JohnMacG

Oh, totally agree. I try never to trust a CSV, from any source, without a pic to back it up!

I just bought the French mag 'Batailles Aerien' #72 - RAF En France Pt.5, which deals with Blenheim operations over France from May 22 to June 18 1940, plus Blenheim ops in Greece, 1940-41 and Blenheim ops in Malaya 1941-42. Not much new in it, but it's all in one place & it's beautifully presented, withlots of nice CSVs. Now, the question - there's a pic 'taken from a Japanese film' of the wreckage of a Blenheim, coded 'A', with the serial number L493x,(wich would make it a Blenheim I, and not a IV as stated). Can anybody suggest the last # -it can only be one of L4930-34. And thoughts on what unit? I don't think it's MU-A from 60Sq, as there are pics of it captured in a derelict state, but not the pile of wreckage in the pic. And it'd not PT-A from 27, we have a pic of that. So FX-A from 62Sq, perhaps?

A few odds'n'ends regarding Malayan Blenheims - I've just bought the Airdix Blenheim I - nice kit, but with a few niggles: no radios behind the gunner's seat, they have moulded the sliding pilot's hood together with the upper cockpit glazing so a little careful sawing is required. Aldo for a Malayan Blenheim you'll need the Quickboost white metal air intake set, as mentioned in another thread. The small intakes mounted above the nacelles aren't included in this set, so you'll have to resort to the spares box. Noiw, questions - Pilots seat harness: photos I have of Blenheim I's seat harness seem to show merely a lap belt. By late 41 did Malayan Blenheims have a 'full' RAF-type seat harness? Likewise the observer (sitting beside the pilot) - lap belt or full harness? And what kind of harness did the gunner have in his turret? The bombers had all-black undersides: but did they have the underwing roundels? Photos seem to show both yes & no. The surviving Blenheims in Singspore had their single VGO turret gun replaced by twin Brownings. Anybody know when? Lastly, Blenheim IV V5581 - anyone know it's service history?

The French mag 'Avions' did a two-part article on this A/C some years ago. No BS510s went to Spain - this is usually a case f mistaken identity with a single much-earlier Spad 51. One squadron of BS510s was still in use by a second-line Regional Fighter unit (ERC 561? - I'd have to dig out the above-mentioned 'Avions' mag, & I'm not sure exactly where it is!) in the Calais-Dunkirk area in the winter of 1939-40. They had been replaced by more modern a/c by May 1940

Peter, to change the sudject a bit.... when your book is published, PLEASE let us know, plus how to get a copy.

Does anyone know - suppose the 'indom' HADN'T run aground off Bermuda and had accompanied 'Force Z' to Singapore, what would her air group have been? From reading Popham's 'Sea Flight' many years ago, I seem to recall she had 2 squadrons of Sea Hurricanes and 2 of Albacores. Correct or not? And if so, can anyone flesh out the details (WHICH squadrons)? TIA

....and I DON'T think it's colourizes! Go here - http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=14994.0 Anybody want to take a stab at the camo? I think it might be desert scheme.

So, after a week of fascinating debate snd 45+ posts on my original question about the colour of Buffalo I/D bands I think I can sumup by saying that - that the Buffalos probably had their undersides painted in light blue, but we don't know exactly which one. that the I/D bands were painteda lighter shade than the undersides, but we don't know what colour. Hmmm. I think I'm going to follow Mark's suggestion of a 'sky blue'-ish I/D band, matching the 'sky blue' on the Blenheim pics, with a slightly darker blue on the undersurfaces.

Of course, as soon as I finished writing my last post, I found thid colour pic of wrecked Buffs! http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/453-Buffalo/Brewster_Buffalo_W8156_destroyed_in_Malaya_via_Gordon_Birkett The I/D on the wreck on the right looks to my (terrible) eyesight, very like like 'sky'

Mark, thanks for clearing the Buffalo lightening process. It's odd that only the Aussie units did this to their a/c. I'm also coming round to your opinion of 'light blue' undersurfaces with a slightly lighter blue (sky blue'?) I/D band. I think I'll test this first tho' before applying it to my Buff. I'd also like to exzxplain a bit about what I said about 'sky' earlier. I doubt if RAF S'pore ever got any supplies of real 'Sky' from the UK. Britain couldn't ship out desperstely needed ammunition (see Mark's book & BS vol1 for the shortages), but they could ship out paint?Seems highly doublful. BUT, it has been noted in other blogs about how strict the RAF Staff in S'pore were about complying with RAF camo & markings directives. All I was trying to get across was that IF RAF S'pore wanted to, they had the paint stocks on hand to produce a very resdonable 'Sky'. I'm not saying they DID, but they COULD have if they'd wanted to.

