Movietone Footage Of 56 Squadron Hurricanes At Rochford

Hi All;

Just a couple of quick question to the forum regarding this well known Movietone footage of 56 Squadron Hurricanes at Rochford taken presumably during the Battle of Britain. Link below..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar931se_lRo

As part of a modelling project, I am building a 1/24 kit of a Hurricane which I intend to finish as Geoffrey Page’s US-X “Little Willie”. All of the profile artwork of this aircraft that I have in my collection of books show the aircraft as having a black spinner, yet, all of the Hurricanes in this footage have what appears to be either white or sky spinners.

If this footage was shot at Rochford during the battle, and given the time frame that 56 Squadron were based there, was it unusual for a whole squadron to have their spinners painted anything but the black colour that was pretty much standard at that time?

Also, is it therefore possible that the US-X seen taking off during the film clip is the aircraft belonging to Geoffrey Page?

On a final note, I am always surprised when I see stills from this film used in publications crediting the location as being North Weald. Even Flypast’s recent article on North Weald used a large still from this Movietone film with a caption saying that the shot was taken at North Weald. It is in fact Rochford as many landmarks seen in the background clearly identify the location. The most obvious is the view of Southend Road behind the landing Hurricanes at the beginning of the film…in fact, a quick check of Google Maps shows that the houses in the background have hardly changed. Also the hangars in the scramble sequence are clearly not North Weald…and the chimmney stack of the old Ecko factory are a useful reference…

Sorry to ramble….it’s a great bit of footage!

Any help regarding my questions would be greatly appreciated..

Regards;
Steve