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RCAF Kittyhawk colours?


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Hi all,

Does anyone know what colour the lower surfaces of RCAF Kittyhawks were painted? Photos of AK803 look to be a very light grey or off-white:

http://www.rcafkittyhawk.com/faraway.htm

78.gif

 

I can't find anything online that doesn't talk about camouflage colours. Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

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Most likely, the colours were American versions of the standard Btitish scheme of Dark Green, Dark Earth and Sky (there has been much discussion about light grey versus sky on several  sites.)   Check the ipms canada site, you may find more there.  Cheers.

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If you read the history of that plane (from the site the picture is from) you find that that is a non standard scheme on a warbird that was bought surplus and privately owned for years. In fact it says the wing is from a different P 40 and it has nothing to do with a service machine in regular markings but that particular plane was stripped of all paint after a crash repair late in the war and used for a war bond tour and then put in storage to war end and sold surplus to a private individual in 1946. That owner cut off the wings to move it around on the road and wings from another plane put on when it was restored years later. If indeed it was stripped then it should not have any paint but as a new wing from another plane was put on it they may have stripped the upper surface to match and left the lower grey or it may be a protective primer put on to prevent corrosion. Most Canadian P -40s were always in cammo which explains what you have found. I have heard of some being stripped towards the war end but if so I would think all paint was stripped. There is not much detail available and I would not rely on that plane as it is not as it was in service. There are decals available for Canadian P-40s when they served in the Aleutians in full cammo and got their only kill (Japanese Rufe) but not much else that i know of. HTH 

 

P.S. Looking at other photos show that the lower rear fuselage,rudder and at least the tail undersurfaces are painted the same colour (not such as would be that colour in the original cammo paint) so I personally would guess some sort of light grey primer to prevent corrosion.

Edited by RCAFFAN
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