Malta Aircraft Colour Discussion “Take Three”

Tomt
Thanks for the input, Modeldad…
Wed Oct 29 16:12:34 2003
Do you think they got that “Yellow Code” bit right on the decal sheet? Am looking at my book under bright sunlight and the “T M” sure looks to have the same color quality as the white in the roundel and the tail marks. Always something, no!?!? Anyway, many thanks for the input!

Modeldad
YEP yellow
Wed Oct 29 16:55:06 2003
Look at the pix above, it appears the first two may have been taken with ortho film, notice how the code is the same muddy color as the yellow of the roundel. In T*M, the codes look duller than the white and closer to the yellow.

Tomt
That’ll teach me to be color/tone-blind!
Wed Oct 29 16:57:24 2003
Will go w/yellow codes, then. Again, Thanks muchly for the help – Really appreciate it!

Graham Boak
Is the serial confirmed?
Wed Oct 29 14:38:57 2003
Brian Cauchi and I don’t have it as a Malta a/c; it’s not in Cull’s list of 249 Sqn a/c; (Spitfire, The History) doesn’t list it on Malta (though it does say “Tak” – (Spitfire, The History) says this is short for Takoradi but an awful lot of them ended up at Takali! And that’s not a viable route.)
Other T.Ms include BR111, BR293, EP140, EP196, ER591, ER819.

Modeldad
Look on page 56 of Spit Mk.V Aces
Wed Oct 29 14:44:51 2003
Not as clear as could be against that solid dark fuselage…but looks like BR 58x
The profile says EP340..but then again how reliable are Osprey’s profiles.
But then again there is no visible serial on the T*M on page 50.

Modeldad
If there were a number of A/C with code T*M, then who knows when that pic was taken..
Wed Oct 29 18:21:49 2003
According to the profile EP340/T*M crashed in October ’42.
I would also like to call you attention to page 77, a/c MA847 / D*BQ (BQ*D), is not the dark color across the cockpit in the place the green should be? Or is this one of those C schemes, or is this a Trop in DG/DE, or heaven forbid, a DG/MS spitfire!!!
Compare it to C*BQ behind, which has a different pattern.

Graham Boak
EDSC/DE/SB
Wed Oct 29 14:25:36 2003
here are a lot of photos of these dark T.x coded 249 Sqn aircraft. Close-ups often show not a single colour but two of similar tone. The War Museum in Malta reported that a painter on a Beaufighter squadron told them of thinning Extra Dark Sea Grey (EDSG) and spraying it over the Mid Stone of the Desert scheme. There is at least one photo showing clear evidence of such an overspray. EDSG fades quite quickly to a blue-grey shade, for which the Osprey/Wings of Fame artwork is probably a good guide.
At this time tropical Spitfires were, apparently, being painted with Sky Blue undersides rather than the Azure Blue. However, Azure is not as dark as commonly assumed (Humbrol’s long-standing Azure Blue is actually a match for the darker colour Mediterranean Light Blue) so it would be impossible to tell the difference between Sky Blue and Azure Blue on a b&w print. Or indeed a colour one.
So the likeliest colour on this Spitfire would have been the Dark Earth and Sky (or Azure) Blue of the Tropical scheme, with a thin overspray of Extra Dark Sea Grey over Mid Stone.
Earlier, 249 Sqn received the first Spitfires on Malta, and painted the entire uppersurface in a single dark grey (or blue-grey), but this does not seem to have lasted long into the siege. There is a very clear picture of one, post-siege, looking very much like a post-war Seafire, so it does seem that 249 considered this somewhat of a squadron tradition!Brian Cauchi and I don’t have it as a Malta a/c; it’s not in Cull’s list of 249 Sqn a/c; (Spitfire, The History) doesn’t list it on Malta (though it does say “Tak” – (Spitfire, The History) says this is short for Takoradi but an awful lot of them ended up at Takali! And that’s not a viable route.)
Other T.Ms include BR111, BR293, EP140, EP196, ER591, ER819.

Modeldad
I’ll be damned if I can see a pattern on the wing!
Wed Oct 29 14:40:37 2003
Page 50 of Osprey Spitfire Mk.V aces. And damn the profile, Osprey is about as reliable as (Aeromaster).
And on page 56..light overspray of thinned EDSG? But that fuselage aft of the cockpit looks like a clean repaint in mono-color.

Graham Boak
Page 56 is the post-siege a/c I wrote about
Wed Oct 29 15:29:31 2003
It is a March 1943 photo. So that scheme is almost certainly EDSG over SB (or AB). Well, as sure as it is possible to be. It also could have been delivered from Egypt, and thus not be in my list of 1942 aircraft – though it still should appear in Cull’s list (249 Squadron At War)
My apologies, I thought we were talking about something more like the one on Page 50. That is clearly a Mk.Vb, and so not BR586 (which survived to go the Royal Hellenic Air Force). I have just dug out another view of this aircraft “en pylon” and agree that in this case the uppersurface looks single-tone. It also has a very crisp dividing line between upper and lower surfaces on the fuselage, something unlike to be seen in a hurried overspray.
Perhaps this is another late photo, when supplies were more easy to get hold of?

Tomt
Aloha Graham – Thanks for the inputs! …
Wed Oct 29 16:44:15 2003
Solid color mine shall be, by god, by golly! Was BR586 a Mk.Vb or Mk.Vc?
Those Malta Blues sure have caused their share of problems/contention amongst us modelers, no? But hey, it’d be boring if everything was cut and dried – Research is half the fun for this older H-S’er!
By the way, Modeldad’s last input included a copy of a decal sheet showing the codes as yellow, but looking at my Osprey pics in bright Hawaiian sunlight, they sure seem to have the same “color-qualities” as the white in the roundels and on the tail swatch. What’cha think?
Again, sincerely appreciate your taking the time to help with this project – Hope I complete it sometime this century! Many Thanks!

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