75 SQN RAAF Kittyhawk colours?

watchdog22

watchdog22

Piston Broke
Hi All, I'm partway to finishing a skin for the FDG2 P-40E in the colours of 75 Sqn, Port Moresby at the time of DoA. There are scarce details of their camouflage and markings so I'm asking for help. I have done a bit of deduction and have come up with a few presumptions and used Dupont equivalents of RAF colours, Dark Earth, Dark Green and Sky type S in the standard fighter pattern. I have also imagineered the markings to what was common practice for early 1942 and left the red circle in the roundels. Hopefully someone can help clarify this for me, thanks in advance,
Cheers Watchdog22
 
Reply...

Watchdog22,

This is a great idea. I also asked RobH to do a couple of skins...he did them the FDG2 P-40e as well!
 
Thanks Guys, the colour charts were very handy. I'm a great fan of RobH's work but I'll keep on plodding on with my interpretation & maybe even finish it :icon_lol:
 
Thanks Kevin, that was a great reference. The tonal values of the black and white photos make me think the dark earth was a little paler than the one I used. There are photos of 75 and 76 Sqn Kittyhawks at Milne Bay which still had the red centre roundels (Osprey Aircam No6, Curtiss Kittyhawk MKI-IV) The photos show the upper wing roundel which looks to me to be red/blue which was a surprise.
Cheers,
Tony
 
I agree Tony. My father was groundcrew with 75 and 76 Squadrons at Milne Bay in 1943 and one of his jobs was spray painting the aircraft. I remember him saying the paint weathered and faded quickly in the tropics. I think the examples above by RobH posted by Rami are probably spot on.

As for the cockades, none of his photos show the upper wing. The Kittyhawks in his snapshots have only blue and white on the fuselage and no markings at all underneath the wing.

Kevin
 
The danger of the 'red' within the national emblem on aircraft was recognised early by the USAAF. For example 13 Squadron RAAF records, in it's Unit History Sheet - Detail of Operations, Sheet No. 55 an entry for 27 March 1942 which read as follows:-

"Orders issued by the U.S. Air Staff to the effect that the red circle in the American insignia on all United States aircraft was to be immediately painted white to avoid mistakes in recognition, particularly by ground troops."

Oddly enough, the RAAF persisted with the 'red' centre until, according the Geoff Pentland in his book "RAAF Camouflage & Markings 1939–45 – Vol. 1", red centres of the upper-wing roundels should be painted out in white. This was formalised in Aircraft General Instruction C11, Issue 4, dated 31 July 1942. Within a few months, the order was extended to all roundels on all RAAF aircraft.

See here for more info:
http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/admin/productfiles/publication/materials/276/pf27_jul05.pdf


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