OK Mark, I've been mulling over the above with my afternoon coffee, and here's my thoughts.which Let's start with tyhe Blenheims; I can't but wonder if that 'Sky Blue' was a local mix., using whatever paint was to hand. You could make something very similar using Roundel Blue and (a lot of) Roundel White. I seem to recall similar things being done in oyther parts of the world. Now the Buffalos; I think we have to go with Bingham-Wallis's description of a "pale-blue under-colour" with "the sky tail band a shade lighter....." After all, he was there! The trouble is 'pale blue' and 'sky' are very inexact references for modellers Which pale blue? Which 'sky'? So I wondered - if you can make a pretty good 'sky blue' from paints readily available in S'pore, could you do the same with 'sky'? Well I got my paint pots out and had a go, and I think you can. What you need is Roundel Blue, Roundel Yellow, Roundel White & black. All of which would have been in ample supply, surely. And it would explsin Take some yellow (this is NOT going to be exact!), and the tiniest smidgen of black, so that you have a khaki-ish colour, add LOTS of white until it's about the right lightness for 'Sky', and then finish off with a dab of blue, and voila, something very close to sky - at least the Xtracolor sky I'm using. Now I'm NOT saying RAF S'pore did this, just that they COULD have produced a pretty good 'Sky' this way. And it might explain those 'Sky' I/D bands & spinners. So I think I'll go with an underside blue slightly darker than 'RAF Sky Blue' and 'Sky' I/D bands & spinners. One last Buff question - honest The Buffalo lightening programme - removing cockpit clutter, replacing the wing .5 guns with .303s (and were the wing blisters covering the butts of the .5s removed too) and removing the aerial mast - was this limited to the RAAF squadrons or did all surviving Buffs go through this process?

Mark, that all seems logical to me. I'm not sure about the Buff's underside colour tho'. I suppose we'll have to wait until somebody pulls a reasonably-well-preserved Buff wreck out of the Malayan jungle to know!

OK.... one more time! I'm juat about to start masking my Tamiya 1/48th scale Buffalo: I intend to do it as a 243Sq a/c. Which brings us back to the never-ending question about the colour of the fuselage I/D band. Just how SURE are we the the I/D band actually was 'sky' (or something close to it)? Do we have any documentary proof that RAF Malaya Command actually ever received stocks of 'sky' paint? All I can tell from b&w pics is that the I/D band is lighter than the Light Blue paint used on the rest of the undersides. (Speaking of which, the most recent research I've seen on this colour is in Ian Baker's 'Aviation History Colouring Book #71' where he suggests the following colour matches for this blue :- Methuen - halfway between 24 B 3 & 24 B 4 - slightly darker than MAP Sky Blue FS - no real match possible. "What you would need is *5299 lightened back to around the tonal value of *4518.) So Mark & Graham B (and others), what's your opinion.

Thanks GRaham!

Does anyone on the board own a copy of 'The K File'? I'm looking for any info on Audax K7315, a photo of which appears in the book 'Mohawks Over Burma'. The pic, taken in India in early '42, shows 7315 fully-camouflaged and with what looks suspiciously like a Fighter Commsnd tailband (ID band). It's supposed to belong to 5 Squadron, but I wonder if this is one of the Audaxes converted to single-seat 'fighters' by 146 Sq (nos. 5 & 146 Sqs had a very close relationship).

Mind you, the old Airfix Blenheim ain't that bad. It's a kit of its' time & a bit basic by today's standards, but it's basically accurate & is only let down by truly appalling transparencies. Oh, and the "Airfix rivetter' was at work on it, too! BTW, has anyone ever tried the Squadron/Signal vac-form canopy set for the Blenheim IV on this kit?

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but old age & failing eyesight, well......... Des anyone know if Airfix plan to release a new-tool 1/72nd Blenheim IV to follow their very nice Mk.I?

