Stencils on the Spitfire black wing undersurfaces?

[GrzeM]

In the end of the Battle of Britain, November 1940, again one of the wing's undersurfaces of RAF fighters were painted in black. What about stencils on these black surfaces? Have been repainted? Tamiya gives white stencil decals in their Spitfire 1/72 kit. Is that correct?

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by GrzeM

[Casey]

I swear I saw photos of them being white...

 

Yep. I found a link there;

 

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Spitfire/Spitfire/pages/Factory-fresh-Spitfire-MkIa-P9450-showing-black-wing-half-tone-camouflage-in-flight-April-1940-web-01.html

[wmcgill]

White stencils would be on the factory applied black underside as seen on P9450 in April 1940. But the Tamiya X4561 option would have left the factory in September 1940 with sky undersides and black stencils. The stencils would have been overpainted when the black wing was applied from December 1940.

Edited May 22, 2022 by wmcgill
clarity

[fishplanebeer]

I think the answer is that they could or could not be there depending upon when the aircraft left the factory.

 

If it was one that left the factory at this time with the wing painted black then yes they would be there in white, but if it was already at a squadron or MU when the change was implemented it's unlikely that they would have repainted them over the new black colour.

 

The good news is that either would be fine although personally I would leave them off as I think this would have been more common given the relatively short time span that this under wing colour scheme was used.

 

Sorry I can't be more definitive.

 

Regards

Colin.

 

 

[GrzeM]

Thank you, that makes sense!

[gingerbob]

I think the 1941 black was a temporary application, not done at the factory.

[Graham Boak]

The RAF did have a black distemper for temporary operations at night, but this is not what was applied to the port wing underside.  As a marking, it was to last for several months, hardly temporary.  Even viewed from the distance of 80 years.  It was no more temporary than the Sky band and spinner, or yellow leading edge.  These were markings dictated by Fighter Command, and possibly were not painted on at the factory but at the MU.   Aircraft intended for overseas use did not (normally) have the Fighter Command markings, but did carry the black underwing.  It would seem logical that this was therefore painted at the factory.

[Phoenix44]

If these were actually stencils then they should have been very easy to apply. If squadrons or the MU had the stencils, why not just apply them?