Larry, Mike and I have been in touch on various aspects of the subject.
I am certainly NOT directing this comment towards Mike's work but one big problem with research is many researchers have no in depth knowledge of the SERVICE (Army RAF RN ) that they are researching and consequently can easily misinterpret what they unearth. Orders , instructions, policy etc were promulgated from higher authority to units/stations by various means, signals(telex) directing letters and formal orders such as ACIs in the Army and AMOs in the RAF are 3 examples.. this is still the case ; as we prepared for gulf war one our camo painting instructions came by signal; in years to come researchers will scour DCIs etc but find next to nothing on the subject.
returning to the WW2 the earliest AMO originally found re camo was in the AMO A series A618/1941 of 7 Aug 1941. This is the AMO repeatedly used by various authors as the date the RAF went totally to camo for vehicles. After much digging I recently found an earlier AMO on the subject but rather strangely it is in the N series of AMOs N629/1941 of 5 june 1941 which states all impressed vehicles must be camo painted but not hired vehicles. So that alone brings forward by 2 months the previously considered start date.
The next thing is that the content of many AMOs would have been pre-notified by letter or signal because of the lead time on AMOs. AMOs were published several times a month; they were normally in the form of a booklet,the cover page gave the AMO numbers contained and a brief title of each AMO. Each batch normally took about 3 months from the different depts submitting AMOs to the collation, type setting, proof reading then printing, then distribution through the food chain.
The big problem is the files containing the signals and letter initiating actions in advance of the first AMO on the subject have no doubt long gone, all that seems to be left at TNA Kew are items from files involving RAE Farnborough whose chemists were heavily involved in developing the camo colours for both the RAF and Army for vehicles. From them I gleaned the ME theatre colours and also the statement that the RAF were following the same colours as the Army. Beyond that at the moment we can only go by photo graphic evidence and with the internet and greater exchange of images etc more and more evidence is coming to light. statements on the use of building and aircraft camo paints on MT has been repeated countless times in various publications. I no longer believe this to be the case in more than a handful of cases. Aircraft paint was extremely closely controlled by MoS later MAP etc , many aircraft were finished in cellulose which was not suitable for applying over the enamel paint that MT was finished in. At the outbreak of war most buildings were brick or concrete - the metal T2 and Bellman hangers came in mostly after the outbreak of hostilities- and the paint used on brick and concrete was not suitable for vehicles. A letter at TNA mentions the acknowledgement that units had been procuring their own supplies of vehicle camo paint. Its my guess that the colours would have been circulated as a guide by signal or letter and units would then have ordered what they could obtain and of course afford, from their LPO budgets.
The end result for us many years later is that only part of the story remains in the archives. Consequently it is too easy for researchers to be led to the wrong conclusions.
Turning to reg numbers I have been searching for 30 years for the pre 1949 ledgers, they were held by an RAF Maintenance Command HQ dept in Derby, but where they went once the new system was commenced nobody knows.
re vehicles in blue in preservation ask the majority of people at any show or rally what colour were RAF vehicles in the WW2 and they will say blue just as reputable model manufacturers are issueing kits of vehicles that never saw RAF service and the paint and markings guides with them give colours and marking again which were never used !!
Regards TED
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