Ian Gleeds Hurricane-Again!

[smithart101]

This is not another question about the colour of the nose!(BTW-it was red IMO and represented a pair of red lips 'blowing a rasberry' which fits in well with Gleed's flamboyant character).
Has anyone else noticed Ian Gleeds Hurricane P2798 has the Day/night scheme on the underside? A careful look at the photos -see attached-reveals that some Hurricanes in service during the Battle for France (and Gleeds was one of them), had the day/night scheme that stopped just before the tail wheel. A closer look at the photo of 87 squadron in flight shows that all the aircraft except LK-Z appear to have the same undersurface scheme, again, the black stops short of the tail wheel.The radiator intake fairings are clearly dark while LK-Z has a light one.The low angle of the sun is conveniently illuminating these as seen on LK-Z, so it cant be shadow. The pitot tubes appear to be light coloured though.



If the August/September date is correct, this seems to go against the standard scheme at the time. Did 87 Squadron just not bother to convert their older aircraft to the new scheme I wonder?

[smithart101]

Just a follow on from this, and to answer my own query The pitot tube post was left light (aluminium?) even though the port wing underside was painted black. The attached photo (source: Camouflage and Markings #2 BoB RAF may to december 1940 by Paul Lucas) shows newly completed Hurricanes with this exact scheme.
Circled are the light pitot tube post and the aluminium area around the tail wheel as evident on Gleed's machine. It seems reasonable to suggest then that the underside of the nose of his Hurricane was Aluminium too.