Yes I know the ‘official’ line about the adoption of black,and I also know how much dishonesty and BS comes out of HMG and related depts!!
I still reckon that a correct combination of contrasting colours would cater for a greater number of possible weather/lighting conditions.Surely a single colour can only cater for certain conditions/backgrounds.
The current UK scheme is almost exactly the same as the old Black Arrows scheme… coincidence… possibly!!! 😉

i can , perhaps, add a little credence to the official line on the dark colours being more visible line.
back in the mid 80’s i was working on Hawks at RAF Valley, our 2 solo display aircraft (xx172 and xx238 if you’re interested!) had a blue spine painted on them , with a union jack on the fin.
during normal use it was commented on several times by other aircrew that these aircraft were more visible during low level use , with the dark, blue spine standing out.
this led to the rest of the trainer fleet getting blue spines/fins, and eventually a small batch of 11 hawks getting painted (at Marshall aerospace, cambridge) gloss black. with the succesful completion of this trial, it was decided to paint all the hawk fleet gloss black, with this later spreading to other trainer types.
this is all based on personal experience of being involved myself, or talking directly to people who were involved in making the decisions.
at no time were the black arrows ever mentioned (honest!)

Jet Provost/Strikemaster T.3/4 (or export mark)…… anyway…JP T.3 shape in glossy camouflage paint of foreign extraction with blue/white country marking driving round the circuit at Wattisham today. did several approaches and circuits then bimbled off.
i’m sure its a well known aircraft as i doubt there can be many flying in the UK in those colours.

the C130 J has all the plumbing in the wings fitted at the factory as standard to take fuel to outer wing hard points, and i’m pretty sure the wiring is there to run HDU’s as well as fuel gauging.

For the same reason the wing pylons can only support one bomb.

have you ever seen a tornado with a bomb on a wing pylon?

the inboard wing pylons on a Tornado are rated to at least 1500kgs, as thats how much fuel the external tanks hold.

you could try everett aero, they have a few harrier bits.

http://www.everettaero.com/

the cab and jib look very much like a 1950’s coles crane we used to use in work until recently, however ours was self propelled and not on a lorry chassis.

Hear hear Fouga. New Zealand is not that poor Sadsack. And I believe those who live in the Chathams are fairly content with their lot, and are also rather attached to their Sunderland wreck.

damn, so it won’t be at legends then?