Spitfire Mk.XVI Bubbletop (TB675) questions

[warhawk]

Hello, I have been musing with starting a Mk.XVI Spitfire, namely "Rongotea" - s/n TB675 used by No. 485 Sqn RNZAF at Lind (Germany) in 1945.

I have some questions regarding this particular bird:

 

1. What were the colors of the spinner? I have seen all possible combinations of red (or black) with white (or yellow) so far.
2. Was this bird used operationally with this colorful spinner and all the emblems?

 

Please take a look at photos I have managed to find (below), and give me any opinion on these matters?

 

  

 

source: Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

[gingerbob]

Well, this thread is worth a read-through.  Also (especially?) this one, if you haven't already been there.

 

bob

Edited July 11, 2017 by gingerbob

[warhawk]

Thanks for the links, very interesting to see that M. Lind's son is active here.

However, one thing struck me as odd:

 

He wrote "Also I think the spinner was Black and White, not Red and White", and everyone just accepted this at face value.

What I mean by this is that colors of the spinner is not something high in a list of priorities a pilot would recollect when telling war stories to someone. 

 

Having said that, it does seem more likely, as a white stripe is easier to add to an already black spinner, rather than messing around with complete repaint in red during wartime

(having supposed this was done during wartime, of course).

[gingerbob]

This one didn't come to 485 Sqn until 17 May (or so), so the European war was over.  I think one of the links showed it with 74 Sqn with an all-black (we assume!) spinner.  I guess the question is, on what basis did anyone think that the spinner WAS red and white?  (Pretty sure that was touched on in one of the links, too, but I wasn't paying that much attention.)