What colour?

[rickshaw]

What colours were the Canberra prototype painted in?   I can see that it is either Azure blue or P.R.U. blue.  I am confused as the different pictures I've found have different hues for the blue colour.

Anybody got any ideas?

[PR19_Kit]

IIRC it wasn't either of those 'official' blues, it was something special that EE's paint shop came up with.

I've got the definitive Canberra book somewhere downstairs and I'll try and dig it out later on.

[zenrat]

I have no knowledge of reality but from a purely aesthetic PoV, out of those two i'd choose Azure.  However I think an even lighter Sky/Baby/Powder Blue would look even better.

[PR19_Kit]

The 'Bible' in such matters, Barry Jones' Canberra book, says it was 'Cerulean Blue' if that's of any help? The problem is that Googling the colour gives OODLES of different shades!  The most common RGB shade seems to be 42,82,190.

Confusion is assisted by the fact that 231 OCU repainted one of their T4s, WT478, in a similar, but not identical, colour scheme for the Canberra's 40th anniversary celebrations at RAF Wyton in 1989.

To be certain which aircraft you're looking at check on the fin top, the prototype, VN799, had a rounded fin top in its early days, whereas WR478 retained the standard Canberra 'squared off' top.

[PR19_Kit]

To make matters even worse it looks like there's at least two other VN799 dopplegangers! 

WJ874, also a T4, was repainted as VN799 at Marham in 1999, even to the extent of having its serial changed (!) and later became G-CDSX, retaining its 'VN799' serial under civvie ownership.

There was also WJ877, yet another T4, masquerading as 'VN799', complete with changed serial, at Wyton for the 40th Anniversary, so there were TWO 'VN799's there at the time! 

There's a whole page of pics of blue Canberra's on the Air Britain site at :- https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/code-number/VN799 not ONE of which is actually VN799.

I'm not sure if there were any colour pics of the real thing, I've not found any so far anyway.

[rickshaw]

Not worry, Kit.  I'll go with the blue which seems closest and leave it at that.  As it's Whiff it doesn't have to be a 100% match.   

BTW, I thought I'd ask this same question over at Britmodeller as I know Canberra Kid is quite a mine of Canberra information.   He suggested that it was:

It's nether of those two colours, the English Electric A.1 was painted in, as was the fashion in the British Aircraft industry at that time, a non standard colour colloquially known as "Petter Blue" described as being a "sky blue". This colour has disappeared into history but all is not lost! Petter Blue reappeared on another of English Electrics very fine products, this time Deltic prototype DP.1 Preserved at the National Rail Museum York, and even better, a colour mach paint is available from a company called Rail Match Paints Deltic prototype blue  . If you fancy having a go at the A.1 there are quite a few mods to look out for.   

It appears to be a close match but an enamel.  Damn, I prefer acrylics.   Oh, well, back to seeing what I have in my paint drawer. 

[NARSES2]

Love the way they painted a train in the same colour. Perhaps the stores dept ordered gallons instead of pints ? 

[PR19_Kit]

Love the way they painted a train in the same colour. Perhaps the stores dept ordered gallons instead of pints ? 

They didn't, they painted a LOCOMOTIVE!

A train consists of a number of railway vehicles coupled together, a locomotive is a single, self powered unit that generally hauls trailing vehicles.

[Railway anorak mode off]

Here's the Deltic prototype DP1 at Shildon, alongside a somewhat faster silver and blue vehicle. 

[kitnut617]

The 'Bible' in such matters, Barry Jones' Canberra book, says it was 'Cerulean Blue' if that's of any help? The problem is that Googling the colour gives OODLES of different shades!  The most common RGB shade seems to be 42,82,190.

Confusion is assisted by the fact that 231 OCU repainted one of their T4s, WT478, in a similar, but not identical, colour scheme for the Canberra's 40th anniversary celebrations at RAF Wyton in 1989.

To be certain which aircraft you're looking at check on the fin top, the prototype, VN799, had a rounded fin top in its early days, whereas WR478 retained the standard Canberra 'squared off' top.

Cerulean blue was also the colour called out for a certain Spitfire Mk.XVI used by an AVM (can't remember his name right now). He had it painted all over with the colour. The aircraft still exists and in flying condition here in Canada but when it was decided to completely strip the paint off for a re-paint, they discovered what the blue really was.  RAF Pale Blue. I would suspect the Canberra prototype was painted the same

[rickshaw]

The Deltic Blue appears closer than RAF Sky Blue, Kitnut617.

[rickshaw]

Kit, you were looking for a colour picture of the Canberra Prototype?  Canberra Kid over at Britmodeller has posted one:



He also notes that there were two T.4 replicas created by the RAF for the 40th and 50th anniversary of the Canberra's first flight, neither of which had the correct colour and I suspect this is what has thrown me on the shade of blue to use.

First up there was WT478:



Then there was WJ874:

[jcf]

What's your prefered paint?

Dunno if you have an iPhone, but the iModelKit app is great for figuring out which paint is closest
to a particular shade.

[PR19_Kit]

Which all goes to show how useless photographs and computers are at reproducing colours. 

Those two replica aircraft both you and I mentioned feature in that AirBritain page, and none of the colours there match any of the colours in your three pics above Brian.

[zenrat]

Canberras and Deltics in the same thread...

[NARSES2]

Love the way they painted a train in the same colour. Perhaps the stores dept ordered gallons instead of pints ? 

They didn't, they painted a LOCOMOTIVE!

A train consists of a number of railway vehicles coupled together, a locomotive is a single, self powered unit that generally hauls trailing vehicles.

[Railway anorak mode off]

All right, all right, mea culpa. I'll go to the bottom of the garden and stand with my face against the fence for an hour or so until I learn better 

Mind you my dad would have probably told me off as well.