RAF Hercules C.1P

[Nigel Bunker]

I am currently building a Hercules C.1P and am considering the finish. Looking at pictures, I see some around 2000 in an overall grey colour. Does anybody know which grey this is?

[darthspud]

Air Superiority grey- same as the VC10 tanker?

I'd go for FS. 32670 OR FS.26314

or use both for some contrast between various panels.

Edited July 29, 2021 by darthspud
typo

[darthspud]

FS. 36270 is Vallejo AV71275 or Humbrol Medium Sea Grey 158

[Nigel Bunker]

Thanks - I think I'll go for Medium Sea Grey.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

From in-flight photos, the finish appears to be fairly uniform, without much weathering or any obvious difference between the wing/fuselage inboard walkways and the rest of the aircraft.  I would have expected a lighter color on the walkway areas for some reason.  Also, I see that many of these aircraft had the "bubble" mounted in the forward escape hatch for low-level missions, so you can have fun with this!

[Ossington 2]

I thought the walkway areas had that sand-in-the-paint stuff applied. Any 'erk lineys about? Any single colour applied overall would appear different due to differing light reflection from a stippled surface.

[torqueofthedevil]

On 7/29/2021 at 4:55 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

From in-flight photos, the finish appears to be fairly uniform, without much weathering or any obvious difference between the wing/fuselage inboard walkways and the rest of the aircraft.  I would have expected a lighter color on the walkway areas for some reason.  Also, I see that many of these aircraft had the "bubble" mounted in the forward escape hatch for low-level missions, so you can have fun with this!

Was the cupola specifically for low level? While it certainly provided an excellent view for any flight deck passengers, I always thought its actual purpose was for the nav to view the firmament in the days of traditional methods of plodding around the globe! 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

2 hours ago, torqueofthedevil said:

Was the cupola specifically for low level?

Any ex-RAF Navigators want to answer that one?

 

We in the USAF would have used it that way, and the photos I've seen of RAF aircraft in later years show the Hercs speeding along at low level, which suggests that whoever was posted on the top bunk was scanning for air-to-air threats.  Or he/she was enjoying the view of the Lakes District, which is also possible.

 

You have a good point about its use on early RAF Hercules for celestial navigation.  I know that in the 60's the RAF used a very traditional sextant that required a bubble, at least in the early years.  I don't know whether RAF navigators later adopted our (U.S.) sextants, which had a periscope that extended through the special sextant port adjacent to the Nav's station.  The Nav would take the sextant out of its case, place it near the port, open the port, and let the pressurization suck the periscope clear of the skin.  No need for a bubble there.

 

By the 70's - 80's we used celestial navigation only on long, overwater flights.  Otherwise, for overland, we had other resources, such as Omega (remember that?), LORAN, and the ever popular (ancient) doppler, to which the Nav would feed several waypoints, and it would detect drift left or right of the flight path, as well as the aircraft's ground speed.  

[torqueofthedevil]

11 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

By the 70's - 80's we used celestial navigation only on long, overwater flights.  Otherwise, for overland, we had other resources, such as Omega (remember that?), LORAN, and the ever popular (ancient) doppler, to which the Nav would feed several waypoints, and it would detect drift left or right of the flight path, as well as the aircraft's ground speed.  

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am vaguely familiar with the nav systems you mention (Decca was another) but I just missed that era. The first aircraft I flew used a blended solution of Doppler and single GPS (backed up by unprocessed radar, complete with acetate overlays of the coast!), and these days we are completely spoiled with twin Integrated GPS/INS. 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

1 hour ago, torqueofthedevil said:

I am vaguely familiar with the nav systems you mention (Decca was another) but I just missed that era. The first aircraft I flew used a blended solution of Doppler and single GPS (backed up by unprocessed radar, complete with acetate overlays of the coast!), and these days we are completely spoiled with twin Integrated GPS/INS. 

Ah, I forgot Decca, but I understand it was British, so we didn't have it on board the -130E/H.  The RAF probably had it fitted to the K's from the very start.  About 1990, we started modifying E's and H's with the Self Contained Navigation System (SCNS), which integrated several navigation systems, including INS.  Everyone oohed and ahhhed about it, and as it rendered the doppler obsolete, I think we started removing the doppler system from existing aircraft, which would have saved some weight.   The navigators had hand-held GPS receivers for further precision.  When I got to Davis-Monthan in the mid-late 90's, our EC-130Es and H's still had the old doppler navigation system.  The E's retired, I think, before being fitted with SCNS, but the EC-130Hs received SCNS as they went through upgrade to Block 30.