Spitfire Mk.24 cockpit colours

[Jonny]

Hi ... 

A friend recently had an opportunity to visit IWM Duxford to take interior shots of some aeroplanes there.  One was the Mk.24 Spitfire.  He showed me his photos of the Spitfire and I was surprised to see the interior of the entrance door was RAF Interior green while the majority of the cockpit was black.

 

Does anyone know if this was normal or is the door perhaps a replacement?

 

Just curious ... my friend didn't ask the IWM staff!

 

Jonny

[Giorgio N]

Spitfire 24s had green cockpits when built, don't know if the IWM aircraft had these parts repainted at some point in service or during the restoration. The door may well be a replacement but in any case it would seem to be the part in the correct colour...

[Wez]

There's something nagging at the back of my mind on this, weren't the later Spitfires (and for that matter Seafires), painted grey-green in the lower areas but with the upper areas (from about the door lower sill upwards), in black?

 

This is the sort of thing that @The Wooksta! will know.

[hacker]

3 minutes ago, Wez said:

There's something nagging at the back of my mind on this, weren't the later Spitfires (and for that matter Seafires), painted grey-green in the lower areas but with the upper areas (from about the door lower sill upwards), in black?

 

This is the sort of thing that @The Wooksta! will know.

Thinking the same thing but yet to find anything in my files

 

Hacker

[Wez]

1 minute ago, hacker said:

Thinking the same thing but yet to find anything in my files

 

Hacker

Not just me going mad then - good to know!

[Giorgio N]

The matter of grey-green and/or black cockpits on the late variants of the Spitfire and Seafire was discussed here a few times. There should be threads with all the information, but to summarise, at least to the best of what my memory allows me, the situation was this:

Spitfires: all grey-green, with the possibility of black on a number of Mk.21s

Seafires: Seafire XV in grey-green. Seafire XVII with the mixed black/grey-green arrangement mentioned above. Later marks in black

[hacker]

no you are mad but what l been finding is the which is madding. PR XIX cockpit was all black ( probably due to the nature of it's job) but l got conflicting photos which shows the Mk 22/24 either all grey-green or as you said the top half black. The Seafire Mk 47 is half and half which leads me to believe right or wrong that originally all grey-green but the upper portion was paint black later when serviced . I will continue looking

[71chally]

15 minutes ago, Wez said:

There's something nagging at the back of my mind on this, weren't the later Spitfires (and for that matter Seafires), painted grey-green in the lower areas but with the upper areas (from about the door lower sill upwards), in black?

That was the impression that I was under, and agree with Hacker that it seems they started green and the black portions were applied during service..

[Wez]

7 minutes ago, 71chally said:

That was the impression that I was under, and agree with Hacker that it seems they started green and the black portions were applied during service..

Probably coincided with a Major servicing then when everything was stripped out.

[sloegin57]

I've been looking into the same matter with regards to a 48th contra prop 1Sqdn F.21 I am currently building.  The cockpit is currently green (deduced from the only small mono photo I have) with home made details but when complete I will be giving the two halves a misting of Dark Grey - just to tone everything down you understand but at the same time.................

 

I have searched what I think are all of the late lamented Edgar's comment on this but can find nothing definitive.

 

Dennis

[spitfire]

Here's some more info, https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?120298-Late-Mk-Spits-and-Seafire-interior-colour

Edgar comments here,

 

More

Several years ago, I saw a Mk.XVIII, which had been brought back from the Far East, and the cockpit was the "usual" green. The two preserved 24s, at Duxford, and Hendon, have green cockpits (albeit the Hendon example was over painted grey, at some time,) so it seems fairly safe to say that late-mark Spitfires did not have black cockpits. The only Spitfires, that I've been able to find, that might have had black cockpits, were those late 21s which were built at the same time (and place) as the Seafire 45. All XVIIIs had the "E" wing, with no outboard panels where the .303s had been.
Edgar

 

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[gingerbob]

Speculation: VN485 was a quite late-built Spitfire 24.  While the general impression is that Spitfires retained the all-green cockpit, it is possible that they "did 'em all the same" towards the end, adopting the black at least on the upper half of the cockpit, as was the practice on the late Seafires.  (There is some association between the Rear View hood and the black, to cut down on reflection, but obviously not a rigid correlation.)  It is important to note that by this time Spitfire/Seafire production was exclusively at the South Marston site (at least for these sorts- don't remember offhand when Seafire 17 production ended).  Spitfire 22s and some of the earlier 24s were either built at, or used fuselages from, the Castle Bromwich factory, so there may be some connection there.

 

bob

[jenko]

And to put another spanner in the works..........................

 

Modellers data file no. 5. Griffon powered Spitfire/seafire.

 

Page 103 & 104 shows  a mk 19 with black cockpit. Me thinks it was repainted later in it's life.

 

Any way back to the can of worms.....

 

Dick

Edited April 22, 2018 by jenko