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Banff Strike Wing Mosquitos - Invasion stripes until when in 1944?


Lawzer

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Hello all,

 

I have picked up an airfix 1/48 mosquito prx vi off here and I want to depict a machine flying out of RAF Banff late 44 (as the FB VI - luckily all the original sprues are included in the kit).  As luck would have it AM decals are available (Xtradecal  X48156) which include FB.Mk.VI RF838 EO-A 404 Sqn RAF Banff 1945 and FB.Mk.VI RS623 VV-A 235 Sqn RAF Banff 1945.  Now my question is would these have had invasion stripes in late 44?  I got some info on Beaufighters flying out of Banff towards the end of 44 (September / October) and they had the stripes still on the underwing and on the fuselage.  I have seen some photos showing invasion stripes but none were dated.

I know there is a book (can't remember the title off hand but I need to get along to the local library as they have a copy :) )which will hopefully shed some light but wondered if anyone had any info?

 

And on a side note, anyone want the sprues to build the prx or indeed the nf 30? ;)

 

 

 

Edited by Lawzer
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Hi Lawzer

 

first, your topic heading is misleading,  if you use 'edit' and then 'full edit'  you can edit the topic heading to "Banff Strike Wing Mosquitos - Invasion stripes until when in 1944?"  of something of that ilk, so you can see at a glance what you want to know.

 

 Terry from Aviology decals posts here, and I bet he'd  know.

 

these from Etienne Du Plessis flickr maybe of interest/use 

 

5521706915_ecc347739f_o.jpgLoading rockets   1945. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

15474365966_e825d2d3c2_o.jpgMosquito FB.VI, 1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

7956719722_4f3c6651a6_o.jpgCoastal Command Mosquito 1944. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

all the colour Mosquito pics here

https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=8270787@N07&q=mosquito

 

HTH

T

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Topic changed :)

 

From the info I got on the beaufighters they had been based down south before the move to banff so I'm not sure if machines this far away from the d-day beaches would even have had invasion stripes applied (if they had been based up here since before d-day)?

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The book to look at is A Separate Little War , by Andrew D Bird . There`s only one pic of a Mosquito with stripes ,

V Victor of 235 Squadron , though some of their Polish Mustang escorts at Peterhead have them . I would think

they had been down south for D Day .

PS back in `54/55 I was in civvi digs in Kingswells , with my last 5 months of service at Dyce , although at the

time you are interested in I think Dyce was Coastal Command .

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3 hours ago, Lawzer said:

Topic changed :)

 

From the info I got on the beaufighters they had been based down south before the move to banff so I'm not sure if machines this far away from the d-day beaches would even have had invasion stripes applied (if they had been based up here since before d-day)?

 

The AEAF stripes order

 
If the Beaufighters had them so did the Mosquitos, but new Mosquitos delivered later on would not, and aircraft turnover was fast...
 
the stripes were supposed to be removed by 31/12/44.  
 
I google image searched  "Banff strike wing Mosquito"
 
has this image
Banff_Winter_time_1944_45.jpg
 
No stripes visible.   
 
248 Sq joined the Banff wing, they had been on Cornwall, and their Mosquito XVIII had stripes
 
RAF_Mosquito_with_Molins_gun_WWII_IWM_CH
 
but as I said before, the chap most likely to know is Terry from Aviaeolgy 
 
Send him a PM, or look up  his decal sheets, very carefully researched.
 
I'll have a look through some books later
 
cheers
T

 

 

Edited by Troy Smith
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There's one tip not mentioned - if the Mosquito is carrying its codes over the wing, then that's a pretty strong hint that it previously carried stripes.

 

Stripes on the uppersurfaces were generally removed by the end of July, if not sooner.

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Thanks folks!

 

The book I'm going to borrow is called Banff Strike Wing at War (isbn 9780857040725) so I'm hoping I'll get some inspiration from that.

 

The beaufighter I'm going to do will have under wing and fuselage stripes so I may do the mosquito without any as (pending conformation) I think the colour scheme is essentially identical so don't want the mrs asking why I have 2 models of the same thing :)

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31 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

There's one tip not mentioned - if the Mosquito is carrying its codes over the wing, then that's a pretty strong hint that it previously carried stripes.

 

Stripes on the uppersurfaces were generally removed by the end of July, if not sooner.

Also on Beaufighters

UK2218.JPG

This arrangement was only used by the Banff/Dallachy strike wings as far as I'm aware.

Elsewhere standard code positions were used with various degrees of overpainting/repainting.

 

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The AM details show the aircraft from 235 squadron with that arrangement (as I believe does a 1/72 airfix kit).  Looks quite different so I think I will end up doing that machine.

 

In fact it's pretty much settled as the other one (404 squadron) at least on the AM sheet appears to be carrying external tanks and I don't think they are the same as the tanks that came with the nf sprues but I may be wrong.

 

Now if I can just find out if this aircraft was a rocket carrier as the beau is going to carry a torpedo......

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I looked at my copy of "A Steep turn to the Stars"( history of aviation in the Moray Firth) last night and if the photographs are captioned correctly, the Mosquitos had lost the their stripes by Autumn 1944. On a side note some of the Beaufighters further up the coast at Dallachy still had them.

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thanks all!

 

what a mine of information this site is :)

 

So it's decided:

 

Beaufighter with partial stripes

Mosquito none (but with the "repositioned codes)

Mustang with none.

 

 

19 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

For the 404 Sq look for the twin carriage rockets carried outside of the tanks - and particularly check Aviaeology!

 

WOW!!!

Those sheets will be a big help!

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