| Ross Marven's Modelling Pages |
I am creating pages for each operational type used by the command. If anyone would like to remind me of things I've got wrong or missed then please do so using the Contact Form. Also if anyone would like to contribute any relevant information or documents please do so - this page is intended to be a resource for all modellers, not just me!
References used are too many to list but a good start are those on my general reference page
Specific references for the Whitley include
- Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Since 1913, Author: Oliver Tapper, Publisher: Putnam
- Whitley File - Publisher: Air Britain
- Forgotten Bombers of the RAF - Author: K.Wixey; Publisher: Arms and Armour 1997
- Aircraft Profile No.153
- Air Enthusiast Quarterly No.9
- Scale Aircraft Modelling Vol15 p238 (Aircraft in Detail)
- Warpaint Series No. 21 - Author: Ken Wixey; Publisher: Hall Park 2004
- Aircraft Crash Log No. 4: Armstrong Whitworth Whitley - Author: Nicholas Roberts 1978
The first use of the Whitley in Coastal Command was when 58 Squadron, with the Whitley III, was detached to Boscombe Down from its base at Linton-on-Ouse at the end of September 1939, being joined by its HQ in October. It returned to Linton-on-Ouse and Bomber Command in February 1940.
Detachments of 51 and 77 Squadrons were also loaned briefly in November/December 1939, based at Kinloss for operations over the North Sea. I'm not sure if the aircraft were Mk.III or Mk.IV.
502 Squadron, with Ansons, was the first Coastal Command unit to convert to the Whitley V, starting in October 1940 with the last Ansons leaving in November.
This photo shows 250lb. bombs being loaded into a 502 Squadron Whitley in
November 1940.
BRITISH ARMED FORCES IN NORTHERN IRELAND, 1920 - 1980© IWM (HU 107184)
At this time the colours would have been Dark Green / Dark Earth uppersurfaces and Night undersurfaces,initially with a low demarcation which became high later, probably with AMO A.926/40 of 12/12/40. Type B upperwing roundels, Type A1 fuselage roundels, Type A fin flash, Medium Sea Grey codes and serial.
612 Squadron followed in November/December 1940 and was the first to receive the Mk.VII in May 1941, 502 not getting them until November 1941.
Early in 1941 ASV Mk.II began to be fitted, 502 Squadron being the frst to get aircraft equipped with it.
In June 1941, according to MJF Bowywer in Airfix Magazine Annual 7, the Whitley was ordered to have Sky undersides. Again according to Bowyer this was a feature of a handful of aircraft. He goes on to state that in July 1941 the Temperate Sea Scheme (Dark Slate Grey and ExtraDark Sea Grey topsides with Sky undersurfaces) was ordered to apply to a number of aircraft types including Whitleys.
In August 1941 the 'white' camouflage scheme started to be used - see here for full details. It would have taken some time for a full squadron of large aircraft like the Whitley to be repainted.
Note that according to the Pilot's Notes most Whitleys were fitted with de-icing boots on the leading edges of the wings, tailplane, fins and wireless masts. These were not always black and many Whitley photos show them painted in the normal camouflage colours. This needs more investigation before I can make a definitive statement.
Referring to this period Bowyer also states "Number 502 Squadron still held Whitley T4141 wearing Sky undersurfaces and somehow had acquired an astonishing oddity, an experimentally painted Whitley with pink undersurfaces.". Existence of these is confirmed by a memo in the National Archives from HQ 15 Group on 29th October 1941 asking whether they should be re-doped to the current (White) scheme.
There appears to be a confusing situation regarding the colours of both unit/aircraft code letters and serials. The documentation I have found only refers to Light Slate Grey but many colour drawings, and subsequently decal sheets, have interpreted them as Dull Red for some aircraft and Light Slate Grey for others. Looking at photos (all in black and white) there are some where the tone of the letters appears to match the red of the roundel and/or fin flash and some (such as that below) where Light Slate Grey is the obvious interpretation. To make matters worse the codes would have been applied by the RAF (Maintenance Unit or squadron) while serials were applied by the manufacturer. Also it is not possible to know the exact response of the film used, nor whether any filters were used by the photographer. A possible example of the latter appears in 'Man is not Lost', the autobiography of Group Captain 'Dickie' Richardson, where there are photos of BD572 - YG.R and BD569 - YG.H. 'R' has codes and serials which are a close match for the red of the roundel and fin flash and which are darker than the uppersurface camouflage which would include Dark Slate Grey - so a fairly obvious conclusion is that they were Dull Red. The background of the photo is obvioulsy haze and is not dissimilar in tone to the White of the lower surfaces so probably no filtration was used. The photo of 'H' has a great deal of contrast between sky and cloud - often a result of using a filter, probably orange (possibly yellow) as the grass looks dark and the serial and red portions of the roundel and fin flash look much lighter that in the photo of 'R'. Again the serial would seem to be Dull Red but the code letter is darker. I can't think what it would be other than Dull Red, maybe just from a different tin as it would have been applied at unit level.
