Question about this Malta Spit Mk V

[JohnB]

I'm thinking this might be my next build but have questions about the camo scheme. I have a Xtradecal sheet that shows a dark blue/brown scheme which I like. I also have two Osprey books that show this a/c. One book shows the blue/brown scheme, the other shows it as overall blue. It's also shown with and without the sand filter installed. I'm leaning toward the blue/brown scheme with the sand filter on the Xtradecal sheet. What do y'all think? Blue/brown or overall blue? Thanks. 🙄

[Spitfire]

Hi John,  looking through "Malta Spitfire Vs-1942, Their Colours and Markings by Brian Cauchi I found an article on this very aircraft:

Spitfire Vb EP829 Coded T*N belonging to 249 Squadron

The aircraft was extensively photographed, and these photos reveal that it was not a tropicalised aircaft and did not have the large nose filter, this is clearly shown in one photograph.

It had the legend Malta 1000 celebrating the 1000th Malta victory under the windscreen on the port side.

There was also a small T above and behind the N on both sides of the fuselage., a Squadron leaders pennant and kill markings were also present on the port side at the rear of the fuel tank.

It was part of the last delivery batch of 1942 and was the regular mount of Squadron Leader John Lynch.

The paint scheme was a low contrast scheme either Temperate Land Scheme (Dark Green and Dark Earth over Sky or Azure) or the Temperate Sea Scheme (Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate over Sky). The colour rendition shows Azure blue.

However the article does mention another Spitfire coded T*N featured in a newsreel, anothe non tropical Vb but with clipped wings, the serial number was not evident. and it had a very dark overall colour scheme (not named) with none of the other markings that were on EP829.

Hope this helps, let me know if you would like any more info.

Cheers

Dennis

 

[JohnB]

56 minutes ago, Spitfire said:

Hi John,  looking through "Malta Spitfire Vs-1942, Their Colours and Markings by Brian Cauchi I found an article on this very aircraft:

Spitfire Vb EP829 Coded T*N belonging to 249 Squadron

The aircraft was extensively photographed, and these photos reveal that it was not a tropicalised aircaft and did not have the large nose filter, this is clearly shown in one photograph.

It had the legend Malta 1000 celebrating the 1000th Malta victory under the windscreen on the port side.

There was also a small T above and behind the N on both sides of the fuselage., a Squadron leaders pennant and kill markings were also present on the port side at the rear of the fuel tank.

It was part of the last delivery batch of 1942 and was the regular mount of Squadron Leader John Lynch.

The paint scheme was a low contrast scheme either Temperate Land Scheme (Dark Green and Dark Earth over Sky or Azure) or the Temperate Sea Scheme (Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate over Sky). The colour rendition shows Azure blue.

However the article does mention another Spitfire coded T*N featured in a newsreel, anothe non tropical Vb but with clipped wings, the serial number was not evident. and it had a very dark overall colour scheme (not named) with none of the other markings that were on EP829.

Hope this helps, let me know if you would like any more info.

Cheers

Dennis

 

Thanks Dennis for the info. It seems to be one of those situations where we can't be sure what's correct and what isn't. I've seen some of the photos you mentioned and the a/c all looked to have a dark color over all. However, the serial number isn't visible so we can't be sure about the scheme and whether or not it's the N*T Lynch flew. I think what I'll do, unless additional info comes along to the contrary, is I'll stick with the Extra Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate and either Sky or Azure Blue undersides. No sand filter. I'm pretty sure the "Malta's 1,000" etc was just chalked on for a photo op and didn't stay there after that. Just my estimation.

Again, thanks for the info! It IS a big help.

John

 

[JohnB]

There is a nice article in Fine Scale Modeler magazine on this a/c. He did a outstanding job on the build but I'm not real sure about a couple of things he did such as standard wing tips and the earlier Rotol prop. Maybe right, maybe wrong.

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/p/191787/2210745.aspx