Spitfire F.22 102 FRS 1951 - Airfix 1/48

[Ghostbase]

Will be entering this GB with the 1/48th Airfix Spitfire F.22 and she will be marked for a camouflaged machine operated by the 102 FRS out of North Luffenham in Autumn 1951. The following photo is my inspiration:

 

Spitfire22M30NLuffenham51DWB by Michael, on Flickr

 

She is well worn and probably in her last useful role with the Royal Air Force, she also appears to have a yellow rudder and I am not sure about the canopy frame, that could be aluminium. I have already competed one of these kits this year and it was a nice build, hope to enjoy this one just as much 🖕

 

Michael

[Cookenbacher]

That's a fantastic reference pic, I can see why you were inspired. Looking forward to this one.

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, Ghostbase said:

Will be entering this GB with the 1/48th Airfix Spitfire F.22 and she will be marked for a camouflaged machine operated by the 102 FRS out of North Luffenham in Autumn 1951. The following photo is my inspiration:

 

Spitfire22M30NLuffenham51DWB by Michael, on Flickr

 

She is well worn and probably in her last useful role with the Royal Air Force, she also appears to have a yellow rudder and I am not sure about the canopy frame, that could be aluminium. I have already competed one of these kits this year and it was a nice build, hope to enjoy this one just as much 🖕

 

Michael

 

I suspect the canopy frame  could be weathered High speed Silver though, and a replacement off another airframe?

 

The dark patches under the 'M' and '30'  are fresh Dark Green,  look by the '7' looks like a previous unit marking badly over sprayed.  Is the serial of the above known? That would probably give the service history.

 

The rudder is  more likely very faded Ocean Grey , which was still fabric covered, and these often faded more than the metal parts.

this shows the standard camo pattern.

The rudder is all Ocean Grey, as seen below.    Also, the RAF did not repaint control surfaces casually, as it could throw out the balance.  

 

 

this is dated 1947, and some fading is evident

Spitfire F 21. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

this gives a good idea of faded Ocean Grey

Spitfire by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

HTH

[Ghostbase]

10 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

I suspect the canopy frame  could be weathered High speed Silver though, and a replacement off another airframe?

 

The dark patches under the 'M' and '30'  are fresh Dark Green,  look by the '7' looks like a previous unit marking badly over sprayed.  Is the serial of the above known? That would probably give the service history.

 

The rudder is  more likely very faded Ocean Grey , which was still fabric covered, and these often faded more than the metal parts.

this shows the standard camo pattern.

The rudder is all Ocean Grey, as seen below.    Also, the RAF did not repaint control surfaces casually, as it could throw out the balance.  

 

this is dated 1947, and some fading is evident

Spitfire F 21. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

this gives a good idea of faded Ocean Grey

Big thanks Troy for all this detail, I hadn't even started to think about this build in any depth but you have got me off to a flying start! Interesting point about the rudder, I note that the sunlight appears to be angled from behind the aircraft and that the rudder is slightly to one side so it is catching the sun which may be what makes it look much lighter. I did post a less detailed scan of this photo many years ago (way before Facebook and BritModeller) and a suggestion then was that the rudder was painted yellow. Interesting. I do have an air-to-air photo of PK353/M-21 and again there appears to be a very distinct painting of the rudder:-

 

nluff3 by Michael, on Flickr

 

The serial of the aircraft I originally posted looks like PK567 and if so, thanks to airhistory.org.uk, her service record is as follows:-

 

PK567 F22 CBAF G6 133MU 13-10-45 VA EA 6-12-46 mods 502S 'RAC-J' 18-10-48 226OCU 5-3-51 102FRS 24-4-51 nes 16-6-53 sold scrap J.G.Williamson 24-5-54

 

She was only on 226 OCU books for just over a month so I guess that her previous markings were for 502 (Ulster) Squadron which operated out of Aldergrove and wore an RAC code.

 

Thanks again, now I have something to work with. Michael

Edited April 9, 2020 by Ghostbase
New photo

[Troy Smith]

3 hours ago, Ghostbase said:

I did post a less detailed scan of this photo many years ago (way before Facebook and BritModeller) and a suggestion then was that the rudder was painted yellow. Interesting. I do have an air-to-air photo of PK353/M-21 and again there appears to be a very distinct painting of the rudder:-

 

Indeed,  the image above does look another colour, as it does not follow the camo pattern,  (the starboard is usually all grey) and has the same lower darker segment as M-30

Tonally it looks the same as the spinner...and the Sky Band.

As M-21 has the D types,  we have no reference yellow,  but the lower section is a tonal match for the Red...

 

But, M-30 has a spinner of a similar tone to the rudder, but a light Sky band. 

 

Fascinating.   

 

My copy of Cold War Shield is not to hand,   might be worth starting a thread in the WW2 or Cold War section.

 

Hmm, maybe @gingerbob @Magpie22 @Peter Roberts  maybe able to add more?   

 

cheers

T

[Bedders]

V interesting couple of photos. What does FRS stand for: fighter refresher school maybe?

 

Justin

[Ghostbase]

1 hour ago, Bedders said:

V interesting couple of photos. What does FRS stand for: fighter refresher school maybe?

 

Justin

Thanks. It stood for Flying Refresher School. Michael

[Ghostbase]

5 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

<snip>

 

My copy of Cold War Shield is not to hand,   might be worth starting a thread in the WW2 or Cold War section.

 

Hmm, maybe @gingerbob @Magpie22 @Peter Roberts  maybe able to add more?   

 

cheers

T

Great idea! I have started a thread in the Cold War section of BM. Michael

[Bedders]

3 hours ago, Ghostbase said:

Thanks. It stood for Flying Refresher School. Michael

Thanks. Looking at your first photo again, I wonder if the rudder has just been rebuilt with the horn balance area recovered, probably with red dope, and the rest perhaps a primer colour. 

 

Justin

[Peter Roberts]

Sorry, not a lot I can add here, although I do tend to agree with the yellow interpretation, especially given it is a training school of sorts and the shade seems pretty close to the yellow on the fuselage roundel.

 

Other than that, perhaps Flight colours.

 

PR

Edited April 9, 2020 by Peter Roberts

[Work In Progress]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:14 PM, Bedders said:

Thanks. Looking at your first photo again, I wonder if the rudder has just been rebuilt with the horn balance area recovered, probably with red dope, and the rest perhaps a primer colour. 

 

Justin

Fabric covered surfaces don't and didn't get primed the same way as metal parts. The process is red dope -> aluminium dope for UV protection -> finish colour (if there is one, otherwise stop at aluminium dope)

Clearly that rudder has seen a lot of action since it was finish-painted: it's worn and filthy and I am pretty sure I can see aluminium dope peeping through the top coat in small areas. So whatever colour is chosen for that and the spinner - and there is a lot to be said for yellow - I would agree it's likely that the horn area has a red-doped fabric repair on it.