Walrus L2312 de Gaulle rescue attempt

[rossm]

On June 18th an attempt was made to pick up the family of General de Gaulle from Britanny using Walrus L2312 of 15 Group Comms Flight (RAF Coastal Command) and crew from 10 Sqdn RAAF together with an RAF wireless op and an army intelligence officer.

A full account is in the 10 Sqdn history including a photo of the aircraft which appears to show a high demarcation line on the side of the fuselage.

The question is what would the camouflage scheme have been?

Is it really a high demarcation line between upper and lower surfaces or the demarcation of the 4 colour shadow compensating scheme used for biplanes?

Presumably the Sea scheme Extra Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate Grey (and maybe the lighter versions on lower wings/fuselage sides) even though Sunderlands at Mount Batten had the land scheme colours Dark Earth/Dark Green ?

What underneath? It's definitely a pale colour in the photo - Yellow as it was from a communications unit? Was yellow ever used on amphibians and flying boats? It's a bit early for Sky to be around so Sky Grey?

The attempt was unsuccessful with the Walrus crash landing off course in Brittany killing all four on board. de Gaulle's family arrived in England on the last boat to leave Brest.

Thanks in advance,

Ross

[tonyot]

I would say that it was Sky Grey with shadow shaded Temperate Sea Scheme upper surfaces. As a memorial to this aircraft and mission the Plymouth Aquarium has a replica Walrus wreck inside its shark tank!

Cheers

Tony