Gannet AEW.3 arrestor hook colours

[zebra]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help with a question on the arrestor hooks on the Gannet AEW.3 please: I'm building a Gannet from A Flight, 849 Squadron (with red and black spinners and red and black stripes on the fillets). Other AEW Gannets seem to have had their arrestor hooks painted in their flight's colours - for example yellow and black stripes on a B Flight aircraft - but I can't find a colour photo showing the arrestor hook on an A Flight Gannet. It would look good in red and black stripes, the kit's instructions (I'm building the Alley Cat kit) show it as all black, but that might be because red and black stripes look like solid black in a black and white photo. Has anybody here seen a colour photo that would confirm one way or the other please?

 

thanks

Julian

[petetasker]

I’ve had a good look through my references this morning and can’t find anything other than a solid colour ie no stripes. Difficult to say what the actual colour is though but I can imagine it got very grubby.

[tony.t]

There's a photo here...

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/291959988342453675/

...where it appears overall very grubby sky to me 

 

Tony

Edited November 6, 2023 by tony.t
edit

[zebra]

2 hours ago, petetasker said:

I’ve had a good look through my references this morning and can’t find anything other than a solid colour ie no stripes. Difficult to say what the actual colour is though but I can imagine it got very grubby.

Thanks for looking - very grubby sounds like a good bet

 

29 minutes ago, tony.t said:

There's a photo here...

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/291959988342453675/

...where it appears overall very grubby sky to me 

 

Tony

Thanks Tony - grubby sky seems like the best bet

[billmcl61]

Hi Zebra, 

I noticed that the photo referred to earlier was on land, so it will be difficult to tell when it was taken unfortunately. When aircraft are repainted after retirement, the colour schemes can be somewhat creative,, on that basis photos taken during their service life should be relied upon for your source of reference.

Saying that, I've also had a search online without much luck, however when I was onboard Ark Royal (albeit as a stoker), I noticed that the aircraft were kept spotlessly clean, and this would be the same for all of the carriers. The nose cone, tail fin(s) and arrester hook were the only places where the crews could decorate add colour to their aircraft, so I would be surprised if that didn't happen here, personally I would go with red and black stripes for the arrestor hook in the same way that 'B' Flight went with yellow and black.

Hope this helps

Bill

[tony.t]

2 hours ago, billmcl61 said:

Hi Zebra, 

I noticed that the photo referred to earlier was on land, so it will be difficult to tell when it was taken unfortunately. When aircraft are repainted after retirement, the colour schemes can be somewhat creative,, on that basis photos taken during their service life should be relied upon for your source of reference.

Saying that, I've also had a search online without much luck, however when I was onboard Ark Royal (albeit as a stoker), I noticed that the aircraft were kept spotlessly clean, and this would be the same for all of the carriers. The nose cone, tail fin(s) and arrester hook were the only places where the crews could decorate add colour to their aircraft, so I would be surprised if that didn't happen here, personally I would go with red and black stripes for the arrestor hook in the same way that 'B' Flight went with yellow and black.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

I think we need evidence of the fictional Dennis-the-menace-coloured hook. 

The photo link I posted is apparently dated 4 Nov 1968 and the H on the tail signified Hermes. 

 

Tony 

[petetasker]

7 hours ago, tony.t said:

There's a photo here...

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/291959988342453675/

...where it appears overall very grubby sky to me 

 

Tony

Fascinating photo with the Palouste starter under the wing. 

[bootneck]

There's a photo of a B Flight's gannet with the bee-sting black and yellow arrestor hook on lionel_smith's website.  I believe the yellow-black was that particular flight's colour along with the matching spinner.

Still looking for an A Flight view.

 

Mike

[petetasker]

I've had another look through my references and still can't find any A Flight aircraft with a stripped hook. Where you can see the hook they all appear to be a single dark colour or you just can't see it at all. The only thing I've found is the illustration below (HMS Ark Royal Fifty Years of Flight 1955-2005) of XL472 circa 1960 presumably pre flamboyant red/black spinners red and black fillet stripes. It has a yellow and black stripped hook but is of course just a side view rather than a photograph. The text however does give the references used for the photo. Appreciate it doesn't really help but the reference used might be of help as a follow up if anyone has the book.

 

 

[71chally]

All of the Gannet AEW Flights painted their colours on the tail hook stripes at various times, (B black & yellow, C black & white, D blue & sky), often though the hooks were just left in the standard Sky colour and there are pictures of the same airframe having stripped and standard hooks within a short timeframe.

There is evidence of A Flight doing the same, however looking at the very few b&w images that show stripped hooks, I would say that they were red stripes against sky. 

The hooks were very heavy and moveable parts, and visibility of them to deck hands would be important.  In photos the hooks are often in shade and with shadows of the tailplane against them which can cause a different interpretation to what it was  painted

[CJP]

Hi - I found this photo of A Flight AEW3 on Warpaint series 23 - don't know if it is still in print but worth getting - it looks like a sky painted hook in this photo.

CJP

[zebra]

Thanks everyone, all very helpful. I think @CJP has settled it for me - it's going to be sky. Easy to paint, but a bit less interesting than red and black stripes would have been!

 

The Warpaint book's still available, must get one before the new Airfix kit arrives.

 

cheers

Julian