249s RAF by Cruduh

[malpeake]

The blue Spit 5 in 249 Squad colors has khaki control surfaces, is this how they were or is it an oops?

[AWwrgwy]

The blue Spit 5 in 249 Squad colors has khaki control surfaces, is this how they were or is it an oops?

They were fabric covered and hense did not get the repaint with the rest of the aircraft. 

Not an oops.


wrongway

[Greebo]

The probable reason is that control surfaces need to be balanced with weights placed ahead of the hingeline to prevent flutter at high speeds. If they had repainted these surfaces it would have added more weight behind the hingeline and this would have then involved rebalancing them.

[jocko-]

Yep.  Another example of this is the fabric ailerons on early war aircraft - when the Night/White ID markings were applied over the aluminum dope under surfaces of active fighters the ailerons were not included.

[malpeake]

Cool, thank you all for the info