Skins by Aelius

[aelius]

All the templates finally have been uploaded in their correct 2048 x 2048 format to both Air War Fare and Cliffs of Dover, where they are grouped under "aelius."

Aside from the higher resolution, some minor changes have been made, which are described below.

Several maddenly elusive bits of color splintering that originally had defied discovery have been corrected.









The yellow identification band introduced a splash of color on the spinners and, although not visible in flight, has been redrawn.



The curious replacement tail, which retained its original camouflage scheme, is what made this plane so interesting. But it later was repainted and now is shown completely in black.



Skinned to demonstrate the difficulty in distinguishing between tones in a black-and-white photograph, the Staffel letter now is red instead of gray.





The unit code has been made smaller and a more mottled camouflage scheme applied to better correspond to the historical antecedent.

[aelius]

Once again, the pilot is more interesting than the plane, here the Spitfire Mk1A of "Sailor" Malan, with its narrow yellow ring on the fuselage roundels and extended "P."

Leader of No. 74 Squadron and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross with Bar, the South African was the most influential pilot in 11 Group and author of a set of tactical rules that were posted throughout the dispersal huts of Fighter Command.

1. Wait until you see the whites of his eyes. Fire short bursts of 1 to 2 seconds and only when your sights are definitely 'ON.'

2. Whilst shooting think of nothing else, brace the whole of the body, have both hands on the stick, concentrate on your ring sight.

3. Always keep a sharp lookout. "Keep your finger out!"

4. Height gives You the initiative.

5. Always turn and face the attack.

6. Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best.

7. Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area.

8. When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as top guard.

9. INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAM WORK are words that MEAN something in Air Fighting.

10. Go in quickly--Punch hard--Get out!

"Sailor" Malan took his nickname from having been in the Mercantile Marine as a teenager, the sobriquet certainly preferable to his given name of "Adolf."

ZPA can be downloaded either here or here.

[kristorf]

Nice mate, but can I just say that ZP-A had the night/day half white half black underside


image host

[aelius]

I can see, kristorf, that I need some rules myself!

I had looked, though, at a dozen or so models and profiles before beginning, although most did not show the undercarriage. And I was muddled in my understanding of the one that did. When it was stated there that the underside of fighters in 74 Squadron changed to Sky during the Battle of Britain, I didn't appreciate that it applied only to the starboard wing.

I see that the roundel on your port wing is the same as on the fuselage and not the Type A used in the CoD template. Did the yellow band provide better contrast against the darker background? And isn't it curious that only the wing is painted in CoD and not the length of the undercarriage.

In the future, I'll leave the RAF in your more capable hands and return to the painted ladies of the Luftwaffe!

(Your image host, by the way, still is postimage.org, which you were kind enough to recommend earlier. Do you find that the site does, in fact, support 2048 x 2048 uploads? My one experience was that it did not. I ask because, if changes are to be made, it would be better if only I were inconvenienced in having to make them.)

The revised Spit can be found here or here.

[kristorf]

Depending on the time frame for the manufacture/painting of the aircraft there were several versions of the night/day underside.
Some had only the port wing painted, some were the full half black while some had the aileron on the port side painted white and starboard painted black against an opposing black or white wing.

As for the roundel, I have no idea as to why there was the yellow ring around it, but again this differs on differant aircraft with some having a narrow band (as per ZP-A) and some having bands that extended to the leading edge.

RAF schemes can be, contrary to what some say, interesting, but you need to be prepared to dig for them.

[aelius]

In the Photo Archive to Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings 1933-1945, Kenneth Merrick includes a large captioned photograph of Q1+VB, which he identifies as a F-2 sub-variant, although the plane usually is described as a G-2.



The two sub-variants essentially were the same except for the more powerful (but problematic) DB 605B engine of the G-2, which required the addition of an air inlet above the exhaust pipes that seems to be visible in the photograph. The F-2 was fitted with hard points beneath the wings but so was the G-2.

Merrick does observe that the undersides of the wing tips were yellow, and in the photograph one can just discern the coloring. But he goes on to say that the spinner tips were yellow as well, indicating that the plane belonged to the Stab of III.Gruppe. Given how much darker the tips appear to be when compared to the yellow band at the rear of the fuselage, they more likely were green, the color of I.Gruppe Stab, an attribution seemingly confirmed by the white "V" and Staffel letter "B."

NAGr.1 was a Nahaufklärungsgruppen (reconnaissance unit) and one wonders, looking at the photograph, whether the apparent absence of gun ports for the two 20mm canons signifies that the plane was fitted instead with a camera, in which case the sub-variant would be a F-3 or G-3. All of this, of course, is completely beside the point, given that the plane being skinned is a C-4!

I've reskinned Q1+VB with the underwing tips in yellow, moved in the Balkenkreuze, and, with yellow now displayed on the undercarriage, closed the tail band around the fuselage. The RLM 74/75 mottling over RLM 76 also has been darkened. The revised color scheme is available here.

Here are some additional screenshots.

I've just discovered "Piece of Cake," by the way, a six-part miniseries produced by London Weekend Television in 1988. Our British cousins likely have known about the program all along but for me it's been a treat to see so many Spitfires in the air.

[TomcatViP]

Very informative too. Thx !