One to debate...

[Ian M]

But they are also there on the edge of the white stripes that are adjacent to the original camouflage. Judging by his postings on his P-47 site Nigel seems to think that after the initial application (as described by Gabreski's crew chief) the stripes were tidied up a bit. I do know the stripes and how they appear have been debated endlessly over the years Cheers

Steve

Hmm- Looking at the enlarged section, the dark lines appear to be the same tone as the out-lines around the star and bars...could it be that "the big cheese" got them to neaten the edges with the same dark blue from that? It seems a logical thought.

Ian M

[stona]

From the available (so far) paperwork, it appears that we supplied the paint for both the RAF & USAAF, 85,000 gallons in total. Edgar

There are a couple of instances I know of when Americans tasked with doing the painting complained about the British paint, so that certainly makes sense.

I wonder if they updated the quantity of paint ordered as the Memorandum was revised?

For example on May 11th Bomber Command aircraft were exempted by Amendment No.1. That is a lot of very large aircraft which would have carried very large (24") stripes. I hope they didn't reduce the order because a few weeks later, on 31st May, Amendment No.2 included all glider aircraft to be marked as fighter aircraft with 18" stripes. That could have led to an embarrassing phone call to the various paint suppliers!

It wasn't until two days after the landings that SHAEF ordered night fighters flying over the shipping lanes in day light hours to be marked. I hope they had some paint left over.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I don't have all of the inter-departmental stuff, but I'd expect that enough would/should have been ordered, to allow for the odd repaint, after all, think washable paint and British summer-time

Edgar