Tempest yellow LE?

[Guest]

Hi all. I need to start painting the 1/72 Academy Tempest and the instructions call for the leading edges of the wings to be yellow. what was the idea behind this? Identification marks?

I have seen some pix of them without the yellow, would this be an acurate thing or did they have it on till the end of the war.

The decals are for #3 sqn july '45 and #122 May '45

If they absolutely,positivly have to be on, what was their actual size about?

Thanx

Theuns

[Dave W]

The idea was for identification when head on in a dog fight.Sizes varied with aircraft type and i believe some squadrons did different sized yellow markings to others on the same aircraft type.Generally the final third of the wing L/E out to the wing tip was painted yellow.Someone else on this forum will no doubt be able to give you more detailed info.

[Guest]

Thanx Dave!

Theuns

[Guest]

They were for head-on recognition, and were mandatory for wartime; post-war anything could happen. The laid-down dimension was 2" (5cm) above and below the centre-line of the l/e, (though Typhoons, with their thicker wing, seem to have been wider); starting-point was the mid-point of the wing, but, for ease of production, this was often taken as the outside of the outer cannon mount.

Edgar

[Guest]

I put them on now with Hutrainer yellow,I recon it will be so small that even if it is the wrong shade it will not be so critical.

Theuns

[stona]

"Trainer" Yellow is what I use too Theuns. It looks fine to me!

Cheers

Steve