Hello all!
I’m eagerly awaiting the getting my hands on an old Matchbox HP Heyford this coming weekend! I know, not everyone’s dream plane, but it’s so weird that I couldn’t resist!
Now, I was reading one of my old Air Internationals from the ’70s, and I read the “From the Cockpit” on the Wellington. In that article, the author mentioned something about there being Heyfords in use as trainers early in the war. I then recently heard that a couple were still on duty in the early 40’s for tests with the Hotspur; the Heyfords were used as tow tugs.
The problem is, I have no idea what the paint scheme on these Heyfords would look like. Are they that all dark greenish-blue (NIVO, I think it’s called), or are they painted standard earth/green/black? is there one with a yellow underside?
Does anyone have any photos or links to pics of the tug and trainer Heyfords? I’d really appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks!
By: Graham Boak - 28th May 2014 at 10:09
The position of the wings was driven by two features. One was indeed visibility for the gunners, as suggested, but the other was to bring the bombbay low to the ground to speed rearming. Quite a clever piece of design, if unorthodox.
Ivor Lumsden of the Isle of Man posted a photo of a wartime Heyford that convinced me as being in Yellow (undersurface and sides). I thought that this was on a Britmodeller thread, as mentioned above
By: Tin Triangle - 28th May 2014 at 10:02
There was a long discussion about this on Britmodeller a while back-the conclusion was that nobody could find any incontrovertible evidence that the Heyfords had been repainted from the NIVO scheme. Yellow has been suggested, but I’ve a feeling nobody on the BM thread had ever seen a picture.
The picture Aeronut posted on the Wellesley thread does seem to show fin flashes with white in, but appears to retain the two-colour roundels. The overall colour is very dark which implies to me that the Heyford (at least in that picture) retains NIVO and original markings, with the fin flashes simply painted on later.
By: vildebeest - 28th May 2014 at 09:59
There was a long discussion about green/brown and yellow underside Heyfords on the Britmodeller site.
Paul
By: D1566 - 28th May 2014 at 07:34
What, I wonder, made them attach the fuselage to the upper wing? Was it a visibility issue?
By: Arabella-Cox - 27th May 2014 at 22:30
See your thread about the Wellesley.
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May 27, 2014 at 9:51 pm