Gift Spitfires! Does anyone know what type of stencil font this is?

[Dr Lurve]

Hi all

Can anyone tell me the name of the stencil font that is depicted in the linked photograph? It appears to have been in common use for application of names to Gift Spitfires? Also, would anyone know whether it is available commercially to purchase for use in MS Word, graphics software etc.

Thanks

Rob

http://cdn2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/migration_catalog/article25704025.ece/4d204/ALTERNATES/h342/spitfire

[Troy Smith]

Hi Rob

this one?

http://www.identifont.com/similar?264

Looks pretty close to me

Plenty of free fonst

this one looks pretty close,

http://www.1001fonts.com/lintsec-font.html

Some pointers for you, there are many free fonts if you search

HTH

T

[Dr Lurve]

Thanks so much Troy...great detective work!

Regards

Rob

[Jennings Heilig]

The most basic "stencil" font

[Work In Progress]

Amazing, isn't it?

If I'd paid the £5,000 to have naming rights on a Spitfire (actually very close to the the price being paid for them by the Air Ministry in 1940, (and about £250,000 in today's money), I would have lashed out the extra ten shillings to have the gift titling put on by a proper signwriter.

[John]

W3243 "The Falkirk Bairn" had the name applied in a rather nice italicised script script at the factory. So did W3207. What happened subsequently is, of course, anybody's guess.

John

[John]

Somewhat belated but this is W3243, the style of the lettering is consistent with that shown in the photograph taken when it came off the line in May 1941. It had clearly seen some repainting by the time this photo was taken:

J

[Radpoe Spitfire]

Hmm, the italicised writing found on the above photo reminds me of the legend applied to 616's YQ-U, aka the Manchester Civil Defender. I believe this aircraft may also have borne the legend Baders Bus Co in a standard stencil script.

Either way the aircraft was the mount of Johnnie Johnson when he still flew with the Squadron.

[VoyTech]

Spitfires built by the factory at Castle Bromwich (CBAF) had presentation names applied with the simple stencil. Those from the dispersed Supermarine production used more ornamental style (like The Falkirk Bairn).

[Jennings Heilig]

The script is not a "font". It's hand painted.

[Ivor Ramsden]

The script is not a "font". It's hand painted.

I agree that the "Bairn" name is signwritten but the Castle Bromwich names were applied using stencils and that's what the OP was asking about, presumably so he could use a downloadable font to make a decal.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Ivor Ramsden

[Jim Kiker]

Hi Ivor and all,

Not to be too pedantic, but I think what Jennings is driving at is that "font" is the term associated with computers and digital lettering in our more modern times. Therefore, while there were standardized typefaces available during WWII they were not a type of font. In some modeling cases this may make little difference, especially if a modeller is willing to go with something that is "close enough." One thing Jennings knows well, and I have come to appreciate, is that a great deal of aircraft lettering in the WWII era was done by hand, so that there are noticeable differences in size, width of stroke, etc. in the code letters (for example) among different airframes even when painted by the same man. Many modern decal makers make the mistake of creating letter sets in a modern, completely standardized font, even when the hand-painted, non-standard markings they want to replicate is there to be seen in photos. And that's just one of the things the Fundekals guys bring to the decal party that is otherwise quite rare!

Cheers, Jim

[pigsty]

"Font" has always been the term for a full set of characters, of all sizes, in a particular typeface. The two have become interchangeable but even that's not attributable to Microsoft.

The first one that Troy Smith posted is in fact called Stencil. I can remember when you could buy it as rub-down letters from Letraset, but it'll be out there somewhere in cyberspace. But I would guess that nothing currently available is an exact match for the letters used in the war, which would probably have been knocked together in an MoS drawing loft and made from die-cut card.

[Jennings Heilig]

Most people in the 21st Century have no idea what the word "font" actually means. Likewise the terms "leading" or "emspace". These are typographical terms with origins going back almost to Herr Gutenberg. The vast majority of things during the WWII era were in no way "fonts" by any strict definition of the term. A specific style of letters & numbers could more accurately be called a "type style". During WWII most things like stencil data on airplanes was applied using either stencils (invariably hand cut, with the inevitable individual variations), with decalcomania (which would have probably had more uniformity, since it was produced using a photomechanical transfer system), or with rubber stamps (most P-51 stencils were applied that way).

[pigsty]

Most people in the 21st Century have no idea what the word "font" actually means. Likewise the terms "leading" or "emspace". These are typographical terms with origins going back almost to Herr Gutenberg.

You know, I'll venture most people in any century have never had any idea what those terms mean. They're specialist jargon - by definition, confined to specialists.