bbbair

Here’s a question for all those historians out there.

As I look at a photo of a WW2 Spitfire I can see the Wing Roundel with a Red Centre and the Outer Ring is Blue.

But on the Fuselage the Roundel is Red Centre, White Ring, Blue Ring and then a YELLOW ring.

Why is there a high visibility Roundel on the Fuse and a Low Visibility on the Wing?
For that matter why are there Two types of Roundels?

Chip_Mull

My Feedback: (1)

My guess is there was a war going on and the enlisted man assigned to paint the roundels wasn't a historian. But then, I am sure someone like FT can come up with a very technical reason as to why with documentation and letters from the war department to support the hypothesis.

I still have a gallon of "PRU Blue" that was custom blended for a Spitfire if anyone is interested.

By the way, were all Spits painted that way?

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

It simply became a matter of recognition. One issue of the Spit was that it resembled the 109 from a distance. The leading edges of the Spit wings were painted Yellow for the head on view and the Fuse sides have the Yellow surround on the Roundel.

The Spit is not the only aircraft to carry these markings. Most of the RAF aircraft carried similar markings.

These markings evolved as the war progressed to help better distinguish the RAF A/C from the Axis planes. There are other markings that were also changed after the invasion of Normandy because the aircraft were now stationed in the Continent and as such were volunerable to attack from the air by the Axis planes.

dragoonpvw

My Feedback: (7)

The markings changed often from 1936 to 1945. It had little to do with just the Spitfire. The Markings were made for general use with sizes and placement designated by the authorities.
Here is a page of raf roundels and placement from 1939 to 1945 plus a few later ones.
http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/0...F_ROUNDELS.htm
Good Luck
Paul

bbbair

Wow!
So what you are saying is they changed the style of Roundel as they saw fit for virtually every aircraft.

Scary... Thanks for the link it was great - the mind set of the Brits is another matter...

Thanks

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

I don't think that is what he is saying. The markings were all regulated for type, color, size, and placement. The changes in color were all done for a specific reason and the changes were decided upon and regulated by the Air Ministry. I will see if I can run down a good site with information on British camo and markings which answers some of your questions more specifically.

dragoonpvw

My Feedback: (7)

No, I am not saying that at all. In fact I said the exact opposite. The markings were for general use. That is, they used them for all types, not for any specific types of plane. When the markings were updated, they were updated for all types. You must remember that the period of time from 1939 to 1945 was like all the time since compressed in terms of airwar. The necessity and learning that was going on at the time combined with changing nature of missions. ie. peacetime to wartime, then defensive in the bBOB and then offensive thereafter. Learning as they went they updated the markings. From the european theatre to the pacific and asian also had some effects, mainly the removal of the red center to prevent confusion with Japanese rising sun.Thank goodness for the mindset of the Brits because it worked. Did you even look at the link, the page at the bottom has the words, the type c scheme was nearly universal from 1942 to 1945. Often we can get a ballpark date of a photographed plane by looking at its markings and its camouflage pattern which was also standardised. If you look at many plane you can see where ther roundels were updated in the field, you can often see for example where the yellow was overpainted especially on the fuselage roundels which changed a bit. Fleet air arm changed a lot and had quite a few types.
good luck
Paul

bbbair

Paul;

Sorry about the Flippant remarks – bad habit.

Yes; we do tend to forget just how ‘Young’ the Air Plane was in WW2 and that both the planes and their strategy were still evolving.

As we look at AC today we tend to think of mass production and uniformity, so when I look at the many variants of a very simple design – it just makes you wonder “Just WHAT IS GOING ON??”

Your documentation and explanation of the subject has answered many questions for me. Thank You!

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

This may be of interest: http://www.fotw.net/flags/gb-rafh.html