Am waiting to get this kit and have a question. Just read an article that some Mk XIIs had invasion stripes. A photo I saw showed stripes on the under fuselage, but I need to know if the stripes were on the wings as well. Help would be much appreciated.
There is no doubt that MK XII Spitfires would have had the full invasion stripes on D-Day 6th June. That was the order from SHAEF. There were very few exceptions, four-engine bombers, air transports, night fighters, seaplanes. There was a major concern over the readiness of ships to shoot at any aircraft that came near them. All ships had specially trained personnel from the Royal Observer Corp assigned to them during the invasion period to aid in identifying aircraft as enemy or friendly. With the huge concentration of shipping in the Channel it was thought vital to have some sort of recognition aid during the invasion period.
The memorandum was issued 18th April 1944 and to become effective on the day of the assault. So everyone knew what was required well in advance. Failure to comply would have been a serious matter. Any fighter aircraft without stripes would have been assumed to be enemy. Instructions for Operation Overload were issued 27th May and they included details of the quantities of distemper paint and number of brushes that were required. The distemper was easily removed with warm water leaving the underlying paint unharmed.
Some pilots did not like the stripes, especially of low-flying aircraft such as Austers, complaining that they made them highly visible to the enemy.
HQ AEAF order 6th July 1944 gave some aircraft permission to carry stripes on the under surfaces only. The earliest dateable photograph showing no upper surface stripes is AOC 84 Group’s Spitfire IX, L-OB, MK910 4th July 1944.
19th August 1944 Amendment 3 to original SHAEF memorandum stated that all wing stripes would be removed during the period 25th August to 10th September.
6th December 1944. Issue of suspension of SHAEF Operational Memorandum 23, to take effect 31st December 1944. This stated all distinctive markings to be removed from all aircraft except PR Mosquitoes and Spitfires of 34 Wing.
In practice not everyone complied or did so immediately. 2nd TAF retained the stripes in modified form as they were concerned about friendly fire incidents, in particular their aircraft were being attacked by US 8th Air Force fighters on their way home from Germany. Air Defence Great Britain (what used to be called 11 Group or Fighter Command) had less concern and reason to retain the stripes. Photographs of squadrons in ADGB taken circa August 1944 often show that the stripes had been completely removed. You could not guess that they ever had them. 41 Squadron belonged to ADGB (91 Squadron had reequipped with Spitfire Mk XIVs by D-Day) and there is a photograph of MB882/EB*B, Lympne, Aug 1944 that is devoid of any stripes. So very likely 41 Squadron had dispensed with them soon after D-Day and before the order bto remove the stripes from the wings. I suspect that the reason you do not see many photographs of Mk XIIs with stripes is because most of the photographs date from before D-Day, 1943 to early 1944.
BTW. 41 Squadron did not start anti-diver (V1) operations until 13th June 1944 moving to West Malling to do so. The first V1 they shot down was 20th June. Prior to the 13th they had been active in shipping reconnaissance sorties and shooting up locomotives etc in France.