This is a topic which does not seem to have had any dedicated references published. I have created the table below
based on the Airfix Magazine Guide to RAF Camouflage by MJF Bowyer, The RAF Museum Guide to RAF Colours and Markings
and Owen Thetford's wartime book published by Harborough. Please remember that transitions from one scheme to another
would have been gradual as aircraft were repainted. Things like codes and roundels would have been easy to change while the aircraft were in service but a complete repaint might have meant waiting for an overhaul. This also accounts for some non-standard schemes like the Dark Green/Dark Earth/White Wellingtons seen in some books.
As can be seen there are a number of inconsistencies so comments, additions and corrections are welcome
(via the 'Contact' page on the site please). Note that I
have used the well known 'Type A', 'Type A1', etc. designations for Roundels/Fin Stripes.
June 2010 - a major update with information from rafweb.org, a Paul Lucas article in MAM on Sunderland III camouflage, Vic Flintham's book Combat Codes, MJF Bowyer in Airfix Magazine Annual 7 and notes from Graham Boak (including notes from Bruce Robertson's book on Aircraft Camouflage and Markings of the World)
| Camouflage and National Markings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Detail | Reference |
| pre-Oct 1938 | Overall silver, Type A national markings in pre-war colours | photos |
| Oct 1938 | Dark Green,Dark Earth uppersurfaces, Silver undersurfaces, Type B national markings in wartime colours Codes in Medium Sea Grey, serials in Black |
photos |
| ??? | Dark Green,Dark Earth uppersurfaces, Silver undersurfaces (Blenheim fighters in black/white, also some Hudsons in Black with large white serials) national markings: upperwing Type 'B', none underwing, fuselage Type 'A1', fin Type 'A' all in wartime colours, Codes in Medium Sea Grey, serials in Black. Flying boats repainted in Dark Slate Grey & Extra Dark Sea Grey uppersurfaces on overhaul, presumably with Sky codes ? |
photos |
| Nov 1939 | upperwing roundel changed to 'A' (or 'A1' ?). Use of these roundels on the upperwing is also supported by a photo in the book A Child's War in Cornwall by John Harding of a Sunderland code RB.U (could be W3986) with HMS Hood in the backgound which states that it was taken in Plymouth Sound and 2 months later Hood was sunk. The chronology of HMS Hood on the web suggests the ship last visited Plymouth in May 1940 for a refit with 23-27 May the days it was there after the refit finished, therefore likely to be in the Sound (where it does look as if the photo was taken). 10 Sqdn RAAF (code RB) was at Mount Batten from 1st April 1940. The upperwing roundels are type A1 and the fin flash Type A. | Ian Huntley - SAM |
| June 1940 | Blenheim fighters change to Sky undersurfaces | Bowyer |
| 19 July 1940 | upperwing roundel changed to 'B'. This is also supported by a photo in the book A Child's War in Cornwall by John Harding of a Sunderland code RB.U (could be W3986) with HMS Hood in the backgound which states that it was taken in Plymouth Sound and 2 months later Hood was sunk. The chronology of HMS Hood on the web suggests the ship last visited Plymouth in May 1940 for a refit with 23-27 May the days it was there after the refit finished, therefore likely to be in the Sound where it looks as if the photo was taken. 10 Sqdn RAAF (code RB) was at Mount Batten from 1st April 1940. The upperwing roundels and the fin flash are both Type A. | Bowyer |
| July 1940 | underwing roundel of Type 'A' and Sky undersides introduced (except Sunderland) | |
| 23 Aug 1940 | undersurfaces of flying boats changed to Sky | |
| Sept 1940 | undersides of all landplanes changed to Black (except Blenheim & Anson). This Air Ministry ruling led to a storm of protest from Coastal Command as many of their aircraft operated by day | |
| 28 Oct 1940 | 25% of GR and torpedo bombers allowed to retain Sky undersides, Flying boats to have clear lanolin undersurfaces | |
| 12 Dec 1940 | Flying boats to have Sky undersurfaces | RAFM |
