw the bright blue undersides of the aircraft being craned aboard, but said nothing out them being painted on the voyage. Which I think slightly odd, if they were. I've also doubts about the ability to paint 50 aircraft in a few days in an enclosed hangar in a ship underway through some of the roughest waters around Europe. Let alone, as claimed by one source, repainted again more than once because of changing orders from above. (Though this does at least retain the then-unknown truth that they were repainted.) In modelling terms, it doesn't matter where they were painted, only the colours concerned. But it is interesting.
  2. and on a fighter - at least ones used in scout roles. The RAF had them on Mosquitos used to hunt German night fighters. by luring them behind then turning on them. Serrate missions, I think is the code name. RAF bombers had warning sensors for German radars but the tail warning radar (Monica) was considered more dangerous as the Germans could home on it. By the end of the European war RAF bombers were being fritted with gun turrets guided by radar (Village Inn) although I suspect few of these actually saw combat. The radar war is fascinating: the first and best account is in the history of 100 Group "Confound and Destroy" by Martin Streetly. The RAF also experimented with AEW: a Wellington with a rotating aerial above the fuselage, to guide night fighters to the V-1 launching Heinkels.
  3. The point about the white scheme is that it is to reduce the visibility from below, as suitable for a patrol type. Torpedo bombers and others are much less interested in that than reduced visibility against the dark sea. Hence the retention of TSS. Thanks Rossm, I think this is the first reference I have seen (or at least noted!) that they were specifically exempted from the white, although clearly the photos show just that.
  4. Early advice to British modellers on the C-47 was that they were painted in Dark Earth. Wrong, but a bit of a hint there. I've certainly seen a lot of variation of OD in different WW2 colour photos, but I'm with Chuck. The green on the other aircraft is too pure a green and lacks even a hint of olive.
  5. I think your memory is mixing the myth of repainting in passage with the work by Paul Lucas. These aircraft were repainted in the UK with Dark Mediterranean Blue. Paul gives considerable coverage to the reaction by "Jumbo" Gracie to the scheme initially offered. At this stage the USN blues had not appeared, although apparently a small amount of an experimental blue was present on Wasp -hardly enough for 40 extra fighters. The cannon were not removed immediately on Malta, but after flights made by Laddie Lucas (and others) had realised the difficult handling stemming from the heavy weapons outboard. Correspondence on this was covered in Brian Cauchi's book on Spitfires on Malta in 1942. The bulge to the rear of the roundel was only found on early batches of the Mk.Vc.
  6. The aircraft is definitely a Mk.Vc. I suspect that the wing roundel is just faded under the Malta sun. Otherwise yes.
  7. We can assume that aircraft were repainted as soon as possible, following the issue of the ruling. However a floatplane on board a battleship would need to be flown off to a shore base and be replaced in the meantime. This is likely, as seems to have happened here, to result in aircraft being retained in the earlier colours for some considerable time.
  8. It helps to have actual working engines suitable for flight, not just nice ideas. It should be pointed out that not all US engine companies licence built British technology, but there are times that good enough and working reliably is worth more than a theoretical superiority. PS. the Model T was out of production before 1940. US automotive technology had moved on a long way from that.
  9. The Ju.88 is usually quoted as 1/64, which is the same thing. Also S gauge in model railways, which I think is purely a US thing.
  10. Temperate Sea Scheme: Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey. The latter is greenish.
  11. Severely unsafe. Look up inertia roll coupling.
  12. Supporting the last part of the argument, I recall the tale of one fellow engineer who went behind the Iron Curtain. After the passengers were loaded, the pilot left the cabin to open an engine cowling. Taking a screwdriver from his pocket, he fastened a junction and then closed the cowling, returned to the cockpit, and the plane flew off. However the Herald was capable of operating from rough and rugger fields, with a wide and high fuselage. It lost out to the narrow-fuselaged Friendship.
  13. Profit was always in mind. And (although it wasn't a Wessex) there was one passenger who went missing on a flight across the Channel...
  14. Volume 2 starts with 50 or so pages on postwar vehicles, but much of the book is taken up with the AOS and unit insignia including much of WW2. All four books are organised by subject areas rather than chronologically.
  15. It's always sad. However there's surely a cat rescue home nearby with another cat needing to fill the hole.
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