meteor nightfighter radome colours

[plasticmasher]

Hi all,

I've been researching for my nf.12 project, and looking at lots of period colour pictures and some profiles.......most of the Wattisham Meteor NF.12 radomes seem to be a nondescript brown colour, was this unpainted for radar performance reasons? Most factory fresh seem to be black, or a close approximation of the camouflage scheme dk green/msg.

NF14's seem to be black, but so do lots of NF.11's, and there does not appear to be much consistency. Also a profile I have seen of a 152 Sqn NF.12 shows the radome as red, but I'm inclined to think this is an iffy interpretation of a period colour photo with poor reproduction.

Does the combined britmodeller brain have a handle on this.......I guess the black is/was a devcon type coating?

My Uncle worked for AW at Baginton building wings on Argosies I think, but he's long departed, and probably wouldn't have noticed...

Thanks

Ed

Edited July 25, 2014 by plasticmasher

[KevinK]

Ed,

The short answer is yes, you're right - the radome colour you've seen is the unpainted moulded plastic material and it was marked "do not paint" or something similar for exactly the reason you surmise. The dielectric properties of the skin must not be compromised, as this can result in absorbing radar energy, which will at least result in reducing sensitivity and therefore radar range.

This doesn't mean that it couldn't be painted at all, although self-coloured plastics would be an alternative, but would need particularly-specified finishes. Incidentally, this is not unconnected to the "stealth" concepts, where an aircraft paint finish can be made radar-absorbing for defensive purposes.

Kevin

Edited July 25, 2014 by KevinK

[Dave Fleming]

You can also see painted NF11 radomes

[plasticmasher]

Thank you Kevin, Dave.

I suspected that the 152 Sqn formation photo of mostly NF.14's were perhaps replacement radomes, unpainted, but has anyone seen how these NF radomes were delivered from the factory - did different marks have different finishes, or was one finish superceded by another?

An Aeroplane 'special' on the Meteor shows inconsistencies between marks and finishes, so I think there must be more to it; MSG/Dk Green looks like a factory finish on 11's, 12's, 13's while 14's often appear black....I'm still confused, except I don't think there was ever a red nosed one at Wattisham, although maybe at Christmas....?

[bentwaters81tfw]

Looking at RAF Wattisham, a pictorial history, yes there is a profile with a red radome. Looking at the notorious b/w photos in the same book, some Mk 12s and some Mk 14s have a much paler radome than the other black nosed NF14s.

There are no colour photos sadly.

[Dave Fleming]

Not my pic, but this shows an NF14 with the natural radome

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p398/navrad/63NF14YarmouthMedium.jpg

You can see why it might get mis-interpreted as red.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Dave Fleming