"Markings Battle of Britian " Topic

Hello

Was wondering on the Blehiem MK IV & IF, did they place roundels on the lower wings? I have seen several imagines with some on lower wings an other not.

Also anyone use dom's decals for marking them? if so what size roundel do u use for the Bliehiem's? The scale of the aircraft is 1/300th. Thanks

fullmetal

Blenheim bombers were sometimes yes and sometimes no for underwing roundels – depends on the squadron and date. For the If a definite no. I'd definitely use the biggest roundels on my 1/300 sheet for Blenheims – strictly speaking they're a little small, but close enough to look fine.

The best single book, by quite a long way, on RAF BoB markings is:

Camouflage & Markings No2 by Paul Lucas published by Guideline Publications.

If you know the squadron you want to model I can look it up or alternatively if you know the colour scheme you want, i.e. with roundels then I can give you some options. Along with Doms sheets there is a sheet of serial numbers from the ex Beacon now I-94 Enterprises range that has serials for 114 squadron.

I've only looked quickly but the example I can find has blue undersides with no roundels. Of course if you fancy doing the letters individually you can from the I-94 sheet but it might drive you mad and especially if you are doing a whole squadron of them.

Underwing roundels were introduced on 15th May 1940, while the undersides were still Night and White. The one on the port (Night) wing would have been outlined in Yellow.

The roundels were dropped with the change in underside colour to Sky on 8th June 1940. They were then reintroduced on 11th August 1940, still on Sky undersides. These remained until 1st May 1941. As day fighter Blenheim squadrons had been transferred to Coastal Command by July 1940, they never had Sky undersides with Night port wings.

But wern`t Blenheims apart from the fighter variant classified as bombers at that point and painted all black underneath without roundels.
During the shift to Sky undersides it was decided to paint all of them in the fighter scheme as they were being mainly used in daylight.

I will second Timmos suggestion, Camouflage & Markings No2 is an excellent reference.

Fatman

Rabbit3 – No, Blenheim bombers had started to have their undersurfaces painted in Sky in November 1939, and they had all been repainted by the Norwegian campaign.

In the Battles of France and Britain, they would have had Sky undersides, with Night starting to appear again in 1941, but never becoming universal. Underside roundels were carried by day bomber Blenheim squadrons during the Battle of Britain.

Night fighter Blenheims were in overall RDM2 Special Night from late 1940. Before that they had been in the same scheme as the day fighters.

The reality doesn't always match the official records though and depending on how far into it you want to get I'd advise trying to find pictorial references for the unit you're modelling.

You'll also find aircraft within the same squadron painted differently. Although not your chosen aircraft there are photographs of Hurricane squadrons with different sized under wing roundels and none at all. To a degree it will depend where the replacement aircraft came from and how rapidly it went into action.