Camo Edge

[stona]

There was some debate about the demarcation of British aircraft camouflage schemes recently. It's safe to say that the demarcations were fairly tight though variable. I dug this photo out recently to show someone what a "gas patch" looked like and noticed how hard the edges were. I'm beginning to think that masks were used by several British manufacturers,particularly early in the war. The softer edges seem to appear later. This is just an opinion based on observation and not a proveable fact!!!

It's also an excuse to post a great photograph of tight camo,a gas patch, heavy walkway weathering and RAF armourers all in one go.



Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

Wow , what did the ground crew wear on their feet, horseshoes!!!!! Great pic steve, the demarcation was really sharp wasnt it, have to remember that if i do an early spit (or any other british kite for that matter) Excuse my ignorance but whats a gas patch , i thought it was a cold soup! cheers tony

[stona]

A gas patch (the large diamond shape on the wing) was applied with a chemical sensitive paint. It was normally yellow but if exposed to mustard gas (maybe other compounds,I don't know) it turned red. this paint was applied all over the place including to vehicles and even door ways. There was a lot of paranoia early in the war about the possibility of chemical attacks. My mum remembered going everywhere with her gas mask.

They were not always so neat on aircraft. Look at the splodges behind the cockpit and on the fin of this P-51.



Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Hi Steve.

Thanx for the pix, it awnceres my question re the edge very well.

Is it a staged pic,, by that I mean would the pilot be strapped in while the plane was re armed between sorties?

I am thinking to do the same with the P-47 then.

That 51 allmost looks like it has the "A" wing on it as I can't realy see the forward crank in the LE at the UC leg.If so it is a very early 51 then.I see it in the north Africa Star on the side.

Theuns

[Guest]

Odd thing but I had never noticed the "gas patch" until this thread started. Then I got sent a copy of the new BoB Memorial Flight booklet and on the front cover is the wonderful looking Spitfire, gorgeous picture, with a bright yellow diamond on the wing. Amazing how things pop up when you first hear about them.

[stona]

Hi Theuns, I'd suspect a staged publicity shot but I don't know the origin of the image. I don't know a lot about P-51s but it does look early (and heavily weathered).

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Would it be standard for a pilot to be strapped in the plane while it is being re-armed?

Theuns

[stona]

Would it be standard for a pilot to be strapped in the plane while it is being re-armed?Theuns

I don't think so. I've read different estimates for the turn around time for Spitfires and Hurricanes during the BOB. The Hurricane seems to have been easier,and therefore quicker,to re-arm. Re-fuelling seems to have been the same for both. An average of the various accounts gives somewhere between twenty minutes and half an hour to get everything done. This compares with the late war Luftwaffe claims to be able to re-fuel,re-arm and have an entire group airborne again in twenty five minutes. To achieve this they never flew with drop tanks on second or subsequent sorties.

I don't see why a pilot would stay onboard for this, he wouldn't contribute in any way to the operation and that's quite apart from the safety issues. I wouldn't want to be the business side of all those weapons whilst someone sat in the cockpit potentially fiddling with the buttons to fire them!!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Yea, you are right Steve. I didn't think of the safety issue whith rearming while someone could accedently flip the master arm on the ground!

It would have made a cool model with some crew frantically working while the pilot is chatting to the crew chief (re. clean shorts after the last dogfight!)

Theuns