Stanislaw Skalski MkIXc Spitfire

[AirfixJunkie]

I'm making a belated father's day gift of a model of Stanislaw Skalski's MkIXc Supermarine Spitfire EN315 ZX.6

Dad spent many years in the RAF and Royal Auxiliary RAF Regiment and is a keen military historian so I like to research these sorts of specific models to make sure I get the detail right.

The problem with this one is the yellow line along the outer leading edge of the wing as seen on this model:

It's not reproduced on some other models and isn't shown in the painting guide that came with the model I have. Can anyone clarify for me if it's meant to be there and what it represents?

Thanks in advance

AJ

 

[monobrow]

Stuck "spitfire" into wiki (link) and this was the first picture

Definately a bit of yellow on that but I can't help you with why it's there.

 

[AirfixJunkie]

After much digging around it seems that the yellow leading edges were introduced in 1941 (although I can't find any explanation as to their use or symbolism) and as Skalski was given command of the PFT and attached to 145 squadron in 1943 I'm going to assume they're meant to be there.

Now my interest's been sparked I'd still appreciate any further info anyone can offer.

 

[gemarriott]

My best guess is that spitfires were made from yellow plastic and somebody forgot to paint the leading edges.

 

[grumpyoldb]

Anti-icing strip? DT_Xtremez_26:

 

[Realist78]

How about a chat with BBMF? They might know, PM me for any contacts etc.

 

[Harry B'Stard]

If it was anti-icing or anti-erosion they would probably add the dye to keep it camo (much like nowadays).

Being bright yellow, my best guess would be some sort of visual aid (not the type of visual aid you find in a classroom, before anyone starts!).

It could be to aid the pilot when flying low level... bit tricky to judge wings when they're the same colour as the ground.

It could be some sort of formation aid.

Or it could be simply to prevent Lineys from smashing the wings into hangar doors when it's dark... remember the blackout was in force.

Could it even be to easily identify section leaders when mid Dog Fight?

All of the above are guesses...

But if you find out the truth... let us all know!DT_Xtremez_30:

HTB

 

[grumpyoldb]

It seems to be an aircraft recognition scheme.................

Quote............. At the same time as the Day Fighter Scheme was introduced, yellow strips on the leading edge of the wings were introduced as a recognition aid. If an aircraft has the yellow leading edge strips then is must be in the Day Fighter Scheme.

http://spitfireforums.com/index.php?topic=73.0

Third paragraph in post No 109

 

[Harry B'Stard]

It seems to be an aircraft recognition scheme.................

Quote............. At the same time as the Day Fighter Scheme was introduced, yellow strips on the leading edge of the wings were introduced as a recognition aid. If an aircraft has the yellow leading edge strips then is must be in the Day Fighter Scheme.

Do you mean recognition as in easy to identify friends in a dog fight?

I remember seeing the Isreali Mirages during the six day war with Fookin' huge yellow triangles (almost the whole wing) painted on them...

It would appear that they were more scared of shooting their own people down than being shot down by arabs! DT_Xtremez_42:DT_Xtremez_06:

HTB

 

[Rigga]

Do you mean recognition as in easy to identify friends in a dog fight?

I remember seeing the Isreali Mirages during the six day war with Fookin' huge yellow triangles (almost the whole wing) painted on them...

It would appear that they were more scared of shooting their own people down than being shot down by arabs! DT_Xtremez_42:DT_Xtremez_06:

HTB

At the start of WW1 British planes had large Union Jacks painted on the wings and sides to mark their nationality. Just as the Germans had painted the Iron Crosses on the sides of their aircraft. and the French had three-colour Roundels. In clouds and smokey atmospheres, the crosses of the UJ would stand out from their background colours and many British aircraft were shot down by British troops mistaking them for Iron Crosses. So the British copied the French design and swapped the colours around. Identification then became as simple as "Noughts and Crosses".

No! I don't know about yellow Leading Edges...

During GW1 the Coalition Forces used Day-Glo Decking, Black-and-White "Invasion Stripes" and eventually huge white inverted "V"s to indicate what side they were on - and still the Spams managed to misread the signs!!

...oh well...

 

[MAINJAFAD]

Do you mean recognition as in easy to identify friends in a dog fight?

I remember seeing the Isreali Mirages during the six day war with Fookin' huge yellow triangles (almost the whole wing) painted on them...

It would appear that they were more scared of shooting their own people down than being shot down by arabs! DT_Xtremez_42:DT_Xtremez_06:

HTB

Don't think the triangles were on the Israeli Mirage III's in 1967, However during the un-declared 'War of Attrition' air battles that the Israelis and Arabs had in 1970, the Israelis ran into a big problem in that the Arabs started fighting them using Libyan Mirage V's, which had originally been ordered by the Israeli’s from the French only to then have the Frogs embargo the lot and then sold to Gaddifi. Hence the triangles to tell the difference between aircraft of the same type being operated by opposing forces.

As for the Yellow leading edges, they were for recognition purposes, as was the Sky coloured band on the rear fuselage on single seat day fighters (The sky band started around mid 1940, when the day fighter (temperate i.e. Northern European) colours were dark green and dark earth with Sky (or half black/half white undersides), The Yellow wing leading edges coming in during 1941 when the temperate day fighter scheme switched to dark green / ocean grey and light aircraft grey undersides. With the introduction of the Typhoon as an interceptor in late 1942 to counter low level high speed hit and run attacks on the east coast by FW-190s, a number of different mixes of white stripes were painted on the Tiffys as they were getting shot down by ignorant Spitfire pilots who thought the Tiffys were 190s. The Tiffys finally ended up with three white stripes on each wing that later transformed into the famous ‘D-Day’ Invasion Stripes.

The Simple answer to this problem of what Skalski's Spit was painted like is to find a photo or profile of it….and paint it to the reference. If you can’t find info on the net, find if he was a Ace (which he was mostly likely) and go buy the book in the Osprey ‘Aircraft of the aces’ series which covers Spitfire aces in the Med which will most likely have both photos and a colour profile of the aircraft in question. (Also a good site to check is a Russian web site called Wings Palette, which has hundreds of colour profiles of aircraft).