rossm

To quote from Henshaw's book "on the 8th of May Dad drove me to Luton to take delivery of the Mew Gull......................................re-registered G-AEXF in place of ZS-AHM. The gold letters and wingtips had been changed at my request to racing green." The Air Britain production history has the date of re-registration as 18.5.1937 - I guess it's easy to add or lose a "1" somewhere in the intervening years - but it almost certainly means there was no gold lettered G-AEXF although Henshaw's words are ambiguous and could be taken to mean just a change of colour but I now think the change of registration happened at the same time. The photo above also casts doubt on his recollection of gold letters as ZS-AHM. There is a photo in the Air Britain book where ZS-AHM appears to have paler letters but that may be just a poor quality photo as it does not seem to have any true blacks, even in shadows.

I agree those photos don't appear to show a dark blue but when someone who worked for Percival wrote the house colours were white and dark blue my first thought is to wonder how dark? I'd like to know the primary source for the use of gold before changing my mind. To underline my point about blue sometimes showing up pale here is an RAF aircraft with what appears to be a pale blue on the roundel - EXCEPT the RAF didn't use pale blue for roundels then! AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1919-1939. © IWM (H(AM) 223) IWM Non Commercial License

Combining both books and trying to work out which is right when they differ is fun! Throw in Henshaw's Flight of the Mew Gull and Ted Chapman's history of The Cornwall Aviation Company which includes Air Publicity. Here is my best effort, note the company livery is as described by John Silvester who worked for Percival in the 1930s. The dark blue lettering he refers to has a variety of tones in photos but think of how long interwar RAF roundels were though to have a pale blue when this was an effect of the greater sensivity of early film to blue. G-ACND – both iterations appear to be in the standard company livery of off-white with dark blue lettering (Silvester) or satin white with blue lettering (Air Britain). G-AEKL – Prior to acquisition by Air publicity in September 1936 it was probably in the house white and blue and was then repainted white with a black top to the fuselage and black wing uppersufaces and lettering. Post accident (19th September) it was rebuilt and painted maroon with gold lettering, wingtips (NB although mentioned in both Silvester and Air-Britain there is a photo in Chapman dated 21st August 1937 with no evidence of gold on the upper wingtips) and flashes along fuselage and undercarriage. Later again (Dec 1937?) it was repainted overall black with red lettering outlined in gold. ZS-AHM "The Golden City" – standard company livery of off-white with dark blue lettering (Silvester) or gold lettering (Henshaw), name in copperplate lettering on engine cowling. Re-registered as G-AEXF in May 1937, British Racing Green letters and wingtips. ZS-AHO “Baragwanath” – initially G-AEMO, pillar box red with gold name in copperplate lettering on engine cowling. Presumably gold lettering. G-AFAA - flight tested unpainted then white with blue lettering and trim. Corrections and additions welcome!

I don't think anyone is doubting you, it's just not all of us have access to photos at that resolution so we've been struggling with what was posted above and our comments re funny looking serials relate to that. The image on the IWM site downloads at 42.7kb and you can pay for a hi-res version if you want one.

More photos from, presumably, the same day here https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=attlebridge&pageSize=60&media-records=all-records&style=list&filters[webCategory][Photographs]=on&filters[themeString][Royal+Air+Force+1939-1945%2C+Bomber+Command]=on I reckon the photo above is a crop from this one https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205207810 but with serial numbers retouched and some funny sharpening of some bits. ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBER COMMAND, 1942-1945.. © IWM (COL 194) IWM Non Commercial License

The whole photo has a slightly strange look to it, there's the funny serials, the out of focus bloke in the foreground complete with lifejacket and the sharply focussed bloke behing the aircraft plus the aircrewman climbing out is half sharp and half fuzzy. Also the bloke with his head missing under AL683(?) doesn't ring true - his jacket seems to be JUST in front of the underside colour? I don't think we're seeing what the camera saw.

Got to my books earlier than expected, the John Silvester book Percival & Hunting Aircraft has the best descriptions of colours. I'll try to precis when I get time.

If you think gold looks similar to yellow to a camera, orthochromatic film - often used in those days - renders yellow as black so gold letters would look dark. Red would also look dark.

