Canberra XH134

Chris558 · Post by **Chris558** » 02 Jul 2006, 21:25

I can't understand this. Pictures on A.net show XH134 was painted grey in March, apparently, (this year) as shown here....

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1030950/L/

the next shows it back in Hemp, apparently in April....

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1056812/L/

And now it's Hemp with the new fin design....so the grey was only temparary?

nazca_steve · Post by **nazca_steve** » 03 Jul 2006, 08:23

Good question Chris, not sure why they switched back to hemp for XH134...anyone? In the meantime, I have done XH131 in grey, should be available soon. Pics below (over Afghanistan):

igorski · Post by **igorski** » 03 Jul 2006, 08:58

Nice one Steve.

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 03 Jul 2006, 09:19

Chris558 wrote:I can't understand this. Pictures on A.net show XH134 was painted grey in March, apparently, (this year) as shown here....

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1030950/L/

the next shows it back in Hemp, apparently in April....

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1056812/L/

And now it's Hemp with the new fin design....so the grey was only temparary?

They used ARTF paint, an alkaline based temporary finish; the desert pink applied to the RAF aircraft during Gulf War 1 was another example of the use of ARTF.

AndyG

Quixoticish · Post by **Quixoticish** » 03 Jul 2006, 10:26

If anyone's registered at UKAR, theres a nice example of the temporary grey in this thread on XH135.

http://www.ukar.co.uk/cgi-bin/ukarboard ... 10;t=17960

Beeayeate · Post by **Beeayeate** » 05 Jul 2006, 01:28

Hi

The 39 Sqn's PR.9s wear/wore AD grey for Afghan duty and Hemp for duty in the sand-box. Swapping the schemes became regular practice in the 9's last few months of service because there was only three of them to cover the missions - two out, one at base.

Anyway, thought you may care to see some pix of the grey scheme on XH131. The three pics of XH131 were taken on the pan at RAF Marham - and should cover most of he aircraft for you. If you need the tail/fin area, let me know.

XH134 flew the display at RAF Waddington last weekend. Interesting to note the distinctive 'closing down' fin artwork. Also note that XH134, in fact all three 9s, are going out of service with a mixed hemp upper/grey undersides scheme. Also note the 39 Sqn badge under the cockpit that can be seen in the 'take off' picture.

These are my own images, if you want to use them elsewhere please credit accordingly. Thanks.

.

nazca_steve · Post by **nazca_steve** » 05 Jul 2006, 18:07

Thanks for the images Les, they look good. Andy Nott, who covered the special tail fin artwork will probably find them useful indeed.

One thing I noticed from the all-grey photos is the seemingly poor quality of the paint job - specifically the mottled grey patches around the cockpit area. They almost appear 'greasy' - any ideas on why this was? Something to do with the paint composition maybe or just wear and tear?

Steve

Beeayeate · Post by **Beeayeate** » 05 Jul 2006, 20:31

Steve
Discolouration due to spray-lubricants, etc. Also water seeping out of panel edges after a wash (or landing just after flying through rain or clouds). The grey paint is surprisingly matt and rough feeling to the touch, not a very smooth surface at all, soaks up such aerosol liquids like blotting paper. Other smudging is from the dirty hands/gloves of the techies.

Don't forget, these airframes are very much hard-used 'tools of trade'. It was rare to see pristine Canberras (or most aircraft) in the RAF unless they were displaying as statics at some airshow (or a VIP was visiting the sqn :roll: ).

Regarding the fin art work. You'll recognise the main theme, the winged bomb of 39 Sqn of course. The other detail is the four sqn badges of the sqns that operated the PR.9 - 13 Sqn, 39 Sqn, 58 Sqn and 1 PRU. More detailed pic to you Steve if you want it.

.

nazca_steve · Post by **nazca_steve** » 06 Jul 2006, 06:28

Ah, I see, we can partially blame the grubby-handed techies then

Seriously though, I remember once you wrote to me about the days of using 'Duraglit' to clean Canberra surfaces, looks like those days are long gone then! MAybe that was when the Canberra was still new in the 50s...

I'd love some good shots of the special tail fin if you could, Les, as it is a nice piece of artwork and I'd like to see a closer view of how the artist tackled it. Speaking of 58 Sqn - any chance you have any decent photos of their silver 9s from back in the day? Can't seem to find any good ones really.

Cheers,

Steve

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 06 Jul 2006, 07:39

Steve,

Don't forget that this grey was just a temporary finish, so by it's very nature wasn't designed to be durable.

AndyG