2 TAF 198 Sqn RAF Typhoons.

[Kais]

Royal Air Force gurus please lend a hand.

I have Hasegawa's Tiffy Bubble and the required bits & bobs to model a 2TAF Tempest tailed 198 Sqn machine.

I have always liked the TPoF option on AeroMasters' 48-059, although I now realize it's a work of some fiction.

Model Aircraft Monthly included the following profiles of 198 Sqn Tiffies and I'm trying to reconcile these profiles with the possibility that there must be some kernel of truth in the Aeromaster sheet.

So enough preamble.

If 198 Sqn a/c are shown with Red spinners, Medium Sea Grey Sqn codes and Sky a/c codes, is it at all possible that AeroMasters' TPoF should have MSG rather than Roundel red Sqn codes , Sky not Yellow A/C codes and red not yellow spinner??

Is RB222 even a Tempest tailed 4 baled bubble??

Reference, the natural enemy of completed kits!

The scans are included for discussion only.

[Edgar]

Not so much a can of worms, more a whole barrel load. The TP-F example is a straight "lift," from Profile 81, and at least part of it is fictional, since RB222 never went to 198 Squadron; there might have been a TP-something, with all of those markings, but no confirmatory photos have ever surfaced.

When asked if any of 198's aircraft ever had red codes, a former Belgian (I think) C.O. just said "Non," but, in early 1970, I.P.M.S. (U.K.) published a photo of MN882 TP-E, with a description of it, from a former member of 198 ("erk," I think, since I can find no mention of him in the ORB) Laurie Robinson, who said that the codes were "TP" in dull red to the left of the roundel, with "E" in sky. The whole code was repeated above the fin flash "TP" 3" high, "E" 6" high; "E" also appeared under the nose, just behind the spinner.

The spinner was roundel red, and the white of the D-day stripes, under the belly, had been overpainted with sea grey medium. 198's Typhoons still carried their old recognition stripes, under the wings, rather than the "new" D-day markings. Cockit interior black, inc armoured headrest, and area under the canopy when it was closed. Rocket rails were sea grey medium; rockets were dull black, all over, with the rear of the fins painted white, to show up better on cine film. Wheel hubs, insides of u/c doors, and wheel wells were silver (he said n/m.)

All of this, of course, is airily dismissed by the experts, who always fail to answer the question, why would the man have made it all up, and how could he have been so precise in his measurements? When I'm asked why they would have had such a different scheme, I point out that, prior to D-day, 198 was based on Thorney Island, by the coast, and red spinners, retaind i.d bands, and red codes might have given them an even chance of not being mistaken for raiding Fw190s, and consequently shot at. There are also some photos, in the IWM's library, that show some of 198's Typhoons with suspiciously dark two-letter codes.

Edgar

Edited September 15, 2010 by Edgar

[Kais]

Thanks Edgar.

Did you notice that MN882 is one of the illustrations above?

I don't suppose you have a copy of that IPMS article or image??

Thanks for your assistance.

[Edgar]

Just shows; you can't always trust illustrations, wherever they might come from; it's only a small photo, but the "E," under the nose on the original, is plain enough.

Let me have an E-mail address, and I'll get them to you.

Edgar

Edited September 16, 2010 by Edgar