77 Squadron 70th Anniv. Scheme

Hornet A21-49 carries this artwork for the 70th anniversary of 77 Squadron


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Looks pretty smart.
RAAF photos by LAC Craig Barrett

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That's the best scheme I've seen on a RAAF F/A-18A+ todate.

Maybe I'm partial to checkers and Grumpy Monkies :blink:

First OC was a RAF man,........ex Java Hurricane Pilot

Gordy

Nice :wub:

I have to agree - she looks very sporty!

B)

BC

OMG that is way too much colour - too costly in paint and man hours, an almost invisible 70th on the tail and sqn marks like the the 90th anniversary last year would have been much more appropriate, we cannot have RAAF aircraft with colourful markings :o

Yeh, sure Grumpy, whatever!! :P

Quite a clever design - checks from the Sabre, Monkey from the shield of the Mirage, and the Hornet spine marking. Excellent.

...don't forget the meatbox!

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Agreed Martin & Batman,

It's a nice montage.

Grumpy, you've also got me thinking - Perhaps it would also be nice to see the odd retro scheme for major events and anniversarries now and again too, such as:

1 Sqn F/A-18F in the scheme of a 1917 Bristol Fighter.

3 Sqn F/A-18A painted as a Fano, Italy based P-51K.

10 Sqn Orion painted in Sunderland Style from the Battle of the Atlantic.

77 Sqn F/A-18A painted as a Milne Bay P-40E.

79 Sqn Hawk in WWII Spitfire Scheme (Has sort of been done in terms of Sqn codes - but lets go the whole hog this time!).

CFS PC-9a painted in a yellow + Camo Tiger Moth Scheme.

Yeah, OK, you can all tell me I'm dreaming now!


Brendan

(In cheeky mode)

Hi Martin

Unsure about the Meteor. I doubt whether a 77 Sqn F.8 every carried green & white checks. This Parafield museum shot I do not believe is accurate - so let's throw this up for discussion.

Now there is a pic in Pentland/Malone's "Aircraft of the RAAF 1921-71" pg. 115 of a 77SQN Meteor with a checked fuselage band - it looks silver and another colour (red, or green or perhaps yellow with green??). But green/white checks on a Meteor - not convinced!! ??

...like this?

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...or what I would think is a a period photo (A77-881 scrapped 26/10/61)

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Martin, yes thats the one A77-881.

I presume the Museum shot is Fighterworld at WLM.

That is indeed A77-875 at Fighterworld
(sometimes incorrectly identified as A77-385 because it once was displayed with that spurious serial)

Speaking of Green Chequers, I have been sent this image and it apparantly:

"dates back to when a now retired Chief of Air Force flew Sabres with 79 Sqn in Thailand and before he became the a CO of 6 Sqn on re-equipping with F111"

Some of us will remember (or read if you're too young) that 79 Sqn was reformed from a detchment of 77 Sqn and took up the same green coulours for it's unit markings.

Could this have been part of the inspiration?

Thinks.....

BC

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I have also been reminded that Hornet A21-48 once wore a chequerboard and Grumpy Monkey scheme:

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Horn...24th_March_2007

BC

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..the new one is a lot cooler B)

I can't disagree with you there my friend!

:D

BC

Somewhere I have a badge simmilar to that one from my time in 78 Wing 1966-68, at that time the Sabres carried no Sqn markings with the exception that 77Sqn's aircraft had a thin green band on the fin, this was to allow ground crew to identify what Sqn landing aircraft belonged to so that they could be ready to marshal them in on the flightline.

77Sqn Sabres returning to Aust (1969? ) carried the green and white check markings, see pics of A94-974 in gallery.

Rod.

Quite right Rod!

Interesting how the chequer pattern is diamond/angled presentation rather that square style for this scheme.

BC

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I saw this scheme on a few jets at 3AD in 1969.

I remember the late Kev Kerle was there and we looked over these jets (I was on 1OCU at the time).

They were newly delivered back from Butterworth - Ubon (79SQN) had folded, 75SQN Mirages were at Butterworth, the only Sabre squadron left was 77 at Butterworth, and which was then replaced by 3SQN Mirages.

