It would not be impossible for Poles to wear RAF wings in 1941, but none of the three Polish officers mentioned in brewerjerry’s post can be seen in this photo (BTW the correct spelling of the third name is Szczesniewski, so one “z” less than in brewerjerry’s post).
Gutowski had a very narrow escape as he baled out at low level without his parachute, but landed on a pile of beet leaves or something like that!

I learnt only this week The College of Aeronautical Engineering at Redhill had a Mk V EP509, the Brooklands tie-up.

So what happened to it? (Please, excuse my ignorance.)
Here it is at Horne on 3 June 1944.

Neither thin nor robust. 🙂

A new category of provenance: “thick but flimsy”?

A very interesting discussion!
I have to say I am puzzled by the two types of Sky discussed here: ‘early WW2 RAF Sky’ and the ‘post-WW2 FAA Sky’. Where is the extensive WW2 use of Sky by FAA in that?

But as yet there is no conclusive evidence that the early war time shade of Sky is consistently the same as the post war rigorous standards – the only evidence is your official colour chip and we would expect that to be consistent considering the source.
So once more we go back to what I have said and accept which is, with the usual caveats, that the available published data and photographs (which you don’t accept) indicate that although the colour remains officially Sky there are variations which are gradually removed as the war progresses. Also one cannot escape the fact that paint batches as Galdri notes often have differences despite ostensibly being mixed to a common standard.

If I understand correctly this does not imply there being two different Sky colours. It just says that post-war Sky was consistent in its hue whereas the WW2 Sky was much varied (but in some cases, by pure statistics, exactly the same as the official chip or the post-war FAA Sky).

The other colours which are sometimes used Light Blue, Eau-de-Nil are not, nor did I say, were called Sky. The theatre markings used post BoB appear to have been both Sky and also Light Blue, but Light Blue soon disappears as Sky takes over (and we also have the change to Sky codes in place of the Medium Sea Grey Codes). The use of those named non-Sky colours during middle 1940 seems to be related to paint availability rather than any intention to use them as permanent substitutes.

The theory that non-Sky colours were substituted in 1940 is widespread and often repeated by authors, but how does it compare with the fact that originally the introduction of Sky on RAF day fighters in 1940 was specifically postponed to gain time for producing enough paint in the right hue?

And a 1941 document that refers to Sky as sky type “S” (note the quotes) but to every other colour just by its name.

Some of the crucial men behind the celebrations were:
A/Cdre (Retd) Charles Clarke OBE RAF, President of the RAF POW’s Association
Sgt Neil Galloway MBE RAF, Project Officer (despite his name he’s from Dundee!)
Dr Howard L. Tuck, Deputy Project Officer (hard at work all the time)
Jacek Jakubiak, Director of the Museum (here talking to the Canadian Military Attache, Col. Petryk)

Later in the afternoon there was a CoE service at the original wartime cemetery. The memorial there has recently been renovated by the RAF. Note that the last digit in WW2 dates is still missing on the plaque – when it was originally made in 1944 nobody knew when the war would end.

The memorial stone at the tunnel exit, where the main celebrations took place.
The stone was unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the Escape. The inscription reads:
TO THE ALLIED AIRMEN
PRISONERS OF STALAG LUFT III
PARTICIPANTS OF
THE GREAT ESCAPE

the tail group from RM694 which had had a small Mk IX/XVI Spitfire fitted since Hornchurch days.

Was the Spitfire small enough to be fitted inside, or was it attached at the front end?
(You know I couldn’t resist this one, don’t you?)