Classic British Flight Sim

calypsos wrote:

I always thought that the COD Gannets were blue?

True, but this was an admirals barge too, I think I remember it coming out on an early 'Modeldecal' sheet in the 1970s for the Frog kit.Here is a standard COD livery

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0521945/M/

Fair comment Trev. That Modeldecal sheet was for the standard COD livery, actually the aircraft you linked to, I built it back in the early 1980s.

Andy

Roger that Trev and Andy, I had downloaded some shots of these blue/black schemes which I was going to render as a 'midnight blue' of sorts, unless anyone knows the actual paint name for it. Now, don't shoot me, but what does COD stand for? I saw it mentioned frequently, but confess to being clueless on it. Snazzy-looking scheme though and certainly will be done, along with a trainer version as seen at the M.A.M.

Steve

Steve..

COD is 'Carrier Onboard Delivery'.. they were used for mail, personnel and light stores transfer between ship and shore ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Thanks for that, Dave, all has been cleared up. Were all Navy COD birds finished in that scheme? Do we also know what kind of blue/black colour it was?

Hi Steve,

They were intrinsically all the same with minor variations in additional markings.. that is dark blue. Each Gannet flight had one (something I didn't realise until recently). I can send you scans from my Gannet Warpaint No.23 if you like

ATB

DaveB :tab:

DaveB wrote:Hi Steve,

They were intrinsically all the same with minor variations in additional markings.. that is dark blue. Each Gannet flight had one (something I didn't realise until recently). I can send you scans from my Gannet Warpaint No.23 if you like

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Which made me dig out my copy of the selfsame Warpaint 23, which shows the FOAC Gannet in a standard COD blue scheme! Can anybody shed any light on this comumdrum?

Andy

Hi Andy,

It does state on page 24 that Lee-on-Solent operated at least one COD on occassions during the mid 60's on behalf of FONAC and FOAC (the latter to become FOCAS which it doesn't say). Admirals were often embarked on ships in their 'Flag' capacity so perhaps the illustration on page 23 is showing Ark's COD in that role. That's the only logical explanation I can think of ;-)

EDIT.. Steve, you can find the colour plates from Warpaint 23 HERE
I don't like the brightness of the scan as it doesn't match the book. Best comparison for the COD blue is probably the navy blue you see on the progress bar on the bottom of the screen ;-)
ATB

DaveB :tab:

I seem to recall that some Gannets were painted overall in 'dark sea grey' in their later years but I cannot recall whether they were AS4s, AEW3s or COD aircraft. Nor can I remember which roundels Red White Blue or just Red Blue but all other lettering was white.

Hi Hobby

It was only the COD Gannets that were painted dark blue.. one would imagine to differenciate them from the others.

Andy..
Take a look at the COD Gannet on page 27 and there you'll see it wearing the Admirals pennant on the nose and carrying the HMS Victorious 'V' on the tail. This would seem to enforce my guess that the Admiral had his pennant and FOAC lettering added when his 'Flag' was being flown at sea.. on this occassion Victorious being the Flag Ship and the example on page 23 when Ark was Flag Ship

ATB

DaveB :tab:

So we're going with Warpaint as the definitive source then?

Andy