| 10 July 1941 AMO A.513/41 |
All landplanes to have Temperate Land Scheme uppersurfaces (Dark Green and Dark Earth) with Sky or Black undersurfaces |
RAFM book |
| Aug 1941 by memo | All aircraft to have Temperate Sea Scheme (Dark Slate Grey & Extra Dark Sea Grey) on uppersurfaces Wellington, Whitley and Liberator to have fuselage sides matt white and undersurfaces gloss white, de-icing equipment on leading edges to be in a flexible White paint and engine cowlings in White stove enamel. Beaufort, Beaufighter, Blenheim & Hudson to have Sky undersurfaces Flying boats, floatplanes and amphibians were not mentioned specifically so seem to have fallen into the second group, even Sunderlands which might seem to fit better in the first group. There is an IWM photoTR 108 dated 1942 which shows a Sunderland with Sky undersides and the upper surface camouflage extending over the fuselage sides. | Lucas and Bowyer |
| 2 July 1942 AMO A.664/42 |
The book 'Ensor's Endeavour' indicates 500 Sqdn changed its Hudsons to white undersurfaces around August 1942, previously they were 'duck egg blue' which appears as an alternate name for Sky in AM publications i.e. 'duck-egg blue (Sky-Type "S")'. | RAFM book and as quoted |
| 1942 ? | Mosquitos introduced in Night Fighter (Dk Green / Med Sea Grey) camouflage | Bowyer |
| February 1943 by memo (?) | Temperate Sea Scheme replaced with just Extra Dark Sea Grey on uppersurfaces, gloss white undersurfaces and matt white fuselage sides. De-icing equipment to be painted in Aluminium paint. Undersurface colour should always be carried up just over the leading edge of the mainplanes. As the reason for this was to save effort in applying the second colour I assume it is unlikely aircraft were repainted until they had a major overhaul. | Lucas and Bowyer |
| March 1943 by memo (?) | Beaufighters to use Extra Dark Seay Grey and White. Seems to have been applied to very few aircraft. | Bowyer |
| October 1943 by memo | Beaufighters (and presumably Mosquitos - Ross) to have Extra Dark Seay Grey uppersurfaces and Sky Undersurfaces. | Bowyer |
| 7 Sept 1944 AMO A.864/44 |
Refers everything to DTD Technical Circular No.360 which I do not have but the RAFM book also gives a leaflet issued in October 1944 which is rather confusing regarding Coastal Command schemes. | RAFM book |
| 1944 ? | Low attack Halifaxes in standard bomber colours | Sqdn/Signal |
| Code Letters and Numerals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Detail | Reference |
| I'm not sure when Coastal Command introduced a two letter combination denoting the squadron plus an individual aircraft letter but certainly by the start of WWII. If they followed other commands then they were introduced about the end of September 1938 and the combination changed on the outbreak of war. | ||
| Nov 1942 memo |
Around November 1942 squadron code letters were removed and only an individual aircraft letter retained - Vic Flintham in Combat Codes gives the date for the original memo as 16th October 1942 while Paul Lucas in his MAM article on Sunderland markings gives different dates for memos but says the order was to come into effect on 1st November 1942. This presumably, despite a slight discrepancy in dates, explains the common photo of a Wellington VIII (A/HX379) dated 28th October 1942 with squadron code letters WN showing as a pale colour which was presumably due to them having been overpainted in white. | |
| mid 1943 | By mid-1943 the confusion on bases where different squadrons operated the same aircraft type seems to have led to the introduction of one numeral indicating different squadrons on a base, with the lowest numbered squadron getting '1', the next '2' and so on. Occasionally this broke down when squadrons were posted - e.g. 206 became '4' when it was posted to St.Eval where 53 was '1', 224 was '2' and 547 was '3'.The '1' was usually just a verical bar. Sometimes the numerals became subscripts, notably on Halifaxes, or were different sizes as on some Liberators like Q/BZ877 (IWM photo CH 11800). Also the '1' for the lowest numbered squadron was sometimes omitted as on 179 Squadron Wellingtons at Chivenor IWM photo FLM 1995 which have only the aircraft letter while the 407 Squadron aircraft in the backgound carry the '2' for their squadron as well. Other squadrons did carry the '1' though, including 172 Squadron when at Chivenor (photo in RAF Chivenor in the Britain in old photographs series, also IWM photo CA 143). |
