Interesting Spitfires

[John1]

Stumbled upon this picture when I was looking for references for my Mosquito's Merlin engines.    

 

Assuming it's not colorized, it's a pretty nice picture.   I'm curious about the solid green over blue paint scheme.   Never seen that before;   Was it common?   Also, anyone know what mark Spitfire these are?

[Mark P]

Upper right of photo...colorized....

 

Mark Proulx

[John1]

2 minutes ago, Mark P said:

Upper right of photo...colorized....

 

Mark Proulx

Nice catch.  That being said, any speculation on the paint scheme or mark of those two Spits?   Was there a chance that some spits had a solid upper color?

[Mark P]

Spitfire Mk V looking at the ER serial number to the left..

 

I've been around to long to comment on Spitfire colors.

 

Mark Proulx

[fastterry]

Just to add some interesting details. ER718 in the background was a MkVb built Oct 1942, sailed on the Empire Day to Gibralter, arrived 9 Nov '42. Despatched to NW Africa Feb '43, transferred to ME April '45, SOC 28-8-46. Going from that it should have had the Desert scheme ie Dark Earth, Middle Stone and Azure Blue unders. Seems it had a longer life than a lot of other Spits.

TRF

Edited June 29, 2020 by fastterry

[MikeMaben]

Would've painted the windshield/canopy framing with the rest of it.

 

 

[dennismcc]

The photo shows some nice detail though, it's a nice touch that it is marked as colorised so hopefully will not be used as a reference.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[John1]

9 hours ago, fastterry said:

Just to add some interesting details. ER718 in the background was a MkVb built Oct 1942, sailed on the Empire Day to Gibralter, arrived 9 Nov '42. Despatched to NW Africa Feb '43, transferred to ME April '45, SOC 28-8-46. Going from that it should have had the Desert scheme ie Dark Earth, Middle Stone and Azure Blue unders. Seems it had a longer life than a lot of other Spits.

TRF

 

So they applied the 2nd camo color after national markings and serials were painted on?   Interesting....

[Mark P]

I wouldn't draw any coloring conclusions based on a "manipulated" photograph.

 

Mark Proulx

[CATCplSlade]

18 minutes ago, Mark P said:

I wouldn't draw any coloring conclusions based on a "manipulated" photograph.

 

Mark Proulx

 

Yes, but you can make some best guesses based on the accuracy of the colors applied to other objects in the photo.

[DonH]

On 6/29/2020 at 10:47 PM, CATCplSlade said:

 

Yes, but you can make some best guesses based on the accuracy of the colors applied to other objects in the photo.

 

This could start a very long thread. Which colours do you consider "accurate"? The roundel blue and red are definitely wrong. I really don't think you can infer anything from any other colour in this photo. I would argue that the flesh tones are too healthy for this period of the war (poor diet, probably working extended shifts with little natural light, etc.). The colouring is nicely done, but forget it as a reference of any kind, in terms of colour.

[LSP_Ron]

Using a colorized photo as reference..... holds no water.

Is the lady really in red? or is it blue,? or rose, or light blue?

 

 

 

Great photo, real color???? we know it's not 

[Patrick HMD]

11 hours ago, LSP_Ron said:

Using a colorized photo as reference..... holds no water.

Is the lady really in red? or is it blue,? or rose, or light blue?

 

 

 

Great photo, real color???? we know it's not 

Yum!  Ahh, those were the days.  It's a pity girls can't look like that today.  Never mind the color.

[Pete Roberts]

See Post below - forgot to add the 'Quote' ! Doh!

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Pete Roberts

[Pete Roberts]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:59 AM, John1 said:

Nice catch.  That being said, any speculation on the paint scheme or mark of those two Spits?   Was there a chance that some spits had a solid upper color?

 

For a Spitfire with one upper surface colour, off the top of my head, you could go for an RAAF Mk VIII - some were finished in Foliage Green upper surfaces, usually over RAAF Sky Blue.

 

Another option is some of the Mk V's sent to Malta, apparently repainted with a blue over all upper surfaces. Some controversy here though around what Blue was used.

 

There are also the High Altitude Scheme Spitfires with PRU Blue upper surfaces. Perhaps easiest of all are the overall PRU Blue Spitfires but this will involve conversion to a PRU Type.

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Pete Roberts