Beaufighters Mk. X - 272 Squadron Colours

[Adamo_60]

I would like to know the camouflage colours of Bristol Beaufighters Mk.Xs from the 272 Sqdr RAF operating around in the mediterranean sea from 1944

Best Regards

[Chris Goss]

Similar to this which was 252 Sqn?

[Zoran Petek]

Hello,
Early examples were Dark Green, Dark Earth, Sky, and in Africa Dark Earth, Mid Stone, with under surfaces in Sky, Light Med. Blue or Azure Blue.
During most of the war scheme was low contrast Temperate Sea Scheme - Dark Slate Gray, Extra Dark Sea Gray, Sky. This scheme was used (in North Africa, Malta, Corsica, Italy) until 1945. Coastal two tone scheme (Extra Dark Sea Gray, Sky), as in the UK, was not used in the Med.
The same was in No. 39 Sqn RAF, and 16 and 19 Sqn Sqns SAAF (although some SAAF Beaufighters had darker Green than Gray surfaces).

[Buckeye30]

Chris. That looks like the Desert Scheme, other fighters in the Med. were ordered schemes as for home-based fighters as per AMO A.864 7-9-44 ie...................
Intruders Medium Sea Grey/ Dark Green/ Night below. Spinners MSG.
Night fighters overall MSG with Dark Green areas above. Spinners MSG.
Day fighters Dark Green/ Ocean Grey/ MSG. Spinners Sky.
Single arcraft letters ( no codes) as on Chris' photo-- Sky on intruders / Day fighters, Dull Red on Night fighters.
eg. Mark Xs in 1944 : LZ121 "J". NV270 "E".

Those in previous "Desert" schemes ( Dark Earth/ Mid Stone) were probably not all re-painted in the field. The previous AMO ( for 2-7-42) specified either Day Fighter, Desert or Temporate Land Schemes for overseas Day and Night fighters so until mid-1944 there was a variety, in Sicily, Italy, Aegean etc.


Nick

[Zoran Petek]

Originally Posted by Buckeye30

Intruders Medium Sea Grey/ Dark Green/ Night below. Spinners MSG.
Night fighters overall MSG with Dark Green areas above. Spinners MSG.
Day fighters Dark Green/ Ocean Grey/ MSG. Spinners Sky.

Above is correct, for fighters.

Night fighter Beaufighters in the Med. during 1943-45 period were painted Medium Sea Gray and Dark Green and many carried full red Squadron codes.

153 Sqn - KW149 (TB-D) Beaufighter VIF. Réghaia III-IV.44.
219 Sqn - Beaufighter V8881 (FK-L), Mosquito XVII HK315 (FK-N)
255 Sqn - ND295 (YD-Y) Foggia
600 Sqn - V8705 (6-Q) Beaufighter VIF, Italy 1944, V8734 (6-M) Beaufighter VIF, Italy 1945.

Single letters (no sqn codes):
46 "Uganda" Sqn - V8708/S Gambut IX.44.
89 Sqn - V8675/E Beaufighter VIF. Libya VII.43. Chittagong 1.11.44. Tulihal XI.44.
108 Sqn - V8887/W Beaufighter VIF, IX 43. Alghero, VII.44.
603 Sqn - JL588/S Beaufighter VIC, Libya; KW346/G Beaufighter X, Libya VI.44.

Coastal strike:
16 Sqn SAAF - LZ246/Z. Crashed, Poreč, 13.8.1944.
19 Sqn SAAF - JL910/S. Shot down, Banja Luka, 18.8.1944.
39 Sqn - LZ460/I, ditched 13.11.1944.
47 Sqn - LX997/M Beaufighter X. Also 79 OTU, Cyprus.
144 Sqn (Det) - JM403/G, mid 1943. Later in 47 Sqn.
252 Sqn - NV217/F Beaufighter X, X-XI.1944.
272 Sqn - NV620/A Beaufighter X. Italy 1945. Flew on 272 Sqn's last mission 18.4.1945.
Coastal scheme - mostly EDSG/DSG/Sky.

Zoran

[SteveB]

Chris

If you search on the IWM site https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search dial in separately "272 squadron" and "252 squadron" check "photographs" and "second world war" you will come up with a number of colour photos in the first 20 or 30 hits.

The photos attributed to 272 Sqn seem to show a mixture of Desert Scheme and Temperate Sea Scheme. The photos attributed to 252 Sqn show all TSS. There is a particularly good photo of Beaufighter 'X' of 252 Sqn IWM reference TR 816 which will come up if you search on the ref no.

In b&w photos the TSS shows virtually no tonal contrast between the two upper surface colours the Desert Scheme usually shows quite a high contrast.

Steve

[Chris Goss]

Thanks but I was not the question asker - just trying to show an example

[edwest2]

A pricey book but I thought it worth mentioning.


https://www.amazon.com/British-aviat.../dp/0882544071

[Graham Boak]

Originally Posted by SteveB

Chris


In b&w photos the TSS shows virtually no tonal contrast between the two upper surface colours the Desert Scheme usually shows quite a high contrast.

Steve

TSS can look a lot different in different light conditions/film/filters: it often does show very little contrast but not always. Just because the b&w photo shows contrast does not mean that it isn't TSS, particularly on ortho film. However the Desert Scheme always has some contrast if somewhat less on particularly faded examples. Fortunately for this case.