Noooo Mark… I said only two according to replies in this topic. Obviously my English is not so good 😉

Kansan,
Difference between RAF and NOVJ roundel you can best see here:

You are also not wrong for RAF order of colours on fin but as Yugoslav flag was blue-white-red they had to reverse it to get right order of flag-colours. But in some cases RAF i.e. red-white-blue combination was kept on the fin. Question why is obsolete if you know order of colours on Croatian national flag and story about his Squadron Leader Hinko Soic.

This was his personal Spitfire 😀

Thanks JeT. I am learning so much!! 😀

Rob / Kansan

Oh yeah, should have realised that’s what it was called – duh! 😀 Cheers, Rob.

I’m gonna have that in my head for ages now!

(Just realised, Skull’s version is worded slightly different from this one)

There are several different versions quoted on the Web. That just happened to be the first one that opened.

I always felt Skull in the TV programme was too young. I visualised him in the book as being more like “Mister Lah-Di-Dah Gunner Graham” from “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum” – that’s the wonder of imagination.

Rob / Kansan

Thanks for that JeT,

Are you sure your site counter is working because I have looked at it four times?

It is hard to imagine that with over 1250 hits on this thread, only two people have taken a peek at an exciting Spitfire site.

http://www.yuairwar.com/novj.asp

Mark

I’ve been there a couple of times too. I will show more interest. 😀

Mark12,
Is this a good place to talk about roundels on these Spitfires or does this drag things too far off-thread? I was wondering, the NOVJ marking doesn’t look exactly like an RAF roundel overpainted with a Red Star – the underlying ring proporations look a little odd. They also seem to be the B1 rather than C1 roundels and have the older wide fin flash. If the machines had been sitting at an MU before being issued to 352 Sqdn I don’t suppose painting later roundels etc. would be much of a priority. The picture of the aircraft at Vis with the thin white stripe in the fin flash but a NOVJ roundel is a case in point, somehow.

Rob / Kansan

PS I hesitate to say this (because it may show my profund ignorance), but is that an ex-RAF fin flash in which case shouldn’t the red stripe be at the front and the blue stripe be at the fin/rudder joint?

In this case, I think it was option C)

But Mark can definitely describe it better in his native language 😉

JeT – your English is way better than my, errr…. :confused: – Anyway. your English is way better. 😀

What I mean is – I think I’ve seen pictures of OTHER Spitfires in foreign (non-British) service where the end-users had not erased the RAF fin flash, just like the picture you posted. Maybe the RAF fin flash was the least important part of the national marking.

Rob / Kansan

Mark,

According to replies it fascinate only two 🙁

For me more interested is combination of R.A.F. markings on fin with Partisan insignia on fuselage. Who knows… maybe she flew for some time in that insignia combination 😉

JeT

I thought it was fascinating too – honestly. 🙂

From what I remember of the various black and white pictures, I thought I saw a couple of Dutch, French, Norwegian (maybe) and USAAF Spitfires with the RAF fin flash still in place, although this may reflect a combination of (a) bad memory (b) misreading black and white photos (c) not representative of final paint scheme (d) some other error on my part. Would it be reasonable to assume that the RAF fin flash would indicate an “allied” connection (like the fin flash applied to B-24s in the MTO) while not suggesting RAF ownership?

Rob / Kansan

What garden ornament of the military nature would you like in your yard if only to miff the neighbours.

I dunno about the front garden but I’d like any large V-12 Aero engine for the garage. 🙂 (yes, I know my garage would never fly). Oh, wait. I know. How about a nice searchlight for the front garden? Complete with sandbagged emplacement and khaki-clad gnomes with tin hats?

Rob / Kansan

I don’t think any B-17s were abandoned or left behind left in North Africa unless they were in no condition to make the trip back to England. I can understand thee being some logistical problems but IMHO to say they were all left behind because there was no fuel can’t be correct. They were planning this for some time.

If there had been some organisationl shambles of the kind John Comer hints at then there would have been nuch more in the history – and there isn’t, I think. He might have experienced some problems personally or with the 381stBG but even he says in the book he makes no attempt to portray anything other than his personal experiences or opinions.

Look at http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/reichert.html

from which I quote some chunks:

Having already postponed the mission for close to two weeks due to consistent cloud cover over the targets, August 17th found Germany clear but England shrouded in fog. After delaying the mission for an hour, it was decided that the 3rd would have to take-off immediately in order to be able to land at their North African recovery bases before nightfall. While the 3rd was taking off, however, the 1st remained grounded due to the thick fog. Over three hours later, the 1st finally got off of the ground and headed towards Schweinfurt.

The second battle of Schweinfurt is a microcosm of all of the reasons that Eaker was replaced as commander of the 8th Air Force. The poor weather that was constantly hampering the 8th’s ability to conduct missions was responsible for the loss of sixty bombers before the divisions even crossed into occupied Europe and was a contributing factor in the destruction of five bombers whose crews bailed when they were unable to find a landing strip. It was also responsible for the grounding of the 3rd Air Division’s egress escorts.

The majority of the aircraft lost on the mission to Schweinfurt were lost because of the lack of fighter escort any further than the German border. Repeatedly over the past year and a half, Eaker had requested the allocation of P-51 Mustangs to escort his aircrew into Germany. Before the P-51s were available, he had asked for external fuel tanks for the existing fighters. Despite the multiple requests and the large amount of losses on every deep penetration mission, Arnold could never get the 8th the resources they needed to conduct a successful operation against the Germans until Eaker had already been reassigned

Rob / Kansan