Quote:
Originally posted by Neil Ashley
Later WW2 and post war British AFV's were aluminium painted on the inside. I'd be curious to know when the change occured.
|
Following on from Bruce's comments above, my option on this is that silver was always the standard colour but white was used on some contracts during the war due to the shortage of pigments.
I have found a number of fleeting references to early WW2 British AFVs having silver interiors to make the most of the dim interior lighting. In an article for Missing Link Peter Brown writes "The British Expeditionary Force's armoured vehicles were painted in a disruptive scheme of Dark Bronze Green, applied by the troops themselves over the basic factory Khaki Green. All AFVs also had white squares approximately 12" per side located so as to be visible from any direction, on Matilda I's they were on the hull sides, engine deck and turret rear and also on other surfaces. Interior was to be painted in aluminium paint. " Yet I have seen many interior shots of various Commonwealth vehicles clearly painted in white, and well painted at that - not some crude in the field paint over. The pages on the following link include some very good Matilda II interiors to illustrate this point.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/lsm/dhmg/mahon2.html
I would suspect that the original standard was indeed for silver but this was soon superceded by white - a standard adopted by at least the Australians as well as the British - and some already silver painted interiors were retrospectively painted white (hence some of the examples quoted in this thread). This would suggest that the reason was other than a shortage of silver paint. Post War there was a reversion to silver. Again this would suggest the reason for whaite was in response to some specific wartime need.