Shine.
 

Here is a 1940's shine.

Not all aircraft were 100% matt, and wind and dirt could polish the surface.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...4949u10fg9.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...4949u10fg9.jpg

Picture is taken during wartime, see here:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...418#6451009418

Look at the sky reflecting in the painted part of the canopy!


The next photo is taken in 1942, as you can see in the link.

http://www.spitfiresite.com/photos/h...-ix-715192.jpg

http://www.spitfiresite.com/photos/h...-squadron.html



This shows sheen from a certain angle too.

http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servl...~61&mi=1&trs=3

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...03-00301-1.jpg

Here too, 1940'sSpits under production. Showing sheen:

http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/331...143FD4AE7FC81B


1942, loook at the shine on the tailplane:

http://www.crashsiteorkney.com/useri...tfire164Sq.jpg


A real shiner - Group Captain A.G. Malan, DSO, DFC, with his usual Spitfire Aircraft ZP-A (1940):

http://samilitaryhistory.org/vo013dtc.jpg


I agree that most aircraft looked matt a lot of the time, but depending on different types of paint/wear/lighting conditions they could also show sheen/shine.

.

YES! That's more like it!
In that picture we can also see two members of StKG-69 performing the well known "Low Level Inverted Stuka"-technic for tossing propaganda leaflets into WAAF's restrooms for telling how much more 'well hung' german airmen are compared to the britons.

Skarphol

That photo is from the BoB film isn't it? ;)

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/v2/...-g/hurican.jpg
safe to say sun angle is the main determining factor - unless these planes just so happened to be flying in formation according to least glossy to most glossy :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Hurricanes.jpg
The under side of all these are reflecting the clouds bellow, of course diffused reflection and not specular reflection - but I don't think we have to worry about specular raytraced/mirror maps being applied to the paint.

during the war some r.a.f pilots used to get the ground crew to "polish" their plane so that they could get an extra mph out of it. Also during the war materials were in short supply so this may also have contributed.

Thank you for the screenshots and update.

All I want for Christmas is an few screenshots and an update. :rolleyes:

for Christmas, I'd like a SoW video. I'll even buy the expensive cookies for Santa ;)

my grandfather claimed to have gotten 15 km/h top speed increase from his P-38J after waxing it

Eh? what's that in knots or mph? and did he convert it or you?

:grin:

km/h = kilometers per hour convert it yourself