Looking for info fabrc wing Hurricane Mk.I "JX G" Paul Ritchey 1 Sqn

[Larry]

Nick -

Correction it would seem that Paul Richey's Hurricane did have blue undersides!

While sorting some magazines I came across Model Aircraft Monthly for Nov 2005 which has a special feature on Hurricanes and also his machine by Paul Lucas.

See attached!

[nmayhew]

Larry,

The plot thickens!!

Firstly, thank you for posting the "new" info and the reference you gave - I had never heard of this magazine but it looks exactly what i am after.
[PM inbound]

However, i have to say i am a bit confused:
the text from MAM said that previously the Hurricane was painted night / white, but made no mention of aluminium...
i am still interested in this bird with a two tone underside, but if i do it i'd like to get it "right" if at all possible...

so, to re-iterate, do you (or anyone else out there!) think that prior to being painted blue,
1) it was JUST night / white with no aluminium section
2) it had unerwing roundels?

The reason for my befuddled brain is that i have been trying to reconcile the pictures and profiles with the dates and combinations given in your original posting, namely:

- April 1939 - June 1940: night / white
- 4 June 1940... roundels applied to night / white aircraft that had aluminium underside sections (this Hurricane??? but not sure whether this conflicts with Lucas?)
- 6 June 1940... Sky / "blue" (as paint supplies permitted) undersides
- 11 August 1940... roundels re-introduced on undersides (and yet this is clearly later than either of the dated pcitures / profiles??????)

yours, seeking guidance (!),

nick

[Graham Boak]

You can forget anything after mid-May 1940, as Richey was out of the battle from then, and so were fixed-pitch propellors and (with rare exception) fabric-covered wings.

His aircraft will have had underwing roundels because they were required of 1 and 73 Squadrons, as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force.

If you can find references to other aircraft of adjacent serials, see if they had retained Aluminium under the fuselage or not. Even so, there's nothing to prevent Richey's machine being different. Personally I would assume that the retention of Aluminium was only on early aircraft, and that the clarification to full underside black/white was early enough to have seen any examples still in squadron service repainted to match. This does not mean that they necessarily were.

[Larry]

I think these pages will help too:

[Larry]

And this page too

[Graham Boak]

I dug out the magazine, and the reference to the blue is not in the article by Paul Lucas, but in the model build by Neil Robinson. It states that "there is a distinct probability that by May 1940, some of 1 Sq machines had their undersurfaces painted a "pale blue" colour. ..the date..rather vague...the shade...even vaguer." The origin or credibility of this imprecise information is not given.

The magazine also has three examples of black/white undersides, with serials straddling G.

How about going way back to the source? The first aircraft book I bought was the very Fighter Pilot, by Paul Richey, and I still have it. There are two helpful photos. One if G itself after losing its prop. Only the nose is shown, and the underside is in shadow, but certainly appears dark rather than light or reflective. The other is a photo of T showing the underside (specifically, clearly, the radiator) split into white and black. The underside of the rear fuselage is dark except for the area around the tailwheel, which appears to be a replacement in Aluminium or White.

So I think the black/white undersides with roundels on G is fairly well established, at least up until April if not until the end on the 11th May.

I don't know when the squadron stopped using the JX codes, but well before May.

[nmayhew]

Graham, Larry,
thank you both once again for your input - half the fun for me of modelling projects is the research that i do beforehand!
i may well get Richey's book, as extensive internet research of him has revealed pretty much nothing at all
cheers,
Nick

[montana]

In "Fighter Pilot" by Paul Richey published by Jane's in the '80, there is a front photograph of JX-G. The underside is clearly visible and you see the under fuselage split in two from prop to tail with the colors black and white. There are roundels under the two wings.

[nmayhew]

i've just ordered the book on Amazon - less than a fiver!