Gloster Meteor FR.9 - MPM kit

[Peter Rozendal]

Dear all,

 

One of the options in the MPM kit is this one - 208 Sqn WX956/A 1956:

It looks pretty with its large orange patches.

 

However I cannot find any photo's of this aircraft.

Profile drawings are in (among others) Scale Aircraft Modelling November 1984 (volume 7 nr 2) and Valiant wings productions: The Suez Crisis.

 

The reason that I am looking for photo's is that the serial number seems to be incorrect. WX956 was never issued to any aircraft. Meteor FR.9's in the WX serial block started from WX962.

According to the book Cold War Shield volume 1, 208 Sqn usd red and yellow as flight colour markings, not blue as indicated by the above profile.

 

In Airfile 10 - RAF Middle East & Near East is a similar looking profile of WX966/A:

 

The main question is: Did this airframe really sport the large orange panels or was it painted in the high altitude Day Fighter scheme?

 

Hope someone knows (and the difference can be deduced from b/w pictures)

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter

 

[rossm]

956 vs 966 looks like a possible typo. I can't check my Meteor references until next week, sorry.

[Peter Rozendal]

Thanks Ross,

 

I concur on your typo theory. but remarkable that it is repeated in various publications.

 

Peter

[tonyot]

I wrote an article about the Meteor`s of 208 Sqn along with building a model of one and I proved that the orange patches were bogus and that the scheme was actually something called the Long Range Fighter Scheme with PRU Blue undersids and sides,.... with Medium Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey upper surfaces. It was also worn by Vampire`s and Hornet`s,...... so why the LR Fighter Scheme,....who knows...... for the Hornet yes but the others?

Anyway,.... here is my 1/48th Classic Airframes model,... you can see the light grey areas correspond with the so called `orange' areas,...... I made a mistake with the rear of the engine nacelles,..... the PRU Blue curves around the rear end as the upper surfaces demarcation is totally straight;

 

[tonyot]

Some pics of the real thing;

 

This one shows the above scheme among some DSG/DG/PRU Blue FR.9`s o 2 Sqn in Germany;

 

And another,.... the far aircraft wears the scheme;

 

These 208 Sqn a/c wear the more usual DSG/DG/PRU Blue finish but have been included for reference, especially the sqn bars etc;

 

 

A mix of schemes on 208 Sqn;

 

All the best,

                 Tony

 

[rossm]

11 minutes ago, Peter Rozendal said:

Thanks Ross,

 

I concur on your typo theory. but remarkable that it is repeated in various publications.

 

Peter

Could be they used the same artist. I prefer Tony's interpretation although I see he has WX956 !

[Dave Fleming]

From memory, the orange panels first appeared in the 1984 Suez issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling mentioned above (They were not on the drawing of the same aircraft in the original Meteor Single seater issue, albeit that was in standard Day Fighter scheme) so i think Mike Keep has misinterpreted a poor B+W photo of an aircraft in the MSG/DSlateG scheme, especially with the high demarcation. All other representations seem derive from this one.

 

WK966 was 'A' of 208 Squadron from 09.04.54 - 12.03.58

 

208 operated a miscellany of schemes!

 

[72modeler]

@tonyot,

 

Not my scale, but those are great photos and your PR9 is awesome! Are you sure it's not airbrushed or rattle-canned? She's luvverly, mate!

Mike

[tonyot]

4 hours ago, 72modeler said:

@tonyot,

 

Not my scale, but those are great photos and your PR9 is awesome! Are you sure it's not airbrushed or rattle-canned? She's luvverly, mate!

Mike

Cheers mate,..... nah all hairy brush! 

[Dave Fleming]

Just to wrap up, this is from the BARG artcle on the FR9, based on contemporaneous notes, and published in 1989:

 

Quote

Meteor FR.9's first left the factory in an overall silver scheme and operated as such until camouflage was re-introduced in April 1953. Aircraft in service in Germany were repainted at Fassburg in Green/Dark Grey upper surfaces and PR blue undersides. Later production aircraft emerged in the UK PR scheme with a smaller camouflaged topside area of Green/Light Grey with the PR Blue undersides extending quite high on the fuselage and nacelles, and the vertical tail surfaces. Since this scheme was not appropriate for low level operations, most were repainted in the "Fassburg" scheme, including some MEAF aircraft, with all 3 schemes extant on some Units. At least one 2nd TAF aircraft - WL264 79 Sqdn 'P - had silver undersides.