All the Sabres were then centred on training at Williamtown (5OTU, which previously had been discussed as being formed as 78SQN).

The Sabres surplus to requirements were stored at 3AD, but I guess many ended up in the air forces of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Back to the original topic just for a moment, the 70th Anniversay of the formation of 76 & 77 Squadrans will be celebrated on the 16th of March.

Here are the details:

http://no77.squadronassociation.org/70anniversary.php

Perhaps will see more photos of A21-49 in her new scheme over the next few weeks.


BC

Batman
Page 39 of Stewart Wilson's book Meteor, Sabre and Mirage shows a pic of A77-881, 886, 874 and one other with the full chequered markings, dated 1955.
77Sqn operated Meteors for a couple of years after returning from Korea/Japan before changing over to Sabres.
In the line drawings of colour schemes it also shows a drawing of 881 with both the oblique and full chequered scheme, colours for the oblique are stated as green and silver.

BC
Not sure why the diamond pattern also the signifcance of the chess piece, perhaps a bit of designers licence.
We have in the gallery one pic of A94-973 with what appears to be a square check.

So moving right along does anyone have a pic of a Mustang with a chequered past?
Rod

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Hi Rod,

Thanks, yes quite right, I have checked Wilson pg.39, and a nice line-up of Meatbox checkered fins. Can't remember having seen that pic before, whereas the green/silver oblique band pic was in my mind.

I would guess at the appearance, the green checkered tails appear to be green and white, but if you squint your eyes they could be green and silver !! ;)

And now for another green tailed 77 Sqn bird that has been sent to me.

This time Mirage A3-42

BC

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Yes Brendan, the original 77SQN Mirage tail marking, I would say 1969-70.

This was just before 77 got all camouflaged aircraft with the definitive squadron stripes and crest tail marking. While later they had the "grumpy monkey" tail band, before that they had a stylised "77", copied off the stylised "44" marking of 44SQN RAF Vulcans.

The "77" style markings were definitely carried by "The Deltas" in the 1971 50th Anniversary airshows. I think "grumpy monkies" were enforced by the mid 70s, when Air Force Orders legislated that Squadron tail markings had to incorporate the official Squadron badge. But for some reason, 2OCU has always maintained a tiger!!

Ah yes,

The good old Delta's.

Now they were a sight to behold on the ground......

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And in the air!

B)

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Brendan

yes that "Deltas" shot shows the "77" tail marking.

I have also attached the checkered Meteor from Wilson's book that Rod had spotted.



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Seems like the meteors had individual checkers painted tails judging by the above pic. Perhaps hand painted?

I think you're right Gordy,

When you take a good look (as you obviously have) there is signifigant variation in the aplication of tailmarkings on the Meteors.

BC

I should point out that Sabre A94-974 is carrying 75 Sqn markings at the time of Rod's photo (Black/White Diamonds with a chess piece superimposed).

Not 77 Sqn I'm afraid.




Steve

...thanks Steve
How did we miss that? :o

Gp Capt K N Pyke(Ret) has just sent me these excellent photos of 77 Squadron Sabres
They were all taken during Ex Air Cobra held in Thailand in May 1962.
First up Kev's aircraft A94-952 displaying those green checkers

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...A94-978

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...another of A94-952

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...and now for something completely different!
French Air Force Vautours which deployed from Bordeaux for the exercise. Some deployment given it was pre air-air refuelling days for the French

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... a shot of the Korat flightline with 77 squadron Sabres and 2 Squadron Canberras



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...and finally a shot of 952s instrument panel taken on the climb out from Butterworth on the way to Korat.

Thanks Kev, a great addition to our photo collection.

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Wow!

This is gobsmackingly stunning!

Outstanding!

:D

Thanks Kev & Martin.

Brendan

Truly excellent pics considering their age.

Steve,
Sorry to disapoint you but that pic of 974 is 77Sqn green and white, check out my other full pic of the same aircraft in the gallery, there is also a b&w pic of 982 with the same markings.
Rod.

