Aircraft Serial numbers....

This isn't an airