African vehicles

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Lang

Purpose was to demonstrate how difficult it is if the same squadron aircraft are painted differently.

Sorry Lang, somehow that rather obvious difference in markings escaped my attention! I must have been suffering brain fade by then.

As you say it's difficult to explain these anomalies, and having looked at that series of AWM pics now, they raise even more questions! However it turns out they were taken soon after 84 Sqdn converted from Boomerangs to P40s, so that might explain the absence of markings on all but one a/c. Interestingly it's a later production P40N (identified by the modified rear cockpit for improved rear vision) so perhaps it arrived separately from the others with the fin flash already painted. Another photo of this a/c reveals the squadron code already painted too, but only on the starboard side, and another photo shows it painted over in white on the same day!

Another undated photo on the ground, which I assume to have been taken later, shows the fin flash now painted, but with no squadron code, and the a/c code is numeric.

I haven't found any other photos of these a/c, but presumably they were marked normally when they became fully operational with 84 Sqdn. However the squadron was reduced to cadre status in Qld a few months later, pending conversion to P51s. Photos show these were marked normally.