Can anyone please explain why some Mosquito FB.VI’s were finished in Ocean Grey & Dark green, with Medium Sea Grey undersides, similar to Mosquito day bombers, when most fighter variants of the Mosquito were finished in just medium sea grey & dark green? Was it a particular batch of aircraft, or was there a change in the camouflage schemes for a short while?
Thanks again, everyone,
By: Graham Boak - 6th November 2012 at 15:24
Picking up on one point, the 2 TAF Mosquitos known to wear this scheme were not in the day fighter role but operating as light bombers. Effectively they replaced the Ventura units.
By: jeepman - 6th November 2012 at 13:42
Mosquito colours warrant two monographs by Paul Lucas in the Scale Aircraft Modelling Combat Colours series. So to paraphrase:
MSG/DG was night fighter scheme, DG/OG/MSG was day fighter scheme and DG/MSG/Night was the night intruder scheme
The book on Mosquito fighter colours suggests that the factory standardised on the MSG/DG scheme for FBVIs
(1)to allow any Mosquito to be ultimately allocated to any role, with daytime fighter / bombers requiring the MSG uppersurfaces to be refinished at MU/unit level in OG. Mosquitos could also be finished in the night intruder scheme by adding black undersurfaces at MU/unit level.
(2) to avoid disruption on the production line as Day Fighter/Intruder and Night Fighter/intruder were built on the same line
having said that, in response to queries from HQ AEAF about the unsuitability of the DFS for daylight strike aircraft, the Air Ministry replied that they did not know who was refinishing Mosquitoes in the DFS…….
I guess circumstances dictated that some Mosquitos in the day fighter role retained the MSG uppersurfaces.
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November 6, 2012 at 12:13 pm