Mike S

The 'rubble' type scheme was achieved in two ways. If vehicles went from UK they were either Khaki Green 3 or later SCC.12 brown. The lighter 'stones' were added locally with offiicial paints when possible or some local mixtures leaving the 'joints' the basic colour. Note that Matilda II 'Griffin' has its name on the base colour panel, not black as is shown on some artwork. When the A10 and A13 went from Egypt they were the Light Stone 61 then in use and had the dark 'joints' added on Malta. The design varied greatly , literally from crazy paving to chessboard and on many requisitioned civilian trucks too.

Most ground equipment was a single colour. but on bomber fields were it was normal to bomb up at dusk some of the trollys had white or yellow sides so as the more easily seen. One point about that coloured Churchill. The darker colour is SCC.14 black. Dark Tarmac would have been unlikely as its use was cancelled in late 1941 so only remaining stocks would have been used. The tank belongs to the Guards Armoured Divison Training Regiment and being the Guards it is tarted up. Strictly speaking it should not have the darker colour on it since the MTP.46 document does not mention AFVs in the instructions, only softskins. But numbers of AFVs were so painted in early 1942, but very few thereafter. I strongly suspect that there is a later directive somewhere that states that AFVs should not be so painted.

The colour of a Tilly at this time would have been SCC.2 brown basic with SCC.1A dark brown 'Mickey Mouse' disruptive painting. As the RAF did not use these cars then an army vehicle it has to be. Marked as and R.A. car since airfield defence was army responsibility for several years with 40mm Bofors and 20mm cannon. These were most likely officers vehicles so you need an Battery officers car marking. Suggest you try ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk for more information.

SCC.,15 did not come into use until April 1944. All equipment items before then were SCC.2 brown.

The correct terminology of colours is Dark Green, Dark Earth and Ocean Grey. There are no really close FS colours to these, they were MAP shades specifically for British aircraft. FS34079 is nearer than 340102. Nothing even close for Dark Earth but FS36118 lightened might do for Ocean Grey.

Having just come in on this interesting thread, I noticed other features on the photographs not yet mentioned. The colour demarcation lines are uneven and rough along the wings, lower fuselage and engine cowling. This strongly suggests to me an undersurface repaint. The serial is still visible on the rudder which suggests no change in the upper surface colours; ESG /DSG were not a scheme in 1939. The dark area under the leading edge might be black, it is difficult to be sure with the reflections off adjacent the top surface.

According to Barry Beldam HQ =50; 4 H = 52; 7 H =53. all on red. Kangeroos which were 4H & 7H DD Valentine IX & XI later replaced by Shermans, (D. Oliver) . Unfortunately Hodges & Taylor do not give the 15 army group independent brigades AOS in their book. Brigade sign is white horse on green. Joslen gives a full list of units but no markings.

The British did not use half tracks in the desert, Light Stone 61 is a NO with this. However 1st Army in North Tunisia which is not desert may have have some and they would have been US Olive Drab or SCC.2 brown with or without SCC.1A or black 'MM' type disruptive painting. For Operation Husky a specific disruptive pattern A/190 was issued in April 1943 for M2 scout cars and this was used for the M5/M9 series half tracks too.

There are no roundels showing and no other details either. I think that this is a heavily censored photograph, possibly for use in an aircraft recognition pamphlet as that sort of thing was done so as to make observers recognise/identify the type without any nationality aids. This was common during WW 2 and for years afterwards. Until recently I had the ROC recognition Journals from 1947 until the corps disbanded and many of the lessons in that used same style of presentation.

The large crosses were applied after the Polish campaign as stated due to friendly fire and the smaller sizes difficult to see. The slightly ambiguous order resulted in some cases on the display of two upper wing crosses.

I looked a those Wildcat pictures and concluded rightly or wrongly the these retained their original USN Light Grey underneath and had been repainted with the usual naval colours on top, due to the low contrast between those colours and the obvious greater contrast between Dark Earth and Mid Stone.

I am with Nick 100% on this. I recognised the pictures immediately. On this subject be warned; there is a book published last year titled something like 'WW 2 in Colour'. All of the contents are familiar, to me at least, of wartime pictures that have been colourised . There are some wonderful gaffs too. He 111 in RAF brown and green as are some Condor Legion Bf 109s based in France and Lamberty's shot down Dornier.

Just one point; steel helmets and webbing were not worn in tanks, they caught on all of the numerous protrusions inside and seriously hampered one's fast exit. Otherwise very neatly built.

Since that article by William was published, further photographs of 'Bellman' and other tanks of the unit show that the three colours were used. The problem with the colours used on this scheme is that Silver Grey and Light Stone often appear on photographs as single tone due to the type of film and emulsions used in the process.

It was usual for repaints of captured e/a to carry the scheme for trainers and communications aircraft, DE/DG and yellow. Although the Me 109G is in day fighter uppersurfaces.