This photo shows aircraft of 612 Squadron at Reykjavik - it is hard to
date the photo but probably winter 1941/2. ASV aerials have been censored.
Codes and serials appear to be the standard Light Slate Grey. Note the
individual letter repeated on the nose, the heavy exhaust staining and the different colours of the
undercarriage on the two aircraft.
ROYAL AIR FORCE COASTAL COMMAND, 1939-1945© IWM (CS 249)
Not available under the same licence as other photos this IWM photo shows Whitleys of 612 Squadron at St Eval, October 1941, in the relatively new white scheme.
In April 1942 58 Squadron, now with the Mk.V, was transferred to Coastal Command and it started to receive the Mk.VII in May.
From May to October 1942 both 51 and 77 Squadrons with Whitley Vs were loaned to Coastal Command and based at Chivenor, flying anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay.
From 4th August 1942 to 19 July 1943 a detachment of 10 OTU was based at
St.Eval to reinforce Coastal Command prior to the arrival of US squadrons. During this period it lost 33
(or 50 depending on source) aircraft and flew 16,455 operational hours with
89 U-boat sightings of which 55 were attacked resulting in two sunk and
three damaged (source - Conflict over the Bay by N.Franks). It seems likely their aircraft kept the Bomber Command camouflage
scheme - certainly Z6795 which was captured by the Germans on 21st September
1942 looks to have been in overall Night - a scheme authorised for the
Whitley by AMO A.1096/42 of 8/10/42 which reads as if it was trying to catch
up with actual practice. Both Mk.V and Mk.VII seem to have been used by this
detachment.
Captured Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (Z6795) of 10 O.T.U. which crash landed on the beach off Plomodiern in Brittany 1942. Photo linked from Stuart Callan on Flickr - please click the image for more details.
53 Squadron re-equipped with the Whitley VII as an interim measure on their return from the East Coast of the USA in February 1943, giving them up for Liberators in May 1943 having moved around from Davidstow Moor to Docking, Bircham Newton and Thorney Island.
58 & 502 gave up their Whitleys for Halifaxes in January/February 1943 with 612 having an extended coversion period to the Wellington from November 1942 to June 1943.
Other units in Coastal Command using the Whitley were 1 (Coastal) OTU, 3 (Coastal) OTU and the Coastal Command Development Unit.
'Man is not Lost', the autobiography of Group Captain 'Dickie' Richardson who, following a short conversion course at 3 OTU Cranwell, commanded 502 from 23rd November 1941 to September 1942, gives an idea of the problems faced on long patrols over the sea.... "Nobody at Cranwell told me ... there had been 17 engine failures since 1 January in 502 squadron alone, with the loss of five aircraft...". This led to changes in the flying and maintenance schedules and theres is a file in the National Archives AIR8/329 'Coastal Command flying effort and report on planned flying and planned maintenance with No. 502 Squadron'.
There is a report in the National archives titled "Use of Whitleys and Halifaxes for anti-submarine patrols" under reference AIR 14/617.
U-boat attacks by Coastal Command Whitleys (taken from 'Search, Find and Kill' by Norman Franks :
| Date | Unit | Type | Mark | Code | Serial | Base | U-boat | Notes |
| 10/02/1941 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | V | T | P5050 | Limavady | U-93 | damaged |
| 30/11/1941 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | VII | B | Z9190 | St.Eval | U-206 | sunk |
| 01/12/1941 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | V | T | Z9124 | Limavady | U-563 | damaged |
| 01/04/1942 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | VII | F | St.Eval | U-129 | damaged | |
| 14/04/1942 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | M | St.Eval | U-590 | damaged | ||
| 23/06/1942 | 58 Sqdn | Whitley | VII | C | Z9135 | St.Eval | U-753 | damaged |
| 17/07/1942 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | VII | H | St.Eval | U-751 | shared sunk | |
| 31/08/1942 | 51 Sqdn | Whitley | V | O | Z9144 | Chivenor | U-256 | shared damaged |
| 31/08/1942 | 502 Sqdn | Whitley | B | St.Eval | U-256 | shared damaged | ||
| 03/09/1942 | 77 Sqdn | Whitley | V | P | Z6978 | Chivenor | U-705 | sunk |
| 15/09/1942 | 58 Sqdn | Whitley | VII | Q | BD426 | Stornaway | U-261 | sunk |
| 01/05/1943 | 612 Sqdn | Whitley | E | Davidstow | U-415 | shared damaged | ||
| 06/05/1943 | 10 OTU | Whitley | V | K | BD189 | St.Eval | U-214 | damaged |
| 15/05/1943 | 10 OTU | Whitley | V | M | LA822 | St.Eval | U-591 | damaged |
| 24/05/1943 | 10 OTU | Whitley | V | J | BD414 | St.Eval | U-523 | damaged |
| 14/06/1943 | 10 OTU | Whitley | V | G | BD220 | St.Eval | U-564 | sunk |