Malta Blue Spitfires

[gunther]

I'm chasing down a story about 47 Spitfires being painted blue on the trip to Malta in '42. I am trying to find out if the paint they used was the deck paint for the WASP, the carrier that took them. Evidently they were loaded up with the earth/stone camo pattern but were painted en route.
Also, were there any Blue Spitfire aces? I've seen a chart that indicates that maybe they shot down around 50 or so enemy aircraft.
If I am correct, there were Spits painted a lighter shade of blue that were used for recon.

[Mark J]

This link may be helpful

http://hsfeatures.com/maltabluesse_1.htm

cheers

[gunther]

Great link, thanks. There seems to be different accounts that I've found , so far, with one claim that there are pictures showing they never got painted. Yet there seems to be some kind of tradition about the Blue Spitfires.