RAF Skies... |
By Rato Marczak, 2009 |
C1 | Sky: This
color was proposed by the British Air Ministry in 1940 as a pale
greenish gray similar to FS 34324 [1] to be used on fighters and
bombers. The name Sky, however, was forged only later in that year.
This color was one of the new Type S (smooth) ones, hence the "Type S"
suffix. I'm convinced that this color did not derive from 210 Sky in
the 1939 chart, but from the 216 Eau-de-Nil color. I also believe the
non-official designation Duck Egg Green may have been invented to
differentiate the Sky Type S from the Sky Blue (Duck Egg Blue). |
C2 | Sky Blue: This was the underside color preferred by the Fighter Command. It was a pastel blue shade described as Duck Egg Blue. This color seems to have remained virtually unchanged since the 1931 chart. |
C3 | Sky Grey: This color should have been used only on FAA and Costal Command, but found its way on RAF fighters as well. |
1. | In what
concerns RAF's Temperate Land Scheme during the first years of the war,
there are two sky colors to work with: Sky / Sky - Type S and Sky Blue
/ Duck Egg Blue (FAA and Costal Command is another story). Both colors
were used on (or under!) the British fighters, but photos show that the
second was more common. |
2. | The photos also show
that the ID bands were generally painted with Sky, as well as the code
letters. |
3. | These two general practices contradict at least two official documents from 1942-43 (stating that everything should be Sky Blue)... |
4. | ... and these two documents contradict the Air Ministry directive from December 1940 (stating that everything should be Sky Type-S). |
5. | The two
contradictions 3 & 4 in sequence don't make the common practices 1
& 2 correct. |