I have been producing profiles and plans for far too many years now, working with a wide range of publishers including Aeroplane Monthly’s Database artwork for over a decade. At some stage I became involved with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, researching the planned schemes and creating the paint guides for all the aircraft including the Chimpunks, the most recent being Spitfire TE311. One of the previous BBMF bosses, Mark ‘Disco’ Discombe since moved on to 29 Sqn after his three years as CO of the flight, the Typhoon Display Team falls under their remit and someone asked Disco if he knew anyone who could help with creating a new scheme.  It would appear that I was the logical choice and explain the email last September asking if I would like to be involved.

The hardest part of the process was the invasion stripes, the shape of aircraft during WWII was broadly similar with wide wings, fuselage and a tail at the back, but the Eurofighter Typhoon is a narrow delta shape with canards and a wingspan of 10.95 metres; the Hawker Typhoon has a wider wingspan of 12.67 metres, yet a significantly narrower fuselage.

Each band on an Allied fighter was 18 inches wide, which if applied to the delta wing would dominate it so a little artistic license had to be taken. So following multiple revisions I eventually went with 75% width which keeps the ratio and hopefully will look good on the aircraft (I can’t tell how the underside looks yet as it’s not due to fly for a few more days). The positioning of the invasion stripes on the fuselage provided another layer of challenge. I was reluctant to position the bands as far aft as they were on ZK308, during wartime the bands didn’t extend into the tail empennage so it that is the reason for it being so far forward on ZJ913.  Despite this, they still don’t wrap all the way around the fuselage due to the shape of the wings.

Moggy

The specific Hawker Typhoon scheme chosen was a decision made by the Air Historical Branch but it was an identifiable aircraft that flew during D-Day and has a story, being flown by Sqn Ldr Denzil Jenkins of 257 Sqn, a few other codes were discussed but FM-G was what ended up going on. Plus those in the know have already been calling it ‘Moggy’ in the office.

I’ve already mentioned the hard part of translating the scheme but the rest was a modern take on the wartime camouflage pattern with the green and grey, however, due to technical restrictions the final scheme is slightly different to the proposals. As I understand it, the design on the tail had to be mirrored so it isn’t quite as originally planned, plus the roundels under the wing were resized slightly to fit between the pylons.

The first time I saw ZJ913 much of it was masked off and the invasion stripes had just been applied by Serco in the paint shop at Coningsby but walking into the hangar before the rollout and unveiling left me briefly lost for words, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see it that clean again.

On seeing the aircraft in its new scheme, I thought..I love it. Can I show you the original designs? I’ll have to check as everything has been ‘TOP SECRET’ for the last few months

Overall, I am very pleased with the result and would hope that applying historically accurate elements such as the roundel ratio and the yellow leading edges added to it. One big difference is the underside, while Medium Sea Grey was used during wartime we agreed the current Camouflage Grey is close enough plus it makes it much simpler to add stores such as the ferry tanks without them standing out, one of the few downsides to Blackjack’s scheme.

The work done by everyone has been stunning and most fortunately the scheme was kept secret until the big reveal, I have been told that to keep it away from the cameras in the spotters car park the Typhoon was towed over to 11 Sqn at about 3 am on Monday morning, but within minutes of the hangar door opening they somehow got wind of it.

Like everyone else I’m looking forward to seeing it in the air and having talked to David ‘Turbo’ Turnbull know that the display he has put together for the 2024 season will really show off the new look. So a massive thank you to Disco, Sqn Ldr Andy Power, Flt Lt Nina Wilkinson, Sgt Polly McKinlay, Cpl Mkey Hall and I’d better not forget A/CPL Jamie Platts who do all the hard work behind the scenes with the display team.

As for projects to plug, I’m currently working on some spaceships for Dan Sharp’s forthcoming book on HOTOL (worth having a chat with him once it’s out probably) from Mortons who also have my book on the history of the BBMF. Looking ahead there will also be a rather nice book coming out to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Chipmunk next year plus a new set of schemes and decals for the Airfix 1/48 Chipmunk this summer that I also worked on. Keep an eye on their site for details.

In my wildest dreams…

I really like a lot of the older camouflage, so maybe an F-35B in RN markings and the black/yellow Suez invasion stripes would really be eye-catching, there is a lot of focus on WWII camo which always looks cool but does mean other conflicts and periods are being ignored. As a result, tribute schemes seem to stem from WWII, however, I would very much like to see one of the fighter squadrons revisit the interwar markings and have the bright green band stretching across the wings from roundel to roundel and a painted aluminium finish.

The secret to drawing a Spitfire

The hardest part is knowing the marks, although this applies to a lot of types where there were multiple variants and minor differences, for example Spitfire MK356 is a LFIXE but currently has a type E wing fitted. The secret (which is never easy) is getting the bumps and curves right in areas such as the cowling, especially the Griffon engine ones, when they are wrong it can really stand out.

All aircraft come with a degree of complexity, some types can be tricky if there were very few built, little in the way of photographic documentation, and no survivors such as the Vickers Windsor. But equally well-known types like the Harrier are complex due to there being plenty of airframes still around and everyone knowing what they look like. Having said that, all biplanes with exposed engines often mean as much work on the engine as the rest of the illustration.

What are your three fav camo schemes of all time?

My favourite camouflage schemes have to start with the Sea Harrier FRS.1 in the pre-Falklands scheme from 700A or 899 squadrons, while the post-war schemes are nice it was part of the move to all over grey for military aircraft that isn’t as visually appealing, plus the white/blue is very visually striking.

The current scheme worn by the F-4E of the Hellenic Air Force is very nice, a toned-down set of greys have weathered and reflect the character of the now aging Phantoms, from the illustration point of view the textures and fading are enjoyable to recreate.

Lastly without wanting to pick a particular aircraft the South East Asia camouflage used by the USAF in Vietnam is visually interesting and varied. Plus it looks good on everything from the C-47 to the F-105. 

 Chris Sandham-Bailey‘s artworks feature in the Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes. The Hush-Kit books are crowd-funded, volume 3 is currently in the fundraising stage, you can support it here and make it happen.

His website is here.