Hurricane Desert Camouflage

[Ed Russell]

I am building a Tac/R Hurricane from the Arma kit.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235070561-hurricane-mk-i-arma-hobby-inspired-by-a-painting/

 

I am fairly confident from the pilot's own words it was in the Desert scheme of Dark Earth / Middle Stone / Azure Blue. Looking at the best picture of it, it seems that the darker areas of the camouflage should be Dark Earth and the lighter areas Mid Stone.

 

 

However, looking at Hurricanes in Dark Green / Dark Earth / Sky like RF-R here

 

 

it seems that the darker area of Z4771 is where the Dark Earth should be and  the lighter area is the overpainted Dark Green.

 

The only profile I have found which has the colours like this is this one

 

 

and I have to say it doesn't fill me with confidence.

 

So, questions..........

Could Z4771 have been originally painted in a reverse colour scheme to the common pattern as per RF-R above?

Could Z4771 have been factory-painted as a desert plane with the colours around that way?

Could it be that somehow weathering and the light have rendered  Mid Stone as darker than Dark Earth in this picture?

Could the pilot be completely wrong and his testimony that the plane was in Desert camouflage be incorrect?

[Graham Boak]

This is common on desert Hurricanes.  It may be that the design office simply changed the label on the drawing from DG to MS, but the painters took the darker shades on the drawing to be the darker paint.  The darker colour in the photo is Dark Earth.  Dark Earth did fade quite quickly in the desert bus not to be lighter than MS.

 

Given that this is a Mk.I, there appears to have been considerable variation in which colours went where - there are photos of early aircraft  where examples with different colour variations can be seen.  This is probably because aircraft delivered in DG/DE were overpainted in the Alexandria MU simply by overpainting the DG with MS, as (apparently!) originally intended.  Aircraft were being delivered in the Temperate land Scheme well into mid-1941, the Greek campaign for example.  It is worth remembering that the Middle East covered a much wider range of climate conditions than the Western Desert.  However this seems to have stopped by the time the Mk.IIs appear and the factory-applied scheme is more common if not universal - as seen in the kit instructions.  Though I have to say that relying on kit instructions and profiles never fill me with confidence either.

[Hornet133]

It is the standard Dark Earth/ Midstone coloured Desert Scheme (see below). The areas that I have marked with Brown (the darker areas in the photo) are Dark Earth and match the Dark Earth areas on the RF-R profile. The other areas that are Dark Green on the RF-R profile have been overpainted in Midstone.

 

Howeve the lower surface is probably not Azure Blue. It looks too light and this photo taken 2nd half of 1941 predates the use of Azure Blue. More likely either Sky or Sky Blue.

 

BTW Z4551 was with 451 Sqn RAAF at the time and from memory the pilot in the photo is Ray Goldberg (a long time member).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Hornet133

[Graham Boak]

Azure Blue (33B/378)  was standardised by the RAE Dec. 4th 1940, quite early enough to appear in theatre by mid 1941, particularly as it was based on a colour sent to the AM by ME Command.  9Before the production of Z7741, I strongly suspect.)  Given that blue often appears very light in b&w photos, I wouldn't be completely certain that it wasn't Azure Blue here.  The darker colour seen on some aircraft could well be Light Mediterranean Blue.  I've always favoured the use of Sky Blue on these early desert warfare fighters, but given that ME HQ ruled out the use of Sky as being too light, and Sky Blue is lighter still, this does suggest that references to Sky Blue (a specific AM paint) should really be to "a sky blue" - probably actually Azure Blue.  But it is a legitimate choice for an early-ish Hurricane, and looks nicer too.  Not that this should influence anyone...

 

Incidentally, Mid Stone (33B/356) was standardised even earlier.  This aircraft could have been painted in these colours at the factory.  Which is not to say that it was.

[brewerjerry]

Hi

    One interesting memo i found at the pro, Kew many years ago, shows there was a time when there was a mix up and the dark earth was being repainted mid stone

 

 

quote :- 

            with reference to addendum  3  to dtd technical circular no 183 para 6(2) the use of mid stone is incorrectly stated

 

   this colour which was previously known as mid stone is used in place of dope, dark green, not dark earth, on airplanes operating in the middle east 

 

dated 

11 dec 41 

 

 

  so for maybe a short time ?

   

aircraft had dark green and mid stone camo painted on them 

 

  until the error was corrected 

 

 

 cheers

   jerry 

Edited April 23, 2020 by brewerjerry
typo

[Wulfman]

Dark green and middle stone was the “Tropical land scheme” for the Middle East .

 

Wulfman.

[Graham Boak]

There's a long history of this on this site (and elsewhere), it anyone cares to look back.  Credit to Mark McKenzie for digging out the full story from the PRO/NA, and banging on about it in the face of opposition on here (from the likes of me) and elsewhere.  The guidance lasted only a couple of weeks, or less, before the mistake was corrected.  It has lasted a lot longer in modelling circles, and as seen above is still assumed to have been actually used significantly often.  The Tropical Land Scheme, as properly established, was the same as the Temperate Land Scheme, and was used on the majority of overseas deliveries - West Africa, Middle East (operations in Greece, for example), India.  For the Western Desert DE/MS was used.

 

One reason that DG/MS was so often assumed by modellers is the very reason that started this thread - the darker colour goes through the cockpit area, just as Dark Green does on the Temperate Land Scheme.  Therefore this must be DG/MS - except that it wasn't.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Graham Boak

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   found a note 

 

 i pretty certain that this info     came from an old thread on BM, can’t remember which one 

 

 

      AMO A.513 of 10/7/41 might imply a "Tropical Land scheme" of Dark Green and Mid stone  

 

 

 

     but i must admit, this is/was not my area of research, i only made notes of odd things 

 

   cheers

      jerry 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by brewerjerry

[Seawinder]

I agree that the photo looks to be in the standard arrangement of DE and MS, but the broad, dark exhaust stain is a bit deceptive and might give the impression that the colors are reversed. Also, the demarcation between the MS and DE below the exhausts is very faint, but, I think, perceptible.