A couple of Spitfire undercarriage questions

[19squadron]

September 1940.

 

 

 

[dennismcc]

Great information, bending wires on undercarriage legs is not something that I do so have not really studied the subject.

As to wheel wells I found this from Edgar

.

Posted 28 October 2010 - 10:46 PM

2/. Wheel wells do not get a specific mention, in Supermarine's painting instructions, so you're left with the "Standard Paint Treatment" which states "For this machine all components & parts are to be finally protected with one coat of UP1 undercoat grey, followed by a finishing coat pigmented with aluminium to DTD 63A unless otherwise stated in the following list."
It might be assuming too much, but, since the wells and doors do not get a mention, I take the above statement to mean that they were painted silver, especially since the aluminium paint is also specified for the interiors of the wings, flaps and cowlings.
Now comes the caveat; what happened when a/c were repainted (whether by repair unit, M.U., or Squadron) is anyone's guess, and there's a well-known film of a 609 Squadron Spitfire, undergoing maintenance checks, where it's clear to see that the wells, doors and wheel hubs are black and white, just like the undersides. Would an erk, told to paint the underside a different colour, have had time to mask off the wheel wells, or would they have got exactly the same covering as the rest of the wings? Likewise the doors; hang them up, and spray both sides?

 

I have always interpreted this as meaning the wheel wells could be either silver or underside colours, but this is for the large wheel shaped compartment and the leg compartment would be silver.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[19squadron]

34 minutes ago, dennismcc said:

Great information, bending wires on undercarriage legs is not something that I do so have not really studied the subject.

As to wheel wells I found this from Edgar

.

Posted 28 October 2010 - 10:46 PM

2/. Wheel wells do not get a specific mention, in Supermarine's painting instructions, so you're left with the "Standard Paint Treatment" which states "For this machine all components & parts are to be finally protected with one coat of UP1 undercoat grey, followed by a finishing coat pigmented with aluminium to DTD 63A unless otherwise stated in the following list."
It might be assuming too much, but, since the wells and doors do not get a mention, I take the above statement to mean that they were painted silver, especially since the aluminium paint is also specified for the interiors of the wings, flaps and cowlings.
Now comes the caveat; what happened when a/c were repainted (whether by repair unit, M.U., or Squadron) is anyone's guess, and there's a well-known film of a 609 Squadron Spitfire, undergoing maintenance checks, where it's clear to see that the wells, doors and wheel hubs are black and white, just like the undersides. Would an erk, told to paint the underside a different colour, have had time to mask off the wheel wells, or would they have got exactly the same covering as the rest of the wings? Likewise the doors; hang them up, and spray both sides?

 

I have always interpreted this as meaning the wheel wells could be either silver or underside colours, but this is for the large wheel shaped compartment and the leg compartment would be silver.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis
 

 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely right!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5 by 19squadron

[19squadron]

And for what it is worth, here is a pic of K9942, with a restoration coat of black under the port wing that would have covered a sky undersurface of this replacement 1942 wing. The Identification plates in the wheel well are clearly not overpainted, either sky or the restoration black, and are dated as a replacement wing fitted in 1942. The wing itself is a remanufactured b wing that has had the panel over the wheel well cut out and replaced, and then wing strakes and strengthening fillets added, at which point these data plates would have been added, though I cannot say whether they were from the original skin.

 

The point remains that the data plates are not overpainted in any colour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5 by 19squadron
addition of pic