colour of pipes, hoses & wires on a wartime Spitfire engine?

[elger]

Hello all,

 

I've been trying to look at wartime colour photos to figure out what colour pipes, hoses and wires might have been of Spitfire Merlin engine. Etienne du Plessis' Flickr page is a great resource.

 

The coolant pipe appears to be either brass or interior green - but what about the other pipes and hoses? There's an original colour photo that seems to show light brown, almost sand coloured hoses leading into a Merlin on a Lancaster. Was there a system, or is there a general rule of thumb for the colour of the material of the different kinds of plumbing? (Oil, fuel, hydraulic, electrical, etc.?)

 

Any help is appreciated!

[Graham Boak]

There was no system.  This was one of the features which impressed British engineers who studied Faber's Fw.190, and I believe led to recommendations for such a system to be adopted.

[Rolls-Royce]

I agree with Graham. The only standardization would likely have been those lines and tubes that were delivered as part of the powerplant from R-R, and if some engines were made by subcontractors, even this would have been questionable. The choice of those lines and hoses leading from the airframe would probably have been at the discretion of the aircraft manufacturer as long as they met Rolls-Royce requirements for flow rates and resistance to pressure and environmental conditions.

[elger]

does that mean that the plumbing could have been any colour? (except perhaps pink with sparkles )

[Rolls-Royce]

Just now, elger said:

does that mean that the plumbing could have been any colour? (except perhaps pink with sparkles )

Within reason, of course. Hoses especially would have been variable based on their material and whether or not a protective covering had been installed. Tubing is a bit different. The material used depends on the pressure the lines hold. Most of the lines I saw during my career working on and around aircraft were stainless steel, not only for strength but for heat and corrosion resistance.

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello Elger

Again, I would like to point out that in 2019 remains of Spitfire Mk.IX MJ116 had been dug out here. Basically everything in front of dashboard had been found. The find is now exhibited in Park vojaske zgodovine Pivka museum. I am away from my sources at the moment, but take a look at this link:

https://si24.news/2020/02/26/predstavitev-rezultatov-arheoloske-raziskave-britanskega-lovskega-letala-supermarine-spitfire-mj116/

Many more photos, along with history of MJ116 use in various squadrons and combat career of the pilot on her last flight, are included in recently published book Jekleni pozdravi iz zraka here:

https://issuu.com/znanstvenazalozbaff/docs/jekleni

Book is in Slovene with extracts in English. Cheers

Jure

[thorfinn]

1 hour ago, elger said:

except perhaps pink with sparkles

That would be the return line for the low-pressure framistam sump.

[72modeler]

2 minutes ago, thorfinn said:

That would be the return line for the low-pressure framistam sump.

...or the cooling return line for the muffler bearings!

Mike

[BS_w]

6 hours ago, elger said:

Was there a system, or is there a general rule of thumb for the colour of the material of the different kinds of plumbing? (Oil, fuel, hydraulic, electrical, etc.?)

 

[Graham Boak]

Good stuff, but of what the date?

 

However, although this would be highly useful to the maintainers, it doesn't really help the modeller in other than the largest scales, nor give any guide to the material/colour of these pipes.  For the reasons quoted above.

[BS_w]

this is an excerpt from Anson Aircraft A.P. 1525A, issued april 1944.
There are another colours for heating, de-icing propeller or windows
This colour system seems common to british ww2 aeroplanes and used on Spitfire.

Detail table 13.6.1939

On Spitfire, hydraulic and pneumatic use aluminium alloy pipe,
cooling and oxygen are copper pipes