Ah well...... L've been looking for a coneirmed code/serial tie-up for a 34Sq Blenheim IV for about 40 years now. I suppose something MIGHT turn up........ There's a couple of other 62Sq code/serials known: (I'm doing this from very fallible memory as I'm a LONG way away from my books - Mark can probably correct any mistakes!) :- FX-N crash-landed on Java 1st March '42. I think it was K8836. (BTW it haad twin Brownings in the rear turret. And, many moons ago, Air Enthusiast Quarterly did an article on the Benheim which had a pic of FX-L which I seem to remember as L1107, BUT I am doing this from memory. A book that might interest 27Sq afficinados is 'Tattered Eagle" by Geoffrey Rex Coolins(?). The author was a groundcrewman with 27 prior to the Japanese attack (there's nothing about the actual campaign in it as he lost contact with the unit after a couple of days and ended up escaping to India via Sumatra); what is interesting is that me mentions fitting the belly gun packs and even pilot's back armour as late as October 1941. Mark, that document you mentioned - the record of 34's ops (AIR 23/8459) could you e-mail me copy? I would be most grateful.

OK, well & good; we have a fair tie-up between squadron codes & serials for 27Sq's Blenheim I/Ifs and 62Sq's Blenheim Is. Now could someone PLEASE do the same fo 34Sq's Blenheim IVs in Singapore. There seem to be no pics showing squadron codes + serial tie-up, so mayb someone could look at the ORB (or something - anything - else) in the same way as has just been done for 62. I don't really hold out much hope, but.......

Coming back to my original question...... I really am on a budget, so the Hasegawa kit is NOT an option, and I'm not too sure about the SH kit either. I've got a couple of Airfix Buffalos, so I think I'll try turning them into presenable models. A bit work on the nose, add cowls from an old Revell Buffalo (I found a couple in the spares box), busy up the cockpit, using the instructions from an Eduard etch-brass set I used on my Tamiya 1/48th Buffalo and add a 339B/E tailcone. Oh, and if I'm building an E, I'll have to find a replacement prop from the spares box as the Airfix kit only has the cuffed type. One last thing; losing detail by sanding is not a problem - the Airfix rivetter had been hard at work on the Buffalo! As to the comment about 488 finding their Buffs in a 'sorry state', yes I've read that too, but books by 67 Sqn personnel say that they left the Buffs behind in '1st-class order' (and many os 67's people were Kiwis too!). I suppose it comes down to which book you read/believe!

The belly windows - as I understand it, the Finnish B-239s were delivered with the belly window, initially flew with them, but had them plated over as soon as they went in for an overhaul. The Belgian, Dutch and British Brewsters all had the belly window, and as mentioned above, I've never seen a pic of them being plated over. Even the 339-23/F2A-3 had a belly window, of different shape, even tho' the pilot couldn't see through it because a large fuel tank had been installed under the cockpit. Mark has it right about the Brewster in Malaya/Singapore, there were far too few for the task. But also most of the pilots were completely inexperienced and stright out of flying school, and were up against vastly more experienced pilots flying somewhat better aircraft. Another point that is rarely mentioned is there was a distinct shortage of ground crews, most of whom were as poorly trained as the pilots. One last point about the Brewater; the Dutch thought that their B-339Cs/Ds, at least with half-filled fuel tanks, was just as manoeuvrable as the Ki43 'Oscars' they encountered.

Hmmm.... now this depends on exactly WHICH 1/72nd scale plans you use, so.. with a bit of work, it looks as if the Airfix kit (which I have) will make up into quite a good Finnish B-239. I'm just wondering if by doing some work on the nose of the Airfix kit and adding the cowl and tailcone from the Mstchbox kit, I could get a reasonable B-339/Buffalo? My big problem with the Matchbox kit, apart from being distinctly 'basic', is tht lack of the belly window.

What do boardmembers think is the best 1/72nd kit of the Brewster Buffalo (NOT an F2A)? Price is an issue as well, guys!

Can anyone confirm the Hartbees colours? the one in the SAAF Museum is green/earth, but I've seen some sources giving these a/c as dk earth/mid stone (desert scheme). Thoughts?

Yes, the rear gun looks much more likea Browning than a VGO, even to my worn out old eyes! As to the kit.... errrrr......it's actualy the ancient, and horrendously inaccurate, Airfix 1/72nd kit...sort of. I havea resin correction kit for it: new wings, new tailplanes, new tail and a vac-form canopy. not much left of the original kit in fact, except for the forward fuselage, theairscrew (which needs some work) and the undercarriage (ditto). It's about time Airfix got round to re-tooling this horror.