WHIF RAF Camouflage for Vietnam and SEA

[Mossie]

I've got no specific build in mind, but what colours would RAF aircraft have worn if they'd have been involved in Vietnam?  Dark Green/Dark Earth or one of the lighter shades of earth or mid stone?  I've seen a pic of a S.A. Twin Pioneer in what appears to be Dark Green/Mid Stone & I'm pretty sure it was inolved in Malaya.  Hunters delivered to Singapore had a green/earth combo but I'm not sure exactly what colours.  The closest I've seen to a profile is this Dark Green/Jungle Green profile of a P.1063 on Filtzerart but I'm not sure if it's a fictional scheme or not:

http://www.flitzerart.com/postwar/7.htm

There's probably some official info on this, but I haven't got a clue.  Anyone any ideas, real or 'guestimates'?

Cheers!

Simon.

PS, I meant SEA camouflage rather than 'Sea' in the title!

[GeorgeC]

Sad to relate, but all the aircraft types in the Far East Air Force had the standard 'NW Europe' schemes, ie grey/green for fighters, Transport Command chic for AT, dark grey for maritime, and a reasonable smattering of natural metal (Canberra B(I)16s shared with Cyprus and Lightings) etc etc...  Of course, perhaps you have a better scheme

[TsrJoe]

as a suggestion for a post war 1960's far east scheme ... how bout dark green, dark earth with black unders ... iv always visualised a TSR.2 in this scheme for an 'East of Suez' scenario

 

[Radish]

The Singapore Hunters adopted a proper "SE Asia scheme" mirroring the USAF colours....also used on Singapore A-4S.
The Malaysians had some nice A-4 schemes too.

The RNZAF used a lot of green on their A-4s, etc..

How about the SEAC colours of Dark Earth and Dark Green with Medium Sea Grey undersurfaces.....perhaps add a third uppersurface colour by using Dark grey or another shade of green?

The TSR2 scheme as advised sounds nice.

If the object of camouflage is to hide, but also onscure/confuse, the addition of really dark contrasts somewhere could be exciting.

So then.....how about....

Sand, Dark Green, Medium Sea Grey uppers with Light Blue undersurfaces...

or

Sand, Dark Green, Black Green with Medium Sea Grey Undersurfaces

or

........don't forget the PINK??  

[GTX]

Ibut what colours would RAF aircraft have worn if they'd have been involved in Vietnam?

Something that may have occured if one believes the rumours regarding a potential coup against Harold Wilson.  

Regards,

Greg

[Mossie]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I've had a little think & I thought that the overall Dark Green uppers seen on Lightings might work okay.  Also, Wessex's wore a sand/green scheme, anyone know the specific colours?  I did some SR.177 profiles in these schemes a little while ago:

[P1127]

Also, Wessex's wore a sand/green scheme, anyone know the specific colours?

Light Stone (BS381C 361) and Olive Green (BS381C 298)

[Maverick]

I could see Dark Green being added to the Light Stone/OG machine, much in the SEA vein.  But it would be quite 'samey'...

Mav

[P1127]

Sad to relate, but all the aircraft types in the Far East Air Force had the standard 'NW Europe' schemes, ie grey/green for fighters, Transport Command chic for AT, dark grey for maritime, and a reasonable smattering of natural metal (Canberra B(I)16s shared with Cyprus and Lightings) etc etc...  Of course, perhaps you have a better scheme

Even the Middle East aircraft (Venoms, Hunters etc) carried that scheme - only the transport fleet had a Theatre scheme

[Mossie]

Vietnam was a much more sustained campaign than the Suez & Malayan conflicts & although Malaya went on for longer, the air campaign in Vietnam was much more ferocious & the RAF had almost total air superiority. My reasoning is that such a campaign may have rewuired the repainting of RAF aircraft.  Worth a try anyway!

[kitnut617]

Just a thought Simon,  why were the Lightnings painted overall green for a while.  Wouldn't this have been around the same time as Vietnam.  

And another thought --- my wife's Dad was in the REME and stationed in Singapore for the last few years of the 50's and Javelins were stationed there too, which had the regular dark green / grey camoflage with silver undersides.  Maybe as has been suggested above, that's the colour they would have been.

Robert

[Mossie]

I've never actually known the reason why.  All I know is two aircraft were painted in an experimental scheme, one with Dark Green topsides, one with Dark Sea Grey.  The Dark Green was adopted for part of the Lightning fleet, initially only in RAF Germany then some at Binbrook.  The first camouflaged Lightnings didn't appear until 1975 though & the experiment didn't take place until 1977, so not in time for Vietnam.

You & GeorgeC are probably right Robert, the standard camouflage might well have reamained had Britain gone to Vietnam, it's a good all-rounder & would have probably been fine.  There's a couple of builds I'm thinking of at the moment that would fit in the Vietnam time scale, & I'd just like to paint them in a sheme that's a little different, if not completley off-the-wall!

[Nigel Bunker]

I wish to finish a model in the colours used by the Mitsubishi F.1. The instructions call for Gunze Sanyo 319 Light Green, 320 Dark Green, 321 Light Brown and 325 Grey.

I have matched 320 Dark Green to Humbrol 30 and 325 Grey to Humbrol 166 . Does anybody know the FS or Humbrol equivilants for 319 Light Green & 321 Light Brown.

Thanks guys - I'll post the model once it is painted and decalled, but I'll keep it a suprise until then.