RAF Painting Guide

[bangorstu]

I'm going on memory for reading Deigton's 'Blitzkreig' here but the problem was, IIRC, simply not bombing the targets early enough.

The RAF had little sense of urgency and would give the Germans a day or two to set up AA defences before getting round to turning up.

Stukas on the other hand were right at the forward edge of battle and so, once you got an enemy moving, had less AA to worry about.

But of the two sides, it was the RAF that drew the correct conclusions.

[Timmo]

The undersides were a colour called Night. It's not pure black but a very dark blue black mixed from carbon black and ultramarine pigments. It was harder wearing than pure black that tended to go glossy with wear, rendering the planes visible at night by reflection.

The single best book on the subject is Camouflage & Markings No2 by Paul Lucas.

[grizzlymc]

No 2, this sounds like a money suck, how many are there?

[Timmo]

Dozens I expect. No 2 RAF is May 1940 to December 1940 but the book is a goldmine and much more useful than anything else out there. The detail it goes into is exceptional. The chapter on the underside colour called 'Sky' is a great read, if you like that kind of thing. There were at least five different colours for painting the undersides in that time period. Some units had roundels some didn't. Some had different sizes within the squadron. For a standard paint scheme there ware lots of variants. It also details the well known A and B camo patterns but also C and D that I've never seen mentioned elsewhere.

[Wg Cdr Luddite]

Ill second Britain Alone by Paul Lucas. It has to be the last word on the subject.

[grizzlymc]

When I'm rich, I'lll buy them all.

[RMD]

Pure matt black paint added quite a considerable drag coefficient, which was another reason for not selecting a pure matt paint.

[Timmo]

There's a great section in the Lucas book that details exactly how they worked out the balance between matt, which gave the best camo and gloss for streamlining and speed. After trials they specified exactly how to rub down the freshly painted camo to a precise value. I guess they ended up with about a satin finish.

[grizzlymc]

The Brits did an amazing job of applying science to everything in the war. Whilst the huns were making better hardware, the Brits won the software war.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I guess they ended up with about a satin finish.

A few million tins of Humbrol Satin Clear would have sorted it for them.

https://www.humbrol.com/uk-en/humbrol-s ... ottle.html