Malta's Hurricanes camo scheme (1941)

[CJE]

Hello there!

We are working on profiles of Hurricanes based at Malta early 41.
My suggestion is that they should have retained the Nothern Europe camo scheme (Dk Green/Dk Earth) together with white and black undersides.
Is this assumption correct?

When did the Tropical scheme appeared in Malta and did the Hurricane IIAs launched from HMS Argus (April 41) alreary wear it?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[Graham Boak]

There is a colour photo showing Temperate Land Scheme with black/white undersides, although by Feb 1941 then they should have been wearing the sky/black scheme. Photographs of Hurricanes over Cyprus do show this scheme (although is the lighter colour Sky or Sky Blue?).

Hurricanes on Malta appear to have worn a mix of TLS and desert, depending on the delivery, although one view of Furious (early 1941?)appears to show Hurricanes carrying the tropical Land Scheme of Dark Green and Mid Stone. I know of no attempt to sort the deliveries by camouflage scheme. Try Brian Cull's Hurricanes Over Malta, and Shores/Cull/Malizia's Malta: The Hurricane Years.

[CJE]

Thanks Graham.
May I assume that at that time Hurricanes with Vokes filters had a Desert scheme, those without had a TLS scheme?
I've got both books but none are specific on this topic.

[Graham Boak]

A safer assumption would be that they all had the Vokes. This is without looking for photos.... however, I think that all overseas Hurricanes had the filter regardless of colour scheme, as in the Greek campaign and 73 Sq in the desert (Cull's Hurricanes over Tobruk).

The rules I use for interpreting (guessing?) the colour scheme is to look for the dark area around the canopy - that's TLS or possibly TropLS. If the lighter area is around the canopy it is Desert.

I believe that Paul Lucas quotes an earliest date for Mid Stone in one of his books for Guideline: from memory this is 1940 and some of the earliest Hurricanes on the island were in the Desert scheme, but later ones reverted to TLS.

[CJE]

Assuming they had a Desert camo in Feb 41, so what were the undersides like? Plain sky or black/white or sky/black?

There are photographs in Chris Shores' book showing Hurricane Mk.Is without tropical filters.

[Graham Boak]

ME Command is said to have rejected Sky as being too light. The date of this, or indeed the exact wording, is not known to me. Malta, however, seems to have had a special place in the command structure, so it is not clear which standard of rules applied. I believe deliveries would have been in Sky Blue undersides. This is the 1930s standard Sky Blue not the wartime pale RAE shade. Definitely proving this is another matter - but you will see it represented on Chris Thomas's artwork for Hurricanes over Tobruk and Ron Bellings' paintings of SAAF aircraft of this period.

If you check Hurricanes Over Malta you'll see the colour photo I have in mind - not sure from memory that it was black/white undersides or black with some other colour.

[CJE]

Thanks a lot. That's quite clear.

Chris

[Pilot]

Long time ago i have made this:



Have you try to contact Richard Caruana? He is from malta and maybe best informed in the subject.