Duck Egg Blue

[stona]

Many of the keener colourists will be aware that there is much debate about the application of the name Duck Egg Blue to various colours. Sky Blue,Sky and various others. I have always been of the opinion that it was a "catch all" in common usage at the time to describe any blueish green (or greenish blue) colour and actually has little to do with duck eggs:cheesygrin:

I was reading a report on a captured Ju88 (sad,I know) whose pilot flew a reciprocal course and landed at Woodbridge which is a fair way from Berlin which is where he thought he was heading. I digress!

Here's the front of the report.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the base colour of this aircraft,which was undoubtedly RLM 76,a blueish grey colour, described as,you've guessed it,Duck Egg Blue!

Here's a detail of the relevant passage.

It pretty much confirms my belief that the name Duck Egg Blue was applied to a huge variety of colours. Nip to your model bench and put some British Sky next to some German RLM 76 and you'll see what I mean.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Very interesting read Steve.

[Guest]

Don't try to second-guess, on this subject; the more I look, the more I find. Right at the start of the war, a report was sent, saying that the P.R. team, at Heston, were experimenting with a duck egg green (Camotint as we now know.) When Sky (Camotint's new name) first was ordered into use, Commands obviously asked what the H--- it was, and the Air Ministry said that it could best be described as duck egg bluish green. When official paperwork caught up, late in 1940, it became duck egg blue (Sky Type "S") Note the lack of capitals to the first three words, which implies that it's a description, not a title (writers of English, 70 years ago, were sticklers for that sort of thing,) with the true capitalised title being enclosed in brackets.

Eventually the "duck egg blue" and "Type "S"" were dropped from the title, leaving "Sky" in solitary splendour. I have never found the description "duck egg blue," or duck egg anything, applied to any colour other than Sky. I've found another (1940) report on a Ju88, and it says that the usual blue had been overpainted with "a uniform duck-egg bluish-green colour identical with the Sky colour of British aircraft." If the Germans were using a direct copy of Sky in 1940, they could easily have still been using it in 1944.

Like Steve, I've become sceptical about "duck egg" being applied to the colour, but I lean more to the idea that it refers to the "Type "S"" part of the name. Chicken eggs are quite rough in texture, as any country-dwelling "erk" would be aware, but duck eggs are known for their smooth surface. Nobody will listen, but I feel that "duck egg" of 1940, is today's "eggshell" finish. Walk round a British store, and see how many green, or blue, duck eggs you can find.

Edgar

[stona]

I have never found the description "duck egg blue," or duck egg anything, applied to any colour other than Sky. Edgar

Except maybe RLM76 :music_whistling:

I'm kidding,I do understand that you are referring to British references to the colour.

I've gleaned much of my limited understanding of British colours from various postings and elusive documents found by Mr Brooks. Through them,and a couple of non-Luftwaffe books I did finally invest in,I've discovered they are nearly as deep a minefield as Luftwaffe colours,made simpler only by the fact that the British seem to have followed orders better than their German counterparts (bang goes another stereotype!)

I would however urge caution when trying to guesstimate German colours from captured or crashed enemy aircraft reports (or even worse combat reports). I'm sure that the man who wrote "identical with the Sky colour of British aircraft" believed that but just like the chap who described RLM 76 as "duck egg blue" he was just trying to nail the damned thing down.There was no official RLM colour in 1940 that matches Sky,he may have seen an overspray or mottle of a colour like RLM 02 which might resemble Sky in a thin application. People refer to familiar things in their descriptions,you often see German aircraft described as wearing "battleship grey" or "sea green" for example. I've seen another captured enemy aircraft report describing a Bf109G as "overall grey" when there are quite clearly two upper camouflage colours visible in the accompanying photograph (presumably the two greys RLM 74 and RLM 75). He wasn't wrong but he could have said "two grey colours".

A USAAF 8th Air Force pilot describes a Ju88 as overall white,which it wasn't, trying to bomb a B-17 formation,which it wasn't either. It was almost certainly a nightfighter,predominantly in RLM 76 sent up in day time,something an increasingly desperate Luftwaffe did normally towards the end. It is easy to imagine why a sun lit aircraft at some distance painted in a light blue/grey colour might be perceived as being white.

I like the idea of the "duck egg" referring to the nature of the finish. The only duck eggs I've ever seen outside a supermarket were on my cousin's farm and I remember them being more blue than green but I might be falling into the same trap as that USAAF pilot!

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

The eggs my ducks laid where green! LOL

Serious for a minute, I find these kinds of threads always very interesting. I can see the idea of "eggshell" getting mixed into the term as they are a good example of Egg Type "S" !!!!

Funny really I have never refered to any thing as duck egg blue, always duck egg green.

Ian M

[Guest]

The more of these threads I read the more convinced I am that colours were incredibly varied under the same name. Try reading up on U-Boat colours to get the same sort of thing. I remain convinced nowadays that war time paint schemes relied a lot more on what was available in the shed at the time and far less on any description attached to the aircraft/u-boat/tank etc.. I am sure that field workshops added all sorts of 'close enough' paints to finishes, which were probably pretty inconsistent anyway from the factory, and I'm more sure than ever that there really isn't much in the way of a wrong colour. I think the above is a classic example of just how flexible it was, someone saw a blue, thought it looked similar to our own Duck Egg Blue so they called it the same.

All interesting stuff though.

[stona]

The eggs my ducks laid where green! LOLSerious for a minute, I find these kinds of threads always very interesting. I can see the idea of "eggshell" getting mixed into the term as they are a good example of Egg Type "S" !!!!

Funny really I have never refered to any thing as duck egg blue, always duck egg green.

Ian M

Maybe duck egg blueish green? Perhaps your ducks laid the definitive Sky coloured eggs! Send them to the ministry immiediately.

It is all good fun but we shouldn't take it too seriously. Historical research,finding the sort of documents that Edgar turns up (and shares with everybody) is one thing. Painting a model is something else altogether.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Unfortunately that is not an option Steve, It turned out that the ducks tasted better than the eggs.

...painting a model is something else. You got that right, We spend ages finding THE right colour then the first thing we do is blend it down to make it more to scale, then darken them with all kinds of washes lol.

Ian M

PS I found that colour chip card I was looking for. Sky Type "S"

[stona]

Unfortunately that is not an option Steve, It turned out that the ducks tasted better than the eggs.

Good for you. My late brother in law was a splendid chap and something of a bon viveur. He always said "there's two to a duck,you and the duck". I manage to share one with SWMBO!

Love the paint/egg chip.

Cheers

Steve