It was at Old Warden last Sunday in an overall drab green/brown colour with no markings – clearly undergoing a repaint for the D-Day 75th celebrations.

Meanwhile, two years later, any update on first flight?

I was there for Press Day last Wednesday and must say I was disappointed! The Battle of Britain Experience was just that – an experience with sights and sounds dioramas, leading you into the hall filled with 17 iconic aircraft from the Battle of Britain. Now we have that same building with just 5 aircraft in it, supposedly covering 100 years of the RAF! When I entered the building I expected to see around 17 significant aircraft neatly lined up in chronological order telling the history of the RAF over the past 100 years. Instead there is a lot of wasted space with cardboard cut-outs of RAF pilots and aircrew, display boards and inter-active computer screens. When you exit that area, the Sunderland is beside a new cafe, but is no longer accessible. You can no longer walk through it, which was another great experience with sights and sounds triggered by you as you walked through. Where have all the aircraft gone that were in that building? Some have gone to Cosford (Ju-88, Gladiator, Defiant etc) and the rest have been dispersed among the other halls, near the Lancaster, but once again the He-111 and Ju87 have gone from one poorly-lit building to another poorly lit area and the Me-110 is surrounded by poles, frustrating photography.
The Milestones of Flight Hall has been transformed into the “Age of Uncertainty” Hall, which just about sums it up, as the latest exhibit in there is the nose of a USAF WC-130E Hercules on loan from the Pima Museum in Arizona. You have to ask why, when Marshalls are scrapping RAF Hercules at Cambridge, so surely a nose could be acquired?

Presume the engines and tail fin are stored nearby?

Are you referring to the Wyvern or Supermarine 510/517?

The only blue and white aircraft on outside display that I can recall at the FAA Museum was the NA.39 (Buccaneer prototype)

Correct! The Wyvern was never ‘white and darkish blue’, but was painted in Sky Type S (Duck Egg Green) with Dark Sea Grey top. I first photographed it in those colours outside the museum in March 1969 and it remained in those colours until the early ’90s when it was stripped to bare metal. The photos Robbo has posted is indeed in those colours and only looks ‘bluish’ due to the poor weather and type of film used.

Well i hope 577 returns to being blue diamond.

Me too! All that hard work getting the colours and markings absolutely right was wiped out in a boring overall silver scheme, not even with yellow trainer bands!:confused: