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Spitfire DP845, Split flap hinges , 6 cannon wing, Any details?


Troy Smith

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Okay, this really started to bug me.

 

This is some of the key information from Ian Huntley's article.  My emphasis in italics.

 

Regarding Mixed Grey:

The instruction was passed to the units by teletype message, with the operative words being 'mix seven parts medium sea grey with one part of night, by volume’   The result was easy to achieve.

 

Observer Corps units appear to have received   the news of the proposed change at the same time as the Fighter Stations, on 15 August 1941. Details pointed out that fighters engaged on home defence duties would remain with sky undersurfaces and that both sky and grey undersurfaces would continue to be seen for some while to come.

 

Airframe Contractors' Instructions

Contractors were warned of an impending   change with the issue of ... 'a new day fighter scheme camouflage to be introduced on the production lines as soon as the new colours become available

 

Those concerned with the production of the Spitfire, Hurricane, Whirlwind and Mosquito were notified during November 1941, though no details about the 'new' colours were given.

 

Then, in March 1942, several notifications   were sent out describing a more tight adherence including new to camouflage schemes, definitive instructions about patterns and   demarcations and the location of national and other markings. What was happening was that instructions given on a series of earlier DTD Technical Circulars with regard to paint schemes were being rationalised into just one or two documents.

 

These were under the heading of 'Map Camouflage Schemes, General' and one of the first of the new instructions was issued as   Amendment No.3 to DTD Technical Circular   No.144 on 10 April 1942.

 

For the first time, this document made direct reference to the day fighter scheme as having dark green and ocean grey on the upper surfaces. Ocean grey turned out to be a base of medium sea grey to which a spot of yellow had   been added, which imparted a slightly greenish tinge to the mix. Then, a very small amount of   black slightly darkened the finish.

 

It would appear from this that Ocean Grey was not introduced on the production lines until around April 1942. Thus, anything seen prior to that date was the service-applied mixed grey.

 

My thoughts

I suspect that unofficial word would have found its way to contractors are more-or-less the same time the squadrons where informed and judging by Huntley's comments, it appears that airframes were painted in mixed grey until April 1942.

 

Experiment

I created some Mixed Grey using Mr. Paint Medium Sea Grey and Black.  I then sprayed it onto a spare Spitfire airframe, adding Medium Sea Grey, Ocean Grey and a small area of Dark Sea Grey for comparison.  I used MRP Darg Green as a delimiter.  Below are two views in natural light, the first in shade and the second in direct sunlight.  Now, naturally, a digital photo, uploaded to the web and then viewed on your screen is not going to provide 100% fidelity but it might give you an impression of the different shades.  Interestingly, Mixed Grey looks closer to Ocean Grey than I expected but it is quite light and if you compare this with the picture of DP845, I do now think it was painted Mixed Grey.

 

52271079292_eeff373af3_b.jpg

 

52272046336_f4c36fefa3_b.jpg

 

What do we think?

 

Cheers,

Neil

 

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12 hours ago, gingerbob said:

They all look grey to me! (Stated facetiously, but on my monitor, I simply can't make out much to distinguish one from another.)

 

Even with them in front of me, it's hard to tell the difference!

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