The Speed Spitfire

On the subject of Supermarine’s house colours these seem to have varied a bit over the years. Judging from B&W photos, always tricky, the S5 in 1927 was painted with a lighter shade of blue than that used for the S6 in 1929. The S6b in the Science Museum has two shades of blue paint. There is a relatively bright blue as the original paint on the floats, and a darker shade has been painted on top of this and is also the base coat on the fuselage (no primer). My personal opinion is that this top coat is not ‘Supermarine’ but when it was applied and why they chose such a dark shade is a bit of a mystery.

Cheers

SM

Q.E.D. then!

We think alike…

Incidentally, I always enjoy the quotation you attach to your posts.

“Aviation is a useless fad….” etc, etc.

Out… Roxeth.

That’s why I wrote “more or less solved the question”, although Jeffrey Quill must, as you say, be the final authority!

Thanks Papa Lima.

I read through the previous thread, as you suggested.

There is an awful lot of pontification and ill-advised computer graphics to wade through. However, buried deep in page two, someone said that Jeffrey Quill once wrote a three page article for them on this very subject. He stated that the colours were indeed Blue and Silver.

…and who would know better than him!

Out… Roxeth.

We had a thread on this a while ago, which more or less solved the question:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=43918&highlight=speed+spitfire

Royal Blue with the undersides of the wings silver and silver fuselage cheatline – Supermarine house colours. The silver colour is called Speed Silver and I think is the same colour or paint later used on RAF aircraft.

Sommigen van ons spreken nederlands, but for most of us its just dubble Dutch.

Herman

Can anyone shed light on this mystery?

The ‘Speed Spitfire’ – N.17/K9834 (A highly streamlined Mk.1 modification for an attempt on the world airspeed record).

The question is this: Was it Blue and Silver or was it Blue and Gold?

I see references to both. Blue and Silver were Supermarines house racing colours in the 1930’s, so that would be logical. However, some sources state that it was Blue and Gold. Certainly, some photographs of this fascinating aircraft (although in monochrome) do appear to support the Blue and Gold version.

Does anyone have anything conclusive on this?

The ‘main’ Spitfire book (Morgan & Shacklady) says Blue and Silver 🙂

…in Dutch but…
‘De fabrikanten hadden een Class B categorie gekregen voor hun toestel en hadden het in een hoogglans verflaag gestoken (blauw en zilver). Deze hogesnelheid Spitfire (Type 323) was uitgerust met een nieuw cockpitdak en een windscherm met verminderde weerstand, een staartski in plaats van een staartwiel en een afgeronde vleugeltip die de spanwijdte op 10,26 m bracht.’
http://www.luchtoorlog.be/spit_i.htm