I reckon you hit the nail on the head there ron
and you've given me an idea, the colour looks to me to be a light olive drab and it might be the case that the early carriers used U.S. light olive drab so I've ordered light olive and will try it for a match when it arrives, if it's too light I can easily darken it down with a normal drab green. i'm determined to get the colour spot on !
i'll put the results up next week when I've done the swatch.
thanks for all your help
rick