RAF colors question
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Thread: RAF colors question

  1. #1
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    RAF colors question

    Can anyone tell me when the "Raspberry Ripple" scheme seen on aircraft at Boscomb Down was introduced, and when it was discontinued if not still in use?

    I tried searching the interweb but Mr. Google let me down. He found a gazillion references about the scheme but nothing about the time frame it was used during.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    Can anyone tell me when the "Raspberry Ripple" scheme seen on aircraft at Boscomb Down was introduced, and when it was discontinued if not still in use?

    I tried searching the interweb but Mr. Google let me down. He found a gazillion references about the scheme but nothing about the time frame it was used during.

    Think it was phased in around 1979-80; and IIRC has become more scarce as the aircraft that wore it have been retired by Qinetic, which is the private company which has taken over the mantle from the Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment ( AAEE ) , the only one I worked on was the Phantom XT597, when it was changed into that scheme @ 1981.

    A non militarised ( and somewhat stylised) version of the
    scheme is still in use on Qinetic fleet

    Which tails are you looking for Mick?

    Hope this helps a bit

    Ttfn

    Pete

  3. #3
    Good question, and one i thought i could answer relatively easy, but is actually rather complicated
    The raspberry ripple fleet are not technically RAF, and have been used by various government and civilian organisation's since 1946, mainly under the umbrella of the A&AEE (Aircraft and armament experimental establishment)now run jointly by the civil service and a private company QinetiQ. The color scheme seems to have started appearing in the early 70's and was applied to individual aircraft as and when they were needed.
    If you've been googling, you probably know most of this, but i'd be interested to know myself

    Looks like pete beat me to it

  4. #4
    Long discussion in thread linked below. Aircraft it has been applied to might indicate the range of dates. They also mention a book that would (hopefully) include a full history.

    http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/...pple-aircraft/

    Or you might ask the webmaster here: https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/index.php


  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by fsafranek View Post
    Long discussion in thread linked below. Aircraft it has been applied to might indicate the range of dates. They also mention a book that would (hopefully) include a full history.http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/...pple-aircraft/Or you might ask the webmaster here: https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/index.php
    Just bear in mind that not all the tails listed in that forum post ended up in the AAEE colours, Buccaneer XN974 didn't; ( that was another one I worked on ) it went to standard RAF camouflage after being in RN colours while being used as a test hack at Holme on Spalding Moor

    Likewise, the D3 Sea Vixens wore a version of the red and yellow Drone scheme, while the Target Tug versions wore a hybrid scheme, retaining the tiger striped undersurfaces.

    Ttfn

    Pete

  6. #6
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    Found this image doing a search for this thread:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	ETPS fleet.jpg 
Views:	160 
Size:	122.6 KB 
ID:	83809

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by jackryan172 View Post
    Found this image doing a search for this thread:
    Yes, that's the replacement Qinetic scheme,similar, but not the same.TtfnPete

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    I started work at RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine based at Farnborough in 1973 & Hunter T7 XL563 was I think recently painted in ripple possibly having come off a Major service. ( she now resides at FAST museum)
    Keith

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    Quote Originally Posted by Motormouse View Post
    Yes, that's the replacement Qinetic scheme,similar, but not the same.TtfnPete

    Figured that was the new one. Quite stunning. Especially on the PC-21.

    Sean

  10. #10
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    Wow, thanks for all the information!

    I thought of the question when I happened upon a photo of a plane in the Raspberry Ripple scheme, and it dawned on me that I have a number of models with Raspberry Ripple skins and I had no idea which, if any, of my sims they might fit into.

    None, as it turns out. I have Golden Wings for the Golden Age, FS1954 - A Half Century of Flight for the Classic Era, FSJetAge for the sixties (that I might as well not have bothered to set up, since I've done virtually nothing with it since I set it up some years ago) and a semi-stock FS2004 that all I ever did was enhance my local area and might as well not have bothered doing even that.

    Still, I'm pleased to know the answer. Otherwise the question would be nagging at me.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Dev One View Post
    I started work at RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine based at Farnborough in 1973 & Hunter T7 XL563 was I think recently painted in ripple possibly having come off a Major service. ( she now resides at FAST museum)
    Keith
    Keith, it was back in the standard IAM red/ white scheme
    in 1976, if you look here

    https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/XL563

    Ttfn

    Pete

  12. #12
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    This one only received this livery around 1983. Before that it was painted white/grey with a blue lighting.



    Raspberry Ripple is a saturated, subdued, rusty red with a chocolate undertone.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by huub vink View Post
    This one only received this livery around 1983.

