mhaselden Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 (edited) There was an interesting thread on Hyperscale showing interesting markings on a 182 Sqn car door Typhoon: Chris Thomas chimed in that this is likely JP589, XM-Z, Flt Lt Keep's aircraft in the last few months of 1943 (note 'Z' on wing leading edges). The underwing markings are Typhoon recognition markings - apparently some Tiffies also had a single yellow stripe above the wing (piccies courtesy of Modeldad who posted them on Hyperscale): I'd like to thank Chris and Steve for sharing pics and insights. Anyone know what colours were applied as the checkerboards in the first pic? Maybe just plain old black and white? Cheers,Mark Edited July 24, 2014 by mhaselden 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewerjerry Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 .......There was an interesting thread on Hyperscale showing interesting markings on a 182 Sqn car door Typhoon...... Cheers, Mark Hi Well that is definitely against the official camo rules and regs.. good job that there is a photo to prove the deviation from normal. sorry no idea on colours. cheers jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 They are interesting, though. Looking at the colour pics, I'd never noted the bubble atop the Typhoon's canopy. Was that for a mirror? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewerjerry Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Hi yeah i would presume for a mirror, or to aid forward view when taxying ? hopefully chris thomas will answer cheers jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) Chris Thomas isn't needed for that. Wikipedia will do. Note the mirror visible in the blister in this Charles Brown shot. Edited July 25, 2014 by Work In Progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_m Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Not all coffin-tops had the blister. I think pilots complained that the mirror vibrated too much for it to be useful. IIRC, they were only fitted during the middle period of the production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 According to Chris, the markings were on Flight leaders' aircraft, as an aid to the others, to see him/them during taxying. I don't know if Typhoons were the same, but this is how fighters lined up for a stream take-off:- I can see how it would have been possible to lose sight of other aircraft, during that. If you're wondering about Flights of six, by 1945 the "finger-four" had been replaced by the "fluid six," though aircraft still fought in pairs. Edgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Not all coffin-tops had the blister. I think pilots complained that the mirror vibrated too much for it to be useful. IIRC, they were only fitted during the middle period of the production. In 1/32 the Revell kit doesn't have it and in 1/48, the Hasegawa car-door kit also comes without it. The relevant Falcon 1/48 sets (Clearvax Set 31) comes with both car door types, dubbing them "early" and "late"., with I *think* the blister type denoted as "late". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Thomas Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I thought I'd posted a lengthy reply to this and othe Typhoon topics. Did I post it on another thread? Anyone seen it? Do I have to type it all out again? All this 1/24 excitement has been too much for me ... CT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 You mean recently? Are you sure you pressed "Post" after typing it? I can't find anything that looks like it. Was it perhaps on *cough* another forum? (While obviously I have no first hand knowledge of such things, I am told by some heretics that they do exist) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Wyllie Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) Edited August 5, 2014 by Iain Wyllie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Thomas Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Ah well, here we go again. In response to Mark and Jerry's Qs ... No solid info on the inner door colours. These 182 Sqn examples are the earliest I have come across but later door markings were used to identify aircraft on approach or coming in off the runway, as an aid to ground crews/air traffic, and post war as decoration. With this appearance of XM-Z we now have 3 examples on the squadron, all in summer/autumn 1943. I know Z was Flt Lt Keep's aircraft, I have a copy of his log. The other two appear in a couple of shots of 182 lining up for t/o at New Romney. One was XM-V EK395**, the CO's aircraft, with chequers (which I illustrated as black and white in 2ndTAF Vol4 but they could have been other colours). The other, unidentified, has diagonal stripes on the inner door, which I think would have been the A Flight commander's aircraft. They are distant shots and do not give any indication of the colours. ** I've just noticed that the serial in the Vol 4 caption is correct but the profile has the wrong serial! - PFT - Photoshop Finger Trouble. The yellow wing stripe was introduced in September 1942 , 12" wide, encircling the wing in line with the inner cannon. It was superceded by the underwing black and white stripes and should have been totally removed. The message only seem to have been carried through on the 11Group units, 10 and 12 Group sqns carried the upper wing stripe until the summer of 1943. The blister, as noted in earlier posts, was indeed for a circular, swivelling, rear view mirror, mounted on a horizontal bar. Introduced in autumn 42 and discontinued spring 43 due vibration. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Thomas Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Chris, probably the one that is now on page 3 of the Hyperscale thread. Aargh, just too late Iain!! But thanks. At least I can correct the serial in the Hyperscale post! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Thomas Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Aargh, just too late Iain!! But thanks. At least I can correct the serial in the Hyperscale post! Chris Can only find my original post identifying XM-Z. My post about 2 hours ago remains missing. Replacement is posted above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Mackenzie Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Mark, Checker-board markings were used by Croatia. I would guess that the pilot (or aircraft) has some relation or tie with Croatia maybe? Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Umm, that's a rather tenuous connection from which to make a guess! bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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