Spitfire Photo Sought

[Keith Gaff]

Each year the Friends of the Royal Australian Air Force Museum present the George Merz Memorial Lecture. The subject for 2012 will be the Supermarine Spitfire and I'm looking for a colour picture of the Canadian Mk9 registered CF-NUS which flew in a "Kingfisher" Blue colour scheme in the early 1950's. There are black and white shots around but a colour one would be nice to put into the presentation.

Regards,
Keith Gaff
Secretary
Friends of the RAAF Museum.

[Dan Jones]

I think there's is an inflight color picture of it - I've seen it - but it may have been G-ASJV (MH434) back when it was in a blue & white civilian scheme. MkVIII G-AIDN also once wore an overall blue civil scheme as did Rolls Royce's MkXIV G-ALGT. The archives department of the National Aeronautical Collection is probably a good place to start.

Last edited by Dan Jones on Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

[m charters]

I have seen black and white photos of this aircraft. This is the same plane that is now in the museum in ottawa. You might contact their archives their to see if they can help.

[rcaf_100]

I've had a model started of CF-NUS (ex-NH188, OO-ARC) for a few years now and these are pretty much all I have found.










Hope this helps.

[Keith Gaff]

Thanks for the information fellas.

Regards,

Keith Gaff

[Dave Cheeseman]

Here are a few I have: http://www.jerrybilling.com/Jerry%20Bil ... 0NH188.htm
http://www.jerrybilling.com/photo_galle ... _NH188.htm

Cheers Dave C

[Dan Jones]

Not meaning to start anything here, but was green and brown camouflage correct for this airplane and the scheme that it's in? To my knowledge I've never seen a wartime photo of a Mk IX painted that way.

[rcaf_100]

Not meaning to start anything here, but was green and brown camouflage correct for this airplane and the scheme that it's in? To my knowledge I've never seen a wartime photo of a Mk IX painted that way.

Yep, the RAF went to the Dark Green/Ocean Gray camouflage scheme in 1941, and the Mk IX was introduced in 1942.

[pinman]

This was John Paterson's Spitfire. There is a colour photo and good article on him and the aircraft at http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/paterson.html scroll to the bottom for a weekend colour supplement article of about 1962 about him and the Spit. I saw the aircraft several times up close when it was blue,and I think the colour is a little dark in the photo, due to the snow background. I made a model of same in 1962 or 63 and used the standard Humbrol matt dk blue and it was a good colour match.

There are several other threads on different websites about this aircraft. Please share the link. I just found the article online, as I have, somewhere, an original picture cutting from same article. i took several photos of the aircraft when I was a teenager, but the ones I can find are all B&W.

[Steve T]

Dan--

Absolutely right. That Spitfire and its loose-as-a-goose interpretation of 421 Sqn's markings has been a peeve of mine for a couple decades now. As I understand it, before Dr Paterson donated CF-NUS/NH188 to what was then the National Aeronautical Collection in the sixties, he had it painted in military markings; the 421 Sqn sponsor (McColl-Frontenac Oil) logo had already been applied so the markings chosen were 421's with codes AU, but the earlier brown/green/Sky camo was applied instead of the green/grey to pay additional tribute to the Canadian fighter pilots of the earlier war period, especially, of course, in the Battle of Britain. Out of respect for Dr Paterson, NAC/NAM/CAvM/CA&SM has left the scheme the same...more or less...though the undersides, at least, have been repainted at some point, in a shade very close to USAAF Neutral Gray of all things! Almost nothing is right about the scheme as it now sits. It's possible now, though, to see what 421's colours really looked like while visiting the Ottawa area...by making arrangements to see Mike Potter's Mk.XVIe SL721/C-GVZB across the river at Gatineau. It's in correct 1945 421 livery, the only variance being SL721 is somewhat glossier than a combat Spit from '45...

S.

[PeterA]

John Paterson is reported as having purchased NH188 from COGEA on 27 December 1960. It flew from its base in Belgium to Eastleigh, Southampton, in May (but possibly August) 1961 arriving in a striking colour scheme and carrying the Belgian registration 00-ARC on the fin and rudder. Here it was dismantled for shipping to Canada.

As no images of this scheme in Belgium have surfaced in the intervening 50 years it would be reasonable to consider the new blue and white livery was applied at the behest of John Paterson as part of the purchase.

I also have been looking for a colour shot in this scheme for many years and was delighted to see the link posted by 'pinman' to the colour image, this being a time when most UK photography was still black and white.

I would suggest that the subsequent miltary repaint, carried to this day, brown/green instead of the correct grey/green was applied in error. Accurate knowledge was scant with even the UK 'Battle of Britain Flight' so painted at this time to be followed by the Bill Ross XVI SL721 and later Don Plumb's TE308. The world just thought Spitfire/Battle of Britain....brown and green.

PeterA

Arrival at Eastleigh, Southampton, UK, reported as May 1961. Ray Tallet collection

[pinman]

Lovely photo Peter! When I first saw the aircraft up close, you could still see the COGEA name/logo and OO-ARC registration showing under the (oversprayed) blue paint on the fuselage.

About the camoflage colours- TE330, the RAF presentation Spitfire, when at the USAF museum, Wright-Pat in the early 60's was also painted in brown/green, (not sure about undersurfaces, can't access my photo right now), supporting Peter's colour theory.

I knew the AME/engineer that assembled the aircraft in Fort William, at the Thunder Bay Flying Club (backdrop hangar for 2nd of rcaf-100's photos). He told us that when the aircraft was repainted, it was painted by someone who had painted aircraft during WW2, at Can-Car (Canadian Car & Foundry) in Fort William, where hurricanes were produced early in the war. The Hurricanes would have been brown/green, another possible reason for the colouring.

Ron Kyle, the engineer, would have been a goldmine for info, but regrettably he died about 2 years ago. Similarly the TBay flying Club, before its demise a few years ago, had a number of photos of CF-NUS in the bar.

A similar vintage (1962) RCAFA magazine also had an article on John Paterson & the spitfire with a tail-on photo but in B&W. When I can, I'll try & scan same and submit it.

Again what a lovely photo!