| The colour commonly called “Ocean Blue or Pacific Blue” has been, for a long time, a confusing subject.
Official reference to it has now been found, and it can now be given it’s correct title of “Blue Sea Grey”.
The official source is a “Schedule of Aeronautical Paints and Dopes” that was promulgated in on 20 June 1945. Part 1 of the schedule set out contract items which were supplied by B.A.L.M. (NZ) Ltd, and under the heading “Camouflage Colours” the following appeared.
Description Stores Ref.
Dark Olive Drab Cam. Nitrate 133B/31
Neutral Grey Cam. Nitrate 133B/34
Dark Slate Grey Camouflage 33B/222
Sky Grey Camouflage 33B/293
Light Slate Grey Camouflage 33B/234
Blue Sea Grey Camouflage 33B/N118
Foliage Green Camouflage 33B/183
All of these were to Standard Specification DTD308, and the stores references were all for 4-gallon containers except for 33B/234 which was one gallon. Manufacturer’s were given as S13-192, 196, 905, 907, 923, 934, and 983 respectively.
To appreciate more the significance of this information, a short lesson on stores references is in order. If you have read the Fighting/Bombing Colours series of books you will be aware that Section 33B of the RAF Stores Reference system referred to paints and dopes. The number which followed specified a colour and the size of container. The RNZAF adapted this system to indicate items from other sources. Addition of a figure 1 to the front of the Section Reference indicated stores of American origin, and the letter N in front of the final number indicated a New Zealand item.
From the schedule we can now pick out the American colour pair of Dark Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. The two New Zealand colours, Blue Sea Grey and Duck Egg Blue join with the British colours to complete the spectrum of colours available for camouflaging RNZF aircraft towards the end of the war.
Lest there be any doubt that Blue Sea Grey and Ocean Blue are one and the same, the following episodes should dispel any such thoughts.
In July 1944 the Commanding Officer of RNZAF Station New Plymouth, commenting on re-equipment with three Hudson aircraft with a different camouflage scheme to the station’s Ansons, requested permission to bring the Anson scheme into line with the Hudsons. He noted “The Hudson scheme is Duck Egg Blue, Foliage Green and Blue Grey. The Anson scheme is Duck Egg Blue, Foliage Green and Dark Earth.” He added that the Ansons spent most of their time flying over the sea and also that , as the Station had only one compressor and three spray guns, the reduction from four dopes to three would be of considerable help. Approval was given.
The omission of the world “Sea” from the official description was not unusual. Further evidence is contained in a March 1944 letter from Lauthala Bay (Fiji) to Wellington. Here it was stated (concerning the Hudson III) “considerable difficulty is being experienced with Dark Green (Ref.33B/183) and Blue Grey (Ref 33b/N118) colours peeling off the mainplanes and the fuselage.”
Note that the stores references quoted were, in fact, those for Foliage Green and Blue Sea Grey. The solution to the peeling problem was to apply Blue Grey Dope (M/485A) as used on the upper surfaces of Catalinas. The number were quoted appears to be a specification and no further clue to the exact shade is given. Nor is there any further elaboration on the inference that the Blue Grey Dope was used to replace both upper colours, i.e. do away with the disruptive pattern. The manufacturer’s number for Blue Sea Grey was passed to Dulux New Zealand Ltd, but unfortunately they could provide any further clue as to the exact shade.
The best match is a Humbrol mix of: 1-HU5 and 1-No34
Another New Zealand mixed paint which often becomes confused with Blue Sea Grey is Medium Blue (BS381c No 109), However, this paint bears only some resemblance to No109 and the following Humbrol mix gives a more correct example of the RNZAF colour.
3-HB13 + 2-No25 + 2HX3
As will be seen from when these Humbrol paints are mixed, there is not a lot of difference between Blue Sea Grey and Medium Blue, the latter being slightly more Blue of the two.
All New Zealand mixed paints, though based on BS381c, were given local names and they are listed below with the Humbrol equivalents. To enable the correct New Zealand names to be used, without confusion with similarly named overseas paints, I have added a prefix-(NZ), this is NOT an official prefix.
Note, These mixes were given to me, but I have not personally used them.
Also attached is a similar listing for the paints with the equilvalent American Federal Specification numbers
Next I will move on to Insignia. Stay tuned!
Last edited by Kiwi; 04-06-2005 at 03:01..
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