Dan,
How about having a go at the 131 sqdn Spitfire I have the most photos of, namely Chris Doll’s own Spitfire Mk Vb AD554, which also carried the name ‘blwfa’ (but in Greek) and was later also named ‘BEXLEY’, being the Spitfire presented by the Spitfire fund of the Metropolitan Borough of Bexley. It is thus my ‘local’ Spitfire.
A good photo of the port side, though the demarcation lines are a little difficult to see in places. I’m not sure whats going on at the base of the rudder. Is it another area of green, or just shadow? note the style of the Qs tail and the s/n repeated in minute lettering above the ‘4’. ‘blwfa’ is just visible above the head of the middle erk. Note also that the use of Ortho film has rendered the yellow ring to the roundel as black. ‘BEXLEY’ is aparently not yet marked on AD554.
By: Dan Johnson - 16th October 2003 at 21:51
Originally posted by von Perthes
Dan,I’ve only just realised that the crest you’ve used is that of the current Bexley London Borough. The crest on AD554 would have been that of the Bexley Metropolitan Borough, which ceased to exist in 1965.
If you hold fire on the profiles of ‘BEXLEY’, I will get a copy of the old crest for you next week and post it here. I still feel that the crest on ‘BEXLEY’ is white, as I can’t see any variance in tone to indicate a different colour.
Geoff.
That explains it 🙂 I’ll wait for the older crest. Easy enough to duplicate and ‘shrink to fit” so to speak. I’d agree that the color is lighter then I used.
Dan
By: von Perthes - 16th October 2003 at 17:58
Dan,
I’ve only just realised that the crest you’ve used is that of the current Bexley London Borough. The crest on AD554 would have been that of the Bexley Metropolitan Borough, which ceased to exist in 1965.
If you hold fire on the profiles of ‘BEXLEY’, I will get a copy of the old crest for you next week and post it here. I still feel that the crest on ‘BEXLEY’ is white, as I can’t see any variance in tone to indicate a different colour.
Geoff.
By: Dan Johnson - 16th October 2003 at 15:50
Geoff, this is the Bexley town crest that I found on line. If you look close at the photo of Doll in the cockpit, you can make out the blue lines, the horse on top of the castle, etc. Obviously it’s not completely the same but since I don’t have a close up of the one one the Bexley Spit, I modified it based on this as best I could. There must be some color although I don’t know what the shapes outside of the crest are that look white. Any chance it wasn’t complete at the time the photo was taken of Chris on the cockpit?
Dan
By: Dan Johnson - 16th October 2003 at 15:44
I’ll see what I can do Geoff. Probably later today sometime
Dan
By: von Perthes - 16th October 2003 at 12:57
Dan,
What can I say 🙂
Do you think the crest on AD554 is coloured or white? I’ve always had the feeling it was the latter.
Could you do a version of AD554, with the crest in white and the rear view mirror on the side of the fuselage as per the photo of Chris in the cockpit, and another the same, but with the s/n EN893?
Chris has always said that it was EN893 that he was sitting in, though I think it’s AD554. The problem is that around the time the photo of him in the cockpit was taken, he was changing from AD554 to EN893. To me, the a/c he’s sitting in doesn’t look brand new, but a bit weathered.
Geoff.
By: Dan Johnson - 15th October 2003 at 23:19
Close up of the cockpit area. I went hunting for the Bexley town crest and it appears that what is below the cockpit is a form of this. So I went with it 🙂
I also put the mirror on top of the canopy as it appears it was moved at some point.
Dan
By: Dan Johnson - 15th October 2003 at 23:18
First attempt of Chris Doll’s “Bexley”
Now the fixed 2nd attempt with the correct nose camo
Dan
By: Dan Johnson - 15th October 2003 at 19:44
I’ll give it my best shot. I’ve already done Chris Doll’s Spit XII. It’ll be fun to do his Spit V. Heading out the door for some errands right now. No such thing as a real day off 🙂
I should find some time tonight though
Dan
By: von Perthes - 15th October 2003 at 19:16
AD554 was lost on the 15th August 1942, having ‘bounced’ by two Me109s whilst on a standing patrol with another 131 sqdn Spifire. By then it had been replaced as Chris Doll’s Spitfire, by the new ‘BEXLEY’ Mk Vb EN893.
The pilot of AD554 on it’s last flight was Sgt John Luxford, below, who was aged 22 at the time of his death.
By: von Perthes - 15th October 2003 at 19:08
AD554 and two of the squadron’s pilots on readiness, note trolly acc.
By: von Perthes - 15th October 2003 at 19:02
Note the heart symbol under the nose
By: von Perthes - 15th October 2003 at 19:00
This is how ‘blwfa’ appeared on the stbd side.
By: von Perthes - 15th October 2003 at 18:54
Another photo from the same series as your Ray Harries photo. Note the censored ‘blwfa’, which will give you an idea of the style of lettering used. ‘BEXLEY’ and the borough coat of arms have appeared. Note also the ‘wing mirror’.
I don’t expect the coat of arms in too much detail, a whitish blob with some dark areas would look okay at the size of your profiles. Can you do Greek lettering for ‘blwfa’?
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October 15, 2003 at 6:48 pm