Quote:
Originally posted by Richard Farrant
The silver paint is of a special type that does not harden as other paints do. This is to prevent flakes of paint bursting from the interior of the hull surface in the event of shellfire hitting the hull. The damage that hard flakes of paint can cause, can be imagined.
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Interesting in the light of two items I've dug out :
The first is from a services forum about the Challenger 2
"BTW, what is it with the white paint in Ch2; we were always told that silver paint went to powder when struck and white paint flakes were a hazard?"
Which supports the anti flake concept BUT the second is from a UK vehicle restoration forum and refers to a Ferret
"He struck one "trick" that it is well worth being aware of: the dealer had repainted the inside of the vehicle, in silver. The original Daimler factory silver paint is actually a fire resistant paint and to my knowledge is okay. What had been used on Ken's vehicle is probably the cheapest rubbish available in order to "tart the vehicle up" to make it look presentable. Ken discovered this to his cost when he climbed in the vehicle wearing a suit; this paint does not fully dry. He was far from amused."
Is it possible that this was not the rogue dealer using cheapo paint but the real non hardening stuff? Such paint is still used today in various industries, I've used it (not on a vehicle) and it would be hell in a vehicle were one was constanly rubbing against the surfaces (as in the confines of an AFV). One scenario that fits is that first came the original anti flake aluminium paint, this proved unaceptable and was painted over in the field with white as per the US standard. White was then adopted as a factory finish until a better non flaking silver became available (and for some reason this has again been superceded).
I've found two lots of photos of late model Churchills painted silver inside. The first appears to come from this forum but strangely I've not been able to access it from inside MLU so I enclose the URL (it is a link in at least two online encyclopedia). The second refers to a restoration project. At least one shows a shot through a hatch into a silver interior.
http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/cac/churchill2.html
http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/a22/index.htm
I guess the answer to the query that started this thread is toss a coin as silver or white seem equally possible (although the fact that the all Australian Sentinel was in white would make me plump for the latter).
I also include a link to some nice shots of a Stuart under restoration as an example of the US use of white. Just to muddy the water this site states that some US tanks had pale green interiors
http://www.752ndtank.com/fsmmstuart.html