102 Squadron colours in mid 44

[AndyMc]

I'm planning on building a small model copy of a halifax lost on the Stuttgart raid in July 44...Bill Leyland will know which one I'm talking about as his Uncle was on it when he sadly lost his life..

LL552....does anyone know if the halifax carried dull red codes?? I've seen them with red codes and yellow edges...and apparently they also had stripes on the rudders...I thought this was much later on when bombers started operating in daylight...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,
Andy.

[SimonK123]

Hi Andy,

Check out "From Hull Hell and Halifax" by Chris Blanchett, the book has a page showing tail markings. As part of the lead up to D-day the Transportation Plan involved bombing railway and communication hubs in France, Belgium and Germany. The stripes apparently were introduced in Spring 1944 and 102 received the MkIII Halifaxes in May. The red is the same red used on the aircraft codes letters.

Check out this Flikr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24767349@N02/3390771360/

I cannot help you with the yellow around the aircraft codes I am afraid.

Simon

[AndyMc]

Thanks for your help, Simon.

I really appreciate it.

Andy

[SimonK123]

Andy,

Apologies, I did not read the page in the above book properly, it also says the the code and individual ID letters were also outlined in Yellow on 102, 346, 347 and 640 Squadrons as they were in some other Groups. The individual ID letter on the tail below the flash was also outlined in yellow.

Simon