Temperate Sea Scheme in Malta 1942

[esaum]

Hi, all.

I am building Beurling’s Mk Vc from Hobby Master. From what I could gather, both him and BR323 landed in Malta on June 9th, 1942 as part of Operation Salient. The kit’s instructions call for Desert Scheme over sprayed with Azure, which I am sure will give a lovely look, but it appears to contradict the deliveries chronology.

My understanding is that after Operation Calendar:

1. Spits were to be delivered in Temperate Sea Scheme

2. 249 Sqn tended to repaint their Spits in a dark blue-grey shade (Malta Blue?) well into the Summer of 1942 according to testimonies.

3. Nothing is for sure when it comes to 1942 Malta.

 

Now, the only known color picture at the time, BR112 of 249 Sqn, can be deceptive as the X appears yellow while former 249 Sqn crew in Malta said code were not yellow but light greyish white. This plane was initially in Desert Scheme according to the delivery date. So, it would have been repainted/over sprayed à la 249S fashion.

 

That said, I have never came across any indication whether or not Spits delivered in TSS were also given a coat of “Malta Blue” by 249 Sqn? Would it be safe to assume so? And I would think that Malta Blue sprayed over TSS appeared darker than sprayed over blue-grey Desert Scheme thus the different tonality of Spits line ups on B&W photos? I have also read somewhere that the camo’s “green areas” were painted over in blue/grey. Would this be referring to Dark Slate Grey in TSS which can look greenish next to EDSG? So this would create a Blue-grey and \Malta blue disruptive camouflage?

Thanks

Eric

[Werdna]

Hi Eric - might be worth having a look at this current thread here: 

 

 

 

[esaum]

Thanks a lot  Werdna, I hadn't seen that thread in my search. I actually ended getting an electronic copy of SAM Aug 2017 edition which covers my time period.

 

So from Paul Lucas' article in SAM, nothing is for sure but it appears that Spits delivered during Operation Salient were of a Dark Mediterranean Blue on top and a sky blue underside. So it sort of verifies my assumption that TSS over sprayed with DMB would give a uniform darker blue feel to the a/c. But I was off thinking it would have been done in Malta rather than Gibraltar. But the end result is the same. So the stars appear fairly lined up now.

 

Cheers