Canberra Upper Surface camouflage

[sloegin57]

Anyone know as to why the upper surface camo pattern, apart from the fin, was reversed on the PR.9 ?, I did ask the painters at Safi when they were doing the first aircraft (XH167) in late 1965, but they just shrugged, muttered something in Maltese and carried on waiving their spray guns around :-

 

 

 

Regards

Dennis

[Rabbit Leader]

Very interesting, I’ve never noticed that until now. Sorry, I have no idea, although will watch on for subsequent replies. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[canberra kid]

I've often thought about that too Dennis, and I have never found an answer, is there any examples from the past with other PR types? There is no other examples Canberra word.

 

John 

[Graham Boak]

There are examples of "exchanged colours" in a camouflage pattern from WW2, particularly from the Middle East.  There are much fewer examples from the UK. although Wing Cdr. Minden Blake's Spitfire Mk.Vb was one example.  One reason behind the large number of cases in the Middle East is that painters worked from monochrome drawings, and presumably assumed that the darker areas were the darker paint.  For the European schemes this was Dark Green, whereas in the Desert scheme this was Dark Earth.  The intention however was that the lighter Middle Stone should replace the Dark Green.

 

To avoid confusion, this is apart from the pattern being mirrored in the A and B schemes.  It seems that colour-exchanged C and D patterns were initially considered but never adopted.

 

Which doesn't help with Canberras, but you did ask for examples from the past.  I must admit never having investigated Vampires, Venoms, Hunters etc.  Much lower production rates must have helped to ensure consistency.

[canberraman]

I wonder whether it was a simple case of the painters transposing the correct DSG/DK camo Pattern. There was an example at Wyton way back where the camo scheme came back from the contractor reversed, but I believe it got sent back for redoing! The aircraft in question is shown beneath.

 

 

Mark

 

 

[canberra kid]

8 hours ago, canberraman said:

I wonder whether it was a simple case of the painters transposing the correct DSG/DK camo Pattern. There was an example at Wyton way back where the camo scheme came back from the contractor reversed, but I believe it got sent back for redoing! The aircraft in question is shown beneath.

 

 

Mark

 

 

That right Mark, the paint job was put out tenderer, a firm in Eastbourne got the job, apparently the firm specialised in painting civilian aircraft not military, they appear to have miss interpreted the drawings. And yes, they did have to re-paint her at their own cost. I don't know if they got any other work from the MoD.

 

John  

[Lord Riot]

On 27/07/2022 at 18:53, canberra kid said:

That right Mark, the paint job was put out tenderer, a firm in Eastbourne got the job, apparently the firm specialised in painting civilian aircraft not military, they appear to have miss interpreted the drawings. And yes, they did have to re-paint her at their own cost. I don't know if they got any other work from the MoD.

 

John  

Interesting that it would matter so much what the pattern was. Would it be any more or less camouflaged if the green and grey were transposed? As long as it is actually DSG and dark green camo, why would the RAF think it was worth sending it back for repainting?
 

 

[canberraman]

2 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Interesting that it would matter so much what the pattern was. Would it be any more or less camouflaged if the green and grey were transposed? As long as it is actually DSG and dark green camo, why would the RAF think it was worth sending it back for repainting?
 

 

At one time RAF standards for colour schemes, markings, nose art etc were very strict and any exceptions or changes needed AOC approval.  There were regulatory technical painting requirements that to be adhered to to ensure uniformity and so an aircraft with reversed camo would have stood out like a sore thumb in a line up.  

[Lord Riot]

I think the rules still are very strict: grey, everything grey.

[canberra kid]

The RAF (us) had paid a lot of money for their lovely old jet to be re-painted, the company got it wrong big time! Too right they had to put it right. 

 

John