    Raspberry Ripple is a saturated, subdued, rusty red with a chocolate undertone.

    Cheers,
    Huub
    Huub the official colours are Post Office Red, and Oxford Blue and white, the roundels etc are different shades

    Ttfn

    Pete

  14. #14
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    Funny, I have another photo of 563 with a different tail scheme - top of fuselage continues white to the tailpipe......
    Keith

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  16. #16
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    Nice how a simple question provoked an interesting thread!

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    Nice how a simple question provoked an interesting thread!
    Agreed

  18. #18
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    According to Adrian Balch's book on the subject the "Raspberry Ripple" scheme was introduced in 1976 to standardise various colour schemes used by the various MOD departments. Being a patriotic scheme, the colours used should have, you would have thought, replicated those of our national Union flag.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  19. #19
    good thread, when i started attending RIAT Fairford in the mid 90's, most of their fleet attended, been looking back through my personal photo collection, sadly ive very few, wish'd i'd paid them more attention , But, the joy of simming is, i can

  20. #20
    SOH-CM-2024 Mick's Avatar
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    The screenies showed me something I should've noticed in the first place. The titles on the planes all say "Royal Aircraft Establishment," not "Aircraft & Armaments Experimental Establishment." If I'd been paying enough attention that would've told me that the scheme was introduced later than the times frames depicted in my sims.

    Here's a curiosity. Raspberry ripple ice cream is vanilla with raspberry in it, red and white, no blue. The earlier A&AEE scheme was red and white with no blue, but as far as I know, only after the blue was added was the livery called raspberry ripple.

    Maybe the blue represents the dish the ice cream is served in?

    And yes, it's curious that the colors are not the shades in the British flag. In the US, at least before the introduction of paint color codes, the official definition of the US national insignia was that the colors should be "the colors of the American flag" and the colors used to paint planes included "insignia red," "insignia while" and "insignia blue."

  21. #21
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ian elliot View Post
    good thread, when i started attending RIAT Fairford in the mid 90's, most of their fleet attended, been looking back through my personal photo collection, sadly ive very few, wish'd i'd paid them more attention , But, the joy of simming is, i can
    We are all at an age that we saw the interesting jets like the Phantom, Buccaneers, Harriers, F104, etc. being replaced by the aircraft which are still operational today (and still considered modern by me), like the F-16, F-15, Eurofighter-2000 (Typhoon for you Brits). I saw Neptunes and Grumman Trackers when they were still operational and even the Percival Pembroke, which was still doing its routine flights from the UK to the forces in Germany. In 1982 I saw one of the last operational C-47s from the Danish Air Force arrive at Soesterberg to be handed over to the Military Aviation Museum. I was in the Royal Netherlands Air Force between 1977 an 1983 and had a decent camera with some pretty nice lenses in those day. I still wonder why I didn't take more pictures in those days as I had the opportunity. It would have been a great document about this era.

    Taking pictures at a military airfield was forbidden during the cold war, but everybody just did it... We even had a spotter hill at Soesterberg AB on request of the US forces at Soesterberg to prevent people trying to climb over the fences.

    I think we just considered it normal and of course camera's with real films in it were a different thing. But now, like you, I take screenshots of the aircraft I forgot to take pictures of in the past

    Cheers,
    Huub

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by huub vink View Post
    I was in the Royal Netherlands Air Force between 1977 an 1983 and had a decent camera with some pretty nice lenses in those day. I still wonder why I didn't take more pictures

    Huub
    Likewise Huub, RAF 1979 to 1991; had a Praktika camera myself, but hardly used it, ( think we were too busy chasing other things )

    Ttfn

    Pete

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Desert Rat View Post
    Yes my wallpaper shot, found by my son & never queried, must look on FAST site where she now lives. Notice there is a Navy one sitting behind her - this was on loan to the IAM for student pilot air sickness desensitisation training as 563 was on more important experimental work at the time. I wonder if there are any photos of her mounted on a pole outside the Officers mess at Farnborough?
    Keith

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Motormouse View Post
    Huub the official colours are Post Office Red, and Oxford Blue and white, the roundels etc are different shades

    Ttfn

    Pete
    I get the feeling that they looked in the paint stores & found the red from the GPO, the white was standard use for reflecting heat from the sun used on most airliners, & the blue was that used on RAF transport vehicles.......
    Keith

  25. #25
    The colours should be BS 381C 537 Signal Red and 105 Oxford Blue in high gloss.



    Scroll down for BS381C colours:

    https://www.britishstandardcolour.com/

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