Online the best I've found is http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/bleneau/mewgull/mewgull.pdf There are two books on Percival aircraft, one published by Air Britain and an older one - I can give you more details next weekend when I get back to my books. In the meantime here is my WIP, stalled by a house move and consequent 1:1 scale DIY projects

The Azur scheme you found looks like the experimental scheme referred to by @Graham Boak so is a possibility, I'm not sure if identities of airframes can be pinned down to see if it was applied to the one we're looking at? Given the visible wear and tear from dust and desert sun plus repairs and paint touching up and the uneven illumination of the differently angled surfaces I'm not surprised it's a struggle to get any worthwhile results from computer analysis. It's also possible the roundel has been wholly or partly repainted at some time to change it from a B to an A to an A1. Bear in mind red and blue are not identical to even pan film see

You can tell from the shadows that the camouflaged one in your example has strong sidelighting, hence the effect of a chage of angle near the vertical will be very small. Look at the first photo in that page - of the silver prototype - and you will see the change of angle at the top of the rudder along the first rib down.

I can see what you mean but, given the line follows a rib, I would go with the general idea that aircraft in a strongly regulated environment such as the 1940 RAF will be in a standard scheme. Only if you can find more evidence (e.g. another aircraft with the same effect, the same aircraft in different lighting, official documentation) would I think the balance tipped towards some special marking. Of course, as @ClaudioN has pointed out, fresh paint on repairs looks different from that which has been exposed to the weather for a while but I don't think that's the case with the fin. I've tried the same sort of thing as @JackG but never felt 100% happy with the results - I think every different film has slight variations in colour response even if labelled panchromatic. Then you have to guess what, if any, filters were used maybe to darken skies or increase the contrast of foliage. There is at least one photo I have tried to work out where nothing makes sense - no matter what scheme/film/filter combination I try out there is no strong correlation to the tones in the photo. Another fly in the ointment is that official documents could be misinterpreted or contain mistakes, DTD 360 specifiying camouflage colours in the later war years certainly does, often followed by corrections. So there could be variations in colours in "standard" schemes until errors were made good on affected airframes.

See how the lightness of the tone changes on the longeron above the '3'. The fin tip also changes brightness on a structural member so I suspect you are just seeing the effect of a differently angled surface. The shadow suggests the sun is overhead so anything vertical is goint to look dark compared to the same colour on a surface with even a slight angle from the vertical. Or maybe the roundel and fuselage were masked along the longeron and repainted?????

I've just discovered this thread - it looks like a DH4 or DH9 but not 9A would be good starting points for a 1/72 build????

Code letters are not listed in the 312 Squadron ORB and photos are few and far between. I've tried the ORB (Summary of Events, Record of Events and Appendices), Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and the Red Kite book Czechs in the RAF. I'm looking for the individual letter for any of AA970, BL957, AB939, R7158, AD572, BL260, BL512 while with 312 Squadron in June 1942 if anyone knows any of them please.

Glad you got the book, there would have been a lot to scan If you get stuck for decals I can probably find some codes, serials, roundels and fin flashes from various Modeldecal or Xtradecal sheets.

I've just got to my books and photos appear to confirm aluminium for the interior but with loads of dark boxes (black?). If you want scans there's a number of pages which I can do tomorrow.

I thought the Griffon rotated the other way?

2 aircraft at the same angle to, and distance from, the light source? I assume the same distance as the usual light source is the sun but it's worth asking just in case. It is possible for the two to be different in any case................. The specification for the code letters was pretty exact from well before the Whirlwind came into service so there shouldn't have been variation until 15th August 1941 when they changed to Sky. The roundel style didn't change until May 1942 so it's possible to see both colours of code letter with the early roundels althouth the Dark Earth areas of the camouflage changed to Ocean Grey (or the interin mixture known informally as Mixed Grey) and the undersides from Sky to Medium Sea Grey. I guess during late August 1941 it was possible to see aircraft in an assortment of colours as they changed over.

I have the Martin Streetly books on 100 Group, if nothing has turned up by the weekend I should be able to have a look then. The internal layout was probably different to accomodate the electronics and extra personnel. IIRC Streetly has detailed drawings. Also IIRC there is a more recent book on 100 Group but I don't recall details.

If you can wait I'm happy to send you the Gauntlet option from my sheet when I get my hands on it.

I think he means the Aircraft in Profile booklet series - just looked mine up and there is a colour 3-view drawing of the 17 sqdn one.

I can do a scan from the book if necessary, just let me know.

This could be the answer https://www.scalemates.com/kits/model-alliance-ma-72157-wings-silver-part-2--998012 finding one is not easy as it's out of print but I hope to get my hands on one sometime as my cousin in the USA should have one for me. I'm interested in the Bulldog option so could part with the Gauntlet. Just don't hold your breath as it's in her suitcase to be brought over in person, whenever that is allowed.

Other 42 squadron aircraft seem to have carried the aircraft letter on the nose (and chin turret) made into a name. A good start could be a 4" white W from https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72158 or https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/VA7282 or another suitably sized white W