robert.xii Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Hello, i am looking for any close up of triangle badge placed on Spitfire VIII tanks covers from 92 squadron in Africa. i saw it on some photos but often blurred or very small. have you seen any good photo of that? i've found it was called Desert Air Force badge - but i do not have any confirmation. i be very thankful for any support from you Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I have always thought that it was the Desert Air Force insignia inside the triangle but I have also seen decals which show 92 Sqn`s snake and laurel insignia instead,.....so I`d be interested to know myself. Cheers Tony O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominikS Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Cześć Robert/Hi Robert! As far as I remember I can't recollect any badges on Spitfires used by No.92 Sqn in Africa- either Mk.Vs or IXs. As for Mark VIII the only badge I have seen was not Squadron's emblem but WDAF's. I have never seen Squadron's badge on their "Eights". So, iMHO, Xtradecal and Eagle Strike both made mistake. The only decal set with correct badge is Barracuda Srudio's. What's interesting I have seen this badge on Desert Scheme Spitfires not on Day Fighter Scheme Spitfires. If my braun works well and I rebember correctly you once have painted that unit's Spitfire in Monorgrafie Lotnicze published by late AJ Press and it has correct badge - it was Spitfire Mk.VIII or IX QJ-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 There is a photo in Spitfire Special by Ted Hooton captioned as being taken in Italy, autumn 1943 and having the DAF badge on the fuel tank (behind the engine). You can't really see the badge but what you can see matches the colour drawing in the same book - a white triangle, apex at the top, with a small dark eagle or hawk above a blue outline of a shield containing a yellow cross. Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Cox Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Hi Robert, The following crops should be of assistance. Cheers, Daniel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert.xii Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 hello, Daniel, thanks a lot for picture details! seems, there were 8th Army shield and RAF eagle at the badge. but still have no any idea about mistery shape behind a shield. mayby somebody has any idea what the shape is? so now i can imagine the badge as that: on your pictures, Daniel, i can see there were 2 differend shapes of a shield. that makes this case more complicated. br robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 (edited) Does this help; Obviously not 100% accurate but there should definitely be a set of wings next to the shield. On the 8th Army badge the outline of the shield is generally blue, I`ll have a look through my stuff for more. Cheers Tony O PS- If it helps here is the wartime insignia of 3 Sqn RAAF,...Note the blue outline to the 8th Army badge. Edited October 25, 2013 by tonyot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 The outline of the shield is blue in the drawing I found, Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert.xii Posted October 26, 2013 Author Share Posted October 26, 2013 Hi again, thank you for all suggestions!!!! Aree, sheld outline seems different then a cross. so i changed that acordingly then i added wings on shield sides. gold probably. But this part is visible on some pictures, some not. so now, rougly, my idea is like that: i found well know picture from IWM of Lt. Sachs from 92 sq. there is visible badge like that: it seems, wings shape is wider at bottom part there. well, that's not easy. still working on that. robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Has anything more been discovered about the white triangle badge? I see Eduard has designed their decal marking to include what appears to be a lioness on either side of the shield. I've only found the American sleeve badge, which is quite different other than the 8th Army shield with yellow cross: regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 It looks different to Xtradecal sheet 72-177 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/xtradecal-x72-177-supermarine-spitfire-mkviii--326963 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 Yes, that is probably the same Xtradecal set that was already mentioned. It mistakenly has no.92 Squadron badge elements of the cobra and red maple leaves. Unfortunately all the links previously posted are dead, so studying this from scratch. The bottom detail around the 8th Army shield does appear to be symmetrical ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 Basically what Eduard has, but instead of languishing lions, I borrowed one from a WWI poster and made a mirror image of it. Of course the animals should be solid silhouettes ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 3:35 AM, JackG said: Yes, that is probably the same Xtradecal set that was already mentioned. It mistakenly has no.92 Squadron badge elements of the cobra and red maple leaves. Unfortunately all the links previously posted are dead, so studying this from scratch. The bottom detail around the 8th Army shield does appear to be symmetrical ... It looks like DK Decals' have got it right with their Spitfire MTO Aces decal set. It includes four aircraft, three from 92 and the fourth being Kingcome's aircraft in the above photo, and they all have the DAF badge in the triangle. This has rather taken me by surprise because the Osprey 'Spitfire Aces of North Africa and Italy' book has a profile of a 92 sqdn Spitfire VIII with their cobra and Laurel leaves in the triangle. Despite frequently perusing DK's decal set I never noticed that their decals are the, presumably, correct DAF insignia, not the 92 badge! Talk about the power of suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominikS Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 DK Decals and Barracuda, and Eduard AFAIK, has the badge right. Xtradecals has it wrong - it has squadron's badge. What's more. I've seen squadron's Mk.IX with the unit's badge in one decal set. However, I have never seen Mk.IX photos of this squadron with any kind of badge. And I've noticed that the badge on Mk.VIIIs disappeared when the camouflage changed. Once I saw a photo of Mk.VIII Spitfire with a camouflage which looks like Dark Green/Dark Earth instead of Desert Scheme. And as far as I remember it was not unusual in MTO, so it is possible. And there was at least one Spitfire Mk.VIII in High Altitude scheme. And it didn't have the WDAF badge either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 (edited) There is some variances among the three accepted brands being correct. Barracuda has omitted the detail on either side of the shield, and appears to have gone with black for the RAF eagle. DK Decals has both a dark and dull red eagle, while the shield has a red cross - St.George? Two of the three do appear to have chosen the lion on either side of the shield. Still wondering how that conclusion was made, is there a much clearer photo as yet not discussed here? Note that the lion was not mentioned at all when this thread was first initiated. I'm still entertaining the idea that those bottom silhouettes could possibly be the desert jerboa.... Edited August 26, 2022 by JackG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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