Edited October 26, 2019 by Dave Fleming

[tonyot]

Hey Peter,..... Hello!! 

[Peter Rozendal]

Tony and Dave,

 

Thanks for your information.

 

Peter

[stever219]

Wouldn’t it be great if someone was to find a colour version of the image that @Dave Fleming posted on 25/10/19?  I’m trying to find substantiation for the colour scheme MPM specify for WX962 with yellow nose and canopy rear section; if anyone has proof either way I’d be very grateful.positive I

[rossm]

The source image for the "orange patches" scheme may be the 3rd one on this page - open to interpretation but it does show an aircraft 'A' of 208 squadron in a scheme with some sort of high level demarcation.

 

https://www.key.aero/article/low-leve-recce

 

Now does a better quality print exist? Not in any of my Meteor books and British Combat Aircraft In Action since 1945 shows a Meteor FR.9 in silver in the section on Suez but I wonder if that is a generic photo.

 

As for WX962 I don't have that exact aircraft but Air Enthusiast No.59 has clear B+W photos of some 208 Sqdn FR.9s on a visit to South Africa in June 1954 where you can see an aircraft with dark nose and rear canopy section and one with light nose and rear canopy section. The underwing tanks also carry trim in matching tones. It's not much of a stretch to take the light tone as yellow and it is distinctly different from the silver fuselage in both places.

 

Edit: Doh! - scrolling down that low level recce link there's a colour pic of a 208 Meteor with yellow nose and rear canopy!

Edited December 23, 2021 by rossm
Doh!

[treker_ed]

@rossm cannot read that article - it's behind a paywall!

[Dave Fleming]

The article might be behind the paywall, but the image link isn't! Not the same aircraft, but certainly in the same scheme  - this is VZ578/R

 

This shot form the same article gives me more questions - what's the grey? Just very weathered DSG (with a 'new' aircraft behind), or a variation on the MSG/Dark Slate Grey scheme? or a hybrid with MSG and Dark Green over aluminium. (EDit - aircraft is VZ604, which was V with 208 between 5/57 and 3/58)

 

Just to throw another into the mix

 

1 hour ago, treker_ed said:

@rossm cannot read that article - it's behind a paywall!

 

It's a bit weird, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't! I couldn't see the whole article when I followed the link, but by googling it I could!

 

 

https://www.key.aero/article/low-leve-recce

Edited December 24, 2021 by Dave Fleming

[Dave Fleming]

Just realised the captions on the Key article are in the wrong photos. Edited above with full IDs

Edited December 24, 2021 by Dave Fleming

[rossm]

9 hours ago, treker_ed said:

@rossm cannot read that article - it's behind a paywall!

Like @Dave Fleming I found it via Google but if you PM me your email address I can send you a pdf.

[Wez]

I got the MMP publication Combat Meteors by Alex Crawford for my birthday today, they have a couple of colour photos of 208 Sqns jets in there, all of them sport the golden yellow nose flash.

 

The grey seems to have suffered more than the green under the operational conditions but the I'd go as far as saying the green is definitely bog standard dark green.  The grey varies in hue somewhat, one but I think the grey was DSG, there's one of the aircraft in which the grey has weathered considerably, some patches are closer to DSG whilst some are closer to MSG.  My interpretation of this is that the aircraft were originally delivered in DG/DSG/PRU Blue but the DSG in particular weathered more than the other colours, the DSG being the most susceptible to weathering.  There's a profile which suggests the aircraft were finished in DG/MSG/PRU Blue.

 

Looking at the photo of WL263/O (the same as the profile), the grey on the nose area is quite dark with patches of even darker paint which I interpret as being faded DSG with fresh DSG touch ups, the grey fades more towards the upper surfaces.  The rear fuselage portion of grey paint forward of the fin is much lighter by contrast but the engine cowlings are different again.  The forward part of the intake is quite light but not as light as the rear fuselage, the area aournd the forward spar is darker again while the top of the cowling is a lighter shade again.  FWIW, in my experience, the darker shade around the fwd spar is not just down to the added dirt associated with liney activity.

 

EDIT 30/12/21:  I've just realised, I'm looking at a bigger version of the third photo in Dave Fleming's post above

 

I think the aircraft were delivered in DG/DSG/PRU Blue but faded differentially, some areas being prone to bleaching whilst others (the intakes), were subject to both bleaching and erosion.  Good luck with modelling that!