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Interesting how some 77 Squadron Sabres have a horizontal and others a diamond arrangement of the green checkers.
Rod's photo below shows that on the wing tank there is both the "77" and "Knight"
Can someone explain the significance of the Knight, it would appear to have only a limited tenure.

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...here is a much better version of the photo above, clearly shows the green checkers

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Thanks Guys,

First that I have seen of 77 Sqn arranging their Tail markings in the same fashion as 75 Sqn.

There is a lot to be still learned about this period of RAAF markings which does not get anywhere near the publicity given to the Mirages onwards.

For instance I know that the Sabre units had at least one Vampire trainer attached (probably each) for two seat training purposes. There were several such used at Williamtown and at least one up at Butterworth.

If anyone has photos or other info could they post here please.




Steve

Steve,
There was indeed a Vampire at Butterworth but it was never assembled to fly.
I arrived at 478 straight from the ejection seat bay at East Sale and was to begin the task of carrying out all the outstanding mods on the seats but the project was cancelled, I believe because they had obtained a flight simulator.
I never saw the actual airframe and do not know what Vampire it was.
From memory we had a discussion about this subject several years ago.

I think the variations in colour schemes is due to the interpretation of the Surface Finisher carrying out the pait job.
Rod.

Re Butterworth Vampires;

Howdy Martin,

Regarding Vampires at Butterworth.

My logbook shows sorties as follows:

26 Jul 61,12 Oct 62 - A79-803

21 Aug 61, 19 & 22 Jan 62 - A79-810

14 May, 10 Sep, 12 Oct, 22 Oct, 22 Oct, 28 Dec 62, 21 Jan,2,8,9 &10 Apr 63 - A79-646.

They were used mainly for Instrument flying training and Instrument Rating purposes.

Sorry, no photos but they were certainly there and flying.

Kev Pyke

Jumping in late here, that paint scheme looks great. I wish they had done similar during my time on Mirages, a 77SQN retirement scheme would have been nice. I know 75SQN got the glory with 33? painted up all over silver with the old tail markings.

And with regards to Brendan's ideas about retro paint schemes being a modeller I can make them come true and I had already considered doing some of his mentioned schemes.

Welcome back Ray,

That would be great to see some of those schemes come to life in model form!

Bring it on I say!

Cheers

BC

Thanks to Kevin Pyke for the details of the 2 Seat Vampires at Butterworth.

See 'Swift to Destroy' for several paragraphs detailing the use of these airframes up there.

At least there are now some Serial numbers to chase up on when I get a chance to peruse the appropiate History Cards.



Steve Mackenzie

I don't know....I'm a bit partial to the first one... ^_^

That first scheme was supposed to be on and slightly below the tail tip. The problem was masking a checks scheme on small sharp and curved surfaces ( the light and vent) and trying to make the checks look uniform optically. I only had two days start to finish to complete the task including masking, painting, reverse masking and painting using two pack Polyurethane. (polyurethane took at least 12hrs to dry properly for back marking large area's) After a couple of attempts of trying to get it to look right and time being an issue, we decided to move the design further down the vertical. This allowed us to make the art work larger but it would be cut by the formation light. This meant the 'monkey' had to go forward towards the leading edge. This pissed the designer off no end to the point he hated it. Had we had a week or two, it'd would've been where it was supposed to go, albeit a lot smaller.

Another misconception was the dark colour. Often because it looks black in lot of photo's. I've often seen 'experts' on various forums who claim to have some inside knowledge to why it was painted black and white. All garbage and no mystery.
As most of you would know the 77 SQN colour is 'green'. 'Brunswick Green' was the closest colour to it. At that time we often had problems with the paint supplier who wouldn't mix specific colours in small batches in polyurethane so we often had to improvise and mix SQN colours or various scheme colours ourselves. This was a particular problem at 77 SQN. When I mixed the colour it was a lighter green however it was suggested I 'darken' it up a bit' to match the already mixed bag of darker green SQN markings already on some 77 SQN Hornets. So the more blue was thrown in and applied to the jet.