|
| July 1944 | In mid-1944 (perhaps anticipating or as a result of confusion with squadrons moving around for D-Day ?) squadrons returned to two code letters plus an individual aircraft letter. Although Paul Lucas suggests (due to having found correspondence in the PRO) the strike squadrons changed earlier I have not seen anything to support this and many photos of 404 Squadron Beaufighters show the numeral '2' and are dated May 1944. By the time they have D-Day stripes 404 seem to have changed to letters 'EE'. There is a photo in the RAF Chivenor book of a Wellington with D-Day stripes
on the fuselage (but not the wings as far as can be seen) and the code numeral '2' for 407 Squadron dated 12th September 1944 which suggests the change was not implemented uniformly. Further evidence to support the later date comes from IanW (via Britmodeller.com)... the well-known photo of the 489 Sqn Beaufighter with the Mustang alongside (eg here http://www.burrowes.org/FamilyTree/E.F.G.B...r-Mustang.html) shows that the original squadron codes (1-S) have been over-painted with the new codes of P6 - this implies that the squadron was still using the old 2 letter squadron code at least for a short while after 6 June 1944 (as I believe they were moved to the forward fuselage to avoid over-painting with the invasion stripes) before using 'P6'. Vic Flintham (in Combat Codes) has a table of the codes and changeover dates which also shows a haphazard return to the two letter (squadron) plus one letter (aircraft) codes. |
photos, books and articles as quoted |
| Code and Serial Colours and Sizes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Detail | Reference |
| Oct 1938 | Codes in Medium Sea Grey, serials in Black | photos |
| 10 July 1941 AMO A.513/41 |
Code letters... are to be painted in grey paint (presumably this meant Medium Sea Grey ?) |
RAFM book |
| 2 July 1942 AMO A.664/42 | Code letters are to be 48in high and made up of strokes 6in wide (smaller letters only if unavoidable)
Mosquitos are not mentioned but, when introduced, appear to have used Dull Red codes and Night (Black) serials | RAFM book |
| October 1943 by memo (?) | Beaufighters (and presumably Mosquitos - Ross) to have Dull Red, Sky or Black codes | Bowyer |
| 7 Sept 1944 AMO A.864/44 |
Refers everything to DTD Technical Circular No.360 which I do not have but the RAFM book also gives a leaflet issued in October 1944 which is rather confusing regarding Coastal Command schemes. Just to make life difficult Edgar Brooks has tried to find DTD360 in the National Archives at Kew but there seems not to be a copy there. |
RAFM book |
| 1944 ? | Beaufighters and Mosquitos change to Sky then Black (occasionally outlined Yellow) codes | Bowyer and photos |
| Roundels and Fin Flashes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Detail | Reference |
| Oct 1938 | photos | |
| 10 July 1941 AMO A.513/41 |
Red and Blue roundels on the upper surfaces of the wing tips; Red,White and Blue roundel surrounded by a yellow ring on each side of the fuselage; vertical Red, White and Blue stripes on the fin (red stripe leading); No roundels underwing. |
RAFM book |
| 2 July 1942 AMO A.664/42 | Type C and C1 roundels and fin flashes introduced. Standard sizes of 16, 32 or 48in for Type C; 18, 36 or 54in for C1 and 18, 24 or 36 in (all 24in high) for fin flashes. So sizes change but otherwise as above for position/colour combination. | RAFM book |
| 2 Jan 1945 Cypher AX 110 |
With effect from 7th January 1945 Red, White and Blue roundels in Type C proportions but to the same size as the old Red and Blue roundels to be used on the upper surface of the mainplanes. | Lucas |