Leather seat backs/seat cushions in RAF aircraft

[Spit Fan]

after looking at a number of WIP builds of WW2 RAF aircraft I realized that there seems to be no standard color for the leather seat backs and cushions. Some are black, some various shades of brown and others like the Lancaster are green. Were colors depended on suppliers and aircraft manufacturers?

 

I read somewhere that most Lancasters pilot’s were in a color referred to as Coach Green if so what about the nav’s and radio ops seats? Any  information greatly appreciated. 

[BLACKDUKE990]

I've been involved with a few British a/c restorations of various types from 40's and 50's which have had original seat backs/cousins in them.

 

From my observations Green and black seem to feature in larger a/c but fighters black or occasionally brown. 

 

Noted also that Green seems to show up in trainer aircraft a lot including stowage pockets/control column boots etc.

[Troy Smith]

16 hours ago, Spit Fan said:

after looking at a number of WIP builds of WW2 RAF aircraft I realized that there seems to be no standard color for the leather seat backs and cushions.

the danger of looking at models!

16 hours ago, Spit Fan said:

Some are black, some various shades of brown and others like the Lancaster are green. Were colors depended on suppliers and aircraft manufacturers?

Probably.    I suspect many which are 'brown' are looking at B/W photos and making the assumption.

16 hours ago, Spit Fan said:

 

I read somewhere that most Lancasters pilot’s were in a color referred to as Coach Green if so what about the nav’s and radio ops seats? Any  information greatly appreciated. 

that green cover seems to be more widely used than appreciated 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234942160-lancaster-interior-colour/&do=findComment&comment=1342451

 

Mosquito T.3 in Norway, which looks unrestored

Note green on seats and control column boots

more here

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234913230-mosquito-t3/

 

leading to

 

HTH

[Spit Fan]

Many thanks for all the replies. I had no idea that leather darkens so quickly with age. I had forgotten that the green leather color was also found in many Halifax’s but it was news to me that was also found in Mosquitoes too. So to recap the leather in WW2 RAF aircraft could be a very dark brown, dark green or black.  A closer inspection of war time cockpit photos is in order. 

 

I had had tried the search feature but couldn’t get a working match up with my question. Looks like I need to fine tune my queries 🤔.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

9 hours ago, Spit Fan said:

I had had tried the search feature but couldn’t get a working match up with my question. Looks like I need to fine tune my queries 🤔.

The search function doesn't work the best here. Try Googling something along lines of “WW2 british cockpit colors/britmodeller.” That will pull up relevant discussions on britmodeller and dometimes other forums. 

 

Dennis

 

BTW welcome to the Forum. 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle