627 Sqn. Mosquitos' Strange Colours

[Super Aereo]

A few weeks ago I linked a series of youtube videos released from AV House of Canada, and one in particular shows 16mm colur footage taken at Woodhall Spa in 1944 by Brian Harris (also published in DVD form by the 627 Sqn. association under the title "Mosquitos Airborne": http://www.627squadron.co.uk/videos.html ).

It struck me that at least two (and more likely several) aircraft belonging to 627 Sqn.seem to sport unconventional camouflage colours: AZ-B would appear to be in a scheme of Dark Green and Medium Sea Grey over Azure Blue (a scheme first quoted or hypothesised by Paul Lucas in Combat Colours No.5, I believe).

Other aircraft, such as AZ-F seem to be painted in overall night, which again was not prescribed in any official orders:

It might well be possible that the particular "elite" status of 627 Sqn. afforded them quite a bit of freedom in their choice of colours, or that their aircraft might have come from customised sub-series, but being no Mosquito expert I cannot really say.

The video is here:

Interesting photos of the aircraft of 627 Sqn. can be found here: http://www.627squadron.co.uk/album.html

Any thoughts welcome.

Flavio

[Brad]

The top two pics just look like the standard RAF Grey/Green over sky, it's possible the aircraft had some running repairs and repaints in the field, accounting for the irregular camouflage. As for the last picture, it looks like black undersurfaces, fuselage and tail (like one of the black and white pics on that website you have linked), but I see green and brown camo on the wings and maybe top of the fuselage.

[Super Aereo]

You might be right about the aircraft with black undersides having DG/DE camouflage on the upper surfaces (even if it looks very dark to me - overpainted perhaps), but I can assure you there was NO "standard RAF Grey/Green over sky" camouflage in the RAF.

Mosquitoes other than PR or Coastal Command units were generally either painted in the Day Fighter Scheme of DG/OG over MSG or in the Night Fighter Scheme of overall MSG with a disruptive pattern of DG on the uppersurfaces (the usual choice for FB versions, while bombers were normally in the first scheme, at least in 1944).

The undeside colour in the first two stills appears much darker than the grey on the uppersurfaces and definitely bluer.

Regards,

F.

[Test Graham]

The patch of what appears to be Aircraft Grey Green over the nose of the first aircraft does not seem to follow a standard camouflage pattern, witness the odd dark green surround to it. I suspect this may be some kind of patchwork application covering a repair. The undersurface colour appears to me to be Medium Sea Grey, which did have a blue tinge which could be exaggerated in some colour prints.

The second aircraft is in standard Bomber Command Colours, with a very high demarcation brought about by the curvature of the Mosquito's fuselage. These aircraft (perhaps not this particular one) are sometimes represented with green and grey upper surfaces, so it is interesting to see this one in Dark Green/Dark Earth.

[mhaselden]

The second aircraft could have green/grey upper surfaces. Looking at the other tonal values (the slightly washed-out reds, roundel blue appearing almost black and the greenish tinge to the sky - is that a Sky Type S sky?...sorry, couldn't resist), it's entirely possible that colour shifts have taken place. I'm not discounting the DG/DE option, simply observing that significant colour shifts can considerably alter tonal values from what we're perceiving in the image.

[Super Aereo]

Not sure about not being a standard camouflage scheme, judging by a very similar nose on another example here: http://www.hillmanweb.com/mikespack/rcaf4pic.html

[Red Dragon]

Remember, this is seventy year old home movie stock, ignore the A/C, ask yourself "When did the RAF issue black trousers?" Old film and lord know's how many times it was copied before this release.

Phil

[Giorgio N]

Not an expert on the Mosquito, but the lower surfaces in the top pictures look like medium sea grey to me, as they should be in the standard scheme

[Test Graham]

Looking again at the top picture, the pale patch is overlapping not just Dark Green but a darker grey. This could well be the Day Fighter Scheme as commonly applied to Mosquito bombers.

[chaddy]

AZ-F is not overall night. There are parts where the camouflage pattern can be seen and it appears to be DG/DE.

Cheers

[Seahawk]

Never mind the colours for a moment, what's going on in the corner between the plexiglass nose and the upper/lower fuselage demarcation, ie below the individual letter "B", on AZ-B? Looks like some kind of hatch. Never seen a Mosquito with a hatch there before. Visible in two different shots from 2 different angles so, if it's some kind of optical illusion, it's a very persistent one.

[Red Dragon]

A pity that most of the film Brian Harris shot was lost.

Phil

[occa]

AZ F certainly has a very unusual mix of upperside colors, you can see it at 3:29

I can count three different ones.

[Jennings Heilig]

When did the RAF issue black trousers?

In September of 1943, when the famous, but little known "Black Trousers" precision bombing/aerobatic team was formed at RAF Woodhall Spa. I'm working on a magazine article on them right now

Edited April 29, 2013 by Jennings Heilig

[Super Aereo]

The Squadron did have some RAAF personnel, I believe, so there certainly were some darker uniforms, even if I agree that the battledresses appear unnaturally dark in the pictures.

[The wooksta V2.0]

I'm not entirely sure, but nose of AZ-B looks similar to DZ383 after being modified for the Film unit. They had more nose glazing to film various raids.

[The original Kit Builder]

The aircraft coded AZ-B looks DE/DG only because the red saturation of the print is too high. It is actually the modified day scheme of OG/DG over Night, as far as I can tell.

Kit

Edited May 1, 2013 by Kit builder