Shiny paint? Pah!

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Member for

14 years 7 months

Posts: 218

Came across this on an FB Group that posts colourised Fighter & Bomber Command images. I'm not convinced colourising always works that well -
But I think this one is fabulous: sniff it , and you can actually smell the fuel and the leaking oil...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]261154[/ATTACH] photos

It's captioned: "Hawker Hurricane Mk I (VY-K P3408) flown by Sgt Geoffrey 'Sammy' Allard of No. 85 Squadron RAF, hooked up to an accumulator trolley possibly at Castle Camps during July 1940. "
https://www.facebook.com/rafcommand/

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Original post

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 7,025

That is superb.We get used to seeing pristine preserved aircraft ,yes there were that at times but they were also killing machines operating in all conditions on the ground and in the air,battered ,beaten worn out and thrashed.I used to like the Old Warden Spitfire and the one in the IWM when hey still had that used look.

Member for

20 years

Posts: 4,561

I'm with Trumper- the OW Spit had great patina, the Sea Hurricane has now. There is someone at OW who has a lovely attention to detail, I remember wandering round the hangars a few winters ago and someone had left a chute on the Hurri's wing root - a lovely little touch.

TT

Member for

16 years 3 months

Posts: 1,813

I think this applies beyond military aircraft. As an example, I recall seeing Norman Giroux's Fox Moth in the 60s
(before it was destroyed at Old Warden and then rebuilt.) It had a very distinct well worn, used look to it.
Quite a number of aircraft of that era sported various patches and redopings.

Member for

15 years

Posts: 1,712

Maurice Kirk's Cub has a very well worn appearance. :}

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,183

A bit more saturation on the red and I could almost believe that was a period Kodachrome.

My Dad could well have seen this aircraft - not far from Castle Camps or Debden. If only I could show him...

Adrian

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 564

Also the interiors of many types were dirty and lots of bare metal and scuff marks.Engine exhaust soot was awful stuff to get of coveralls or anoraks etc!!

Member for

9 years 6 months

Posts: 1,613

I think sometimes people mistakenly think that when you colourise a photo, everything has to have a colour. Block-filling the sky a uniform shade of blue is pretty lazy. Likewise the wheels on that unit sitting under the wing probably wouldn't have had nice walnut-brown tires. The attention to detail on the Hurricane is very nice, however!