Control Tower colours?

[stellan]

Any one got a god idea on how to paint/camouflage a control tower used during WW2? Was Mickey Mouse camou used on towers as well as on vehicles or just one colour? Any idea of where to find good photos on camou or info of actual colours used?

/Stellan

[iansadler]

Hi all the preserved ones I have seen are in cammo a dark brown and black or green in broad wavy lines . cheers ian
PS Try Elvington web site it may have a photo

[stellan]

Hi Ian,
Funny you would mention Elvington, just came back from a trip to England and visited the museum some days ago. Thinking of hotting up the Airfix tower and am a bit unsure of Airfix painting instructions. The Elvington Field has a nice tower but that (as all other buildings) was painted in light green/dark green in broad wavy bands. My camera battery gave up so I did not get any pics of it...

[alfie]

Hi

A quick trawl of the Net came up with these:

www.controltowers.co.uk/Site%20Map.htm
www.twinwoodairfield.co.uk/twinwood-airfield-control-tower.html

Regards, Alfie

[stellan]

Hi Alfie, thanks for the links. All info is really helpful as I found it to completely impossible to find a proper ansver to this question (as always). Will check what I´ve got and go through my little Airfix kit once again. The only colour photos, or clear information, I´ve seen are from restored buildings and even they does not sem to conform to any painting standard. Have found nice shots of the control tower at RAF East Kirkby that might do.
Cheers,
Stellan

[edgar]

Several years ago, Midland Counties published a couple of pocket-sized books on airfield buildings, complete with colour photos. You'll probably have to look in their second-hand section, by now, but you never know. Thr RAF Museum library also has dozens (perhaps hundreds) of drawings of airfield buildings, which might throw up a lot more information. It'll need a personal (weekday) visit, though.
Edgar

[sanguin]

This might be a useful link:

www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/raf-pembrey-t1518.html

I'm sure someone on that site will know something useful to you.

John

[alfie]

Apr 16, 2009 9:52:51 GMT @stellan said:

Any one got a god idea on how to paint/camouflage a control tower used during WW2? Was Mickey Mouse camou used on towers as well as on vehicles or just one colour? Any idea of where to find good photos on camou or info of actual colours used?

/Stellan

I have received this response to my request in the current Magazine:

Airfield buildings: These were painted using a range of colours from the BS 987C Camouflage Colours range from 1941 on. Before that they were done using commercial colours available from the ranges offered by numerous paint companies. These early attempts were rather hit and miss because the people doing the job did not understand the principals of camouflage. There do not seem to be any set patterns. The design applied was governed by the colours and layout of terrain around the airfields since the buildings had to blend in with the observed backgrounds from certain angles, altitudes and slant ranges in average light conditions. These later efforts were much more successful because trained camouflers were used to design the patterns and supervised the application of the design and colours.