Avro 504N G-ADEV

[rossm]

Built as a 504K and since converted back to a 504K and now resident at Shuttleworth G-ADEV was a 504N when it was part of Cobham's Air Circus and subsequently with Air Publicity Limited. What I would like to know, even if only as a best guess, is what colour it was when it won the 1937 Devon Air Race. I have one photo of it in the hands of Air Publicity and would hazard a guess at silver dope with black nose and cockpit decking. The colour of the registration letters is a pure guess favouring blue.

 

The report on the race in Flight for 29th July 1937 only shows the nose of the aircraft and I haven't tracked down The Aeroplane for that period to see if there is a report, possibly @John Aero has a copy?

 

Does anyone have any more information please?

[T-21]

There is a picture in the Cornwall Aviation Company book showing the black nose and decking . Overall airframe  white . My feeling is that the registration letters are a medium red.

[rossm]

1 hour ago, T-21 said:

There is a picture in the Cornwall Aviation Company book showing the black nose and decking . Overall airframe  white . My feeling is that the registration letters are a medium red.

 

That's the one I have and I initially thought white but after looking hard I thought there was a hint of off-whiteness, hence my guess of aluminium. Registration letters could be red, I'm hoping someone reading this will know the colours Cobham used on his aircraft as I think it unlikely it would have been repainted.

 

I'll have another look bearing your thoughts in mind, thanks.

[rossm]

On 3/18/2021 at 2:47 PM, T-21 said:

There is a picture in the Cornwall Aviation Company book showing the black nose and decking . Overall airframe  white . My feeling is that the registration letters are a medium red.

I've had another look and I'm now leaning towards white although not 100% sure. I'm still wondering if the lettering is blue as it's quite pale in that pic and early films were more sensitive to blue hence it renders paler than red. However red lettering opn a white airframe seems to have been fairly common in those days.