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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 6, 2010 14:09:16 GMT 12
As the 30 Welington bombers that New Zealand bought with the intention of equipping No. 1 Squadron at Ohakea and No. 2 Squadron at Whenuapai were to be in the role of General Reconnaissance, had they arrived, rather than night bombers as they ended up, would they have been intended to originally have white sides and undersides?
Our general reconnaissance aircraft in service, the Baffins and Vincents, were silver and white respectively. I cannot see why the Wellingtons would have been in the black undersides and sides scheme. They would not have been used at night generally.
Perhaps they had another idea, such as sky undersides?
What do you reckon?
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Post by alanw on Sept 6, 2010 23:00:31 GMT 12
If memory serves me right the Wellingtons
were due here in New Zealand late 1939?
I would think upon their arrival here they would
have worn the current RAF Land Temperate Scheme
of dark green/dark earth over white/silver undersides.
Had they gone into wartime service with the RNZAF,
I would imagine they would have kept the upper scheme,
and the lower re-painted in sky (being a blue/green)
colour often also referred to as Duck Egg Blue.
In reading Wally Inghams book "We also served" from
memory he made comment that aircraft were painted
(here in NZ) Dk Green/Dk Earth and Duck Egg Blue -
which were the RAF colours of the time at least
in 1940-1941
Just some thoughts
Regards
Alan
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2010 0:13:00 GMT 12
You'd think that, as they were being built to order in peacetime, the manufacturer would be painting them to the desired colours that the customer wanted.
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Post by SEAN on Sept 7, 2010 6:46:46 GMT 12
These have probably been seen before, but if not I hope they help. The one with the NZ30nn serial number under the wing is probably the most helpful, as I would assume that was how they would have been delivered... RNZAF or RNZAF Museum official    |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2010 8:27:12 GMT 12
Brilliant photos, I don't recall seeing them before. So they did have camouflage sides and black underneath. The question is was that applied last minute when it was realised they were staying with Bomber Command?
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Post by Bruce on Sept 7, 2010 8:44:15 GMT 12
The scheme on the 6x Mark Is was the standard RAF early war night scheme, with camouflage (Earth / Green) sides and black undersides. Initially they had no fin flashes, and no squadron codes, but it looks like they gained some when they were passed back to the RAF. The 2 lower pics above show mark Ias with powered turrets, rather than the mark I manual vickers turrets. I did some investigation of this for my Wellington model.
I guess they would probably get a repaint at some stage after arrival in NZ - I'd guess that if according to the original plan war hadnt broken out, they would probably be painted Silver overall.....
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2010 10:27:53 GMT 12
So were they randomly pulled off the production line, and not made to a specific order then?
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Post by Bruce on Sept 7, 2010 10:44:17 GMT 12
The Mark Is were diverted from an RAF order in order to facilitate crew training for the delivery of the IAs. not sure what the story was with the later ones, I guess a similar arrangement....
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2010 10:58:43 GMT 12
I see.So were those first six going to come to NZ or stay with the RAF after the crews were trained and others delivered? it would seems stupid to buy a brand new order of aircrfat and have them mixed marks (yes they did so in wartime but that was a bit different).
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Post by oggie2620 on Sept 8, 2010 10:44:15 GMT 12
They were going to be flown back to NZ but I am sure Glen will correct this if I wrong... Glad to see those photos again! Am also glad to see the colour one in the forum banner at the top... Dee  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 8, 2010 11:02:47 GMT 12
Yes, the 30 purchased aircraft were certainly to be flown back to New Zealand, but I was wondering if the inferior six Mk 1's were meant to be part of that 30. It seems wierd to buy 30 new aircraft and have six of them incompatible with the other 24. Or did they intend these six to form an OTU and have 12 each for No's 1 and 2 Squadrons? That would leave no reserves however. You realise the coloured photo at the top is a computer generated artwork and not real, eh?  |
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Post by angelsonefive on Sept 9, 2010 9:28:25 GMT 12
I am probably sticking my neck out here, but if the Wimpys were to be used in the GR role in the NZ context then that would imply, in my opinion,
a lot of maritime patrol work .
There is a probability, I think, that the order originally called for the contemporary RAF Coastal Command colour scheme, whatever that was.
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