Seeking Information On 800 Sqdn Skuas in South Atlantic

[Old Man]

15 hours ago, iang said:

No question that they were two colours! Black and white seems very likely.

 

 

That is one helluva picture, Sir!

 

Is that pre-war, or in the South Atlantic?

[iang]

I think the photo is taken in Scapa Flow between 3rd and 10th September 1939, or between 23rd and 30th September. The photo is not of the best quality, but the battleship in the background is obviously an R-Class. I think the absence of funnel cap limits the ship to Royal Oak, Royal Sovereign or Ramillies at this time. The latter was not at Scapa at the beginning of the War.  It looks to have a catapult on X turret (covered with a tarpulin, making it appear dark) and a tripod mainmast, so that would positively identify the ship as Royal Oak. Ark Royal and Royal Oak were only at Scapa Flow at the same time during the first week of the War, (though the battleship was absent 4-7th September) and again in the last week of September when Ark Royal returned from operations based at Loch Ewe and before Ark Royal sailed for the South Atlantic on October 1st.

Edited June 13, 2021 by iang

[expositor]

There's a formation photo with that very plane with those white stripes looking like aluminum, which makes me rethink the letter on the blue(?) tailed Skua 'K' being white rather than aluminum;  also bringing to mind that old photo interpretation admonition I seem to frequently forget....

So no opinions on the blue color(s)?

 

Cheersl !

[iang]

On 15/06/2021 at 20:22, expositor said:

There's a formation photo with that very plane with those white stripes looking like aluminum, which makes me rethink the letter on the blue(?) tailed Skua 'K' being white rather than aluminum;  also bringing to mind that old photo interpretation admonition I seem to frequently forget....

So no opinions on the blue color(s)?

 

Cheersl !

Definitely white:

 

 

As to the two blues idea, I'm not sure. Skua national markings appear to have been in pre-war glossy colours originally. I wonder if the difference in grey tone is due to differences in the reflectance value of gloss/dull blue?