Ventura in Colour

[pjw4118]

Two shots of W/Op Bob Tilsley 's NZ 4608 over Rabaul on 17/8/44.Bob had this enlargement hand coloured. The same photo appears on the cver of Ross,s Official History of the RNZAF.
The Rabaul raid out of Piva was the last of their tour (Bobs 4th).The following morning Bob was assigned to NZ4526 returning it to nZ for a major service.A motor failed on take off and the aircraft ended on fire in a swamp at the runways end. All got out but Bobs eye injuries saw him be medically discharged in Jan 1945.
Bob had earlier crewed with F/O Ian Page DFM on NZ 4512 Slippery Sam.I will add a few of these photos later.

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[oggie2620]

Doesnt it make such a difference in colour. Good for anyone who wants to model Venturer. Nice one!

[chinapilot]

Iconic shot...looks great in colour also.

Was flying up there in the early 70s and went to bit of trouble to get the Aztec against that background...turned out well but prints have been lost over the years.

Also just reread 'KIWI STRIKE' which has some great cover art...[photo doesn't do it justice]

[pjw4118]

Chinapiot, nice art and I see that the cover price was NZ 2.45, what a bargain.

[Bruce]

Whilst these are great examples of colour artwork, Modellers will need to treat them with caution if using them as references. The Colourised photo will be close to the real thing, but not necessarily 100% accurate - especially in the exact tones of blue. (i have seen colorised photos that are grossly inaccurate - even the BBC series "WW2 in Colour" using restored and colourised period film got things quite wrong - one shot of a lancaster looking from above had the B - Type roundel colours reversed!). Not knowing the story Kiwi Strike is portraying, I am not sure how authentic the schemes shown are either...

[Dave Homewood]

Bruce, Kiwi Strike is a fictional story of a Ventura crew going through OTU training and into action, etc. But it is written by a genuine veteran of RNZAF Ventura operations and is thus pretty accurate in its details. Much like the excellent fiction book Fear In The Night plus other smaller accounts of Ventura ops written by Errol Brathwaite.

[Dave Homewood]

It should also be remembered that there was a wide variety of colour schemes and looks on Venturas. The paint deteriorated rapidly not just because of the coral dust and other grit that the propellers blasted against the paint, but also due to the fact they were washed down after every flight with petrol to remove that coral dust. So at any given time there were usually very faded and worn, moderaely worn and freshly repainted Venturas on the flightline. The markings were also constantly changing, not just the roundels and fin flashes but the nose art and nicknames came and went and some more came back, and the bomb markings were added and squadron call sign codes removed. Variations of the serial number often occurred on the same aircraft, some photos showing eveidence of two or even three different serial markings on the tail and nose that have been added over time (obviously as the older one faded off).

So anyone modelling a Ventura needs to realy pick one photo and do it around that as another photo of the same aircraft three months later may vary widely in detail.

I think the same applies to other operational types - Corsair, P-40, Hudson, etc too.

But the Ventura is interesting as many arrived with artwork on them already applied by Disney staff at the factory. Some of this was altered to turn it into a local joke or menaing. Some was removed. Many of these stayed. Then many, especially the 10 SU/No. 1 BR Squadron machines, got their own personal artworks from aircrew as well. The varierty of these is amazing, there are many more than most people realise. I think almost every one of the original 1 BR Sqn First Tour aircraft had their own nose art and often also carried their older Disney art into the front line too. There are various Maori artworks, there's a penguin or kiwi, there's a devil chasing a Jap, there is Slippery Sam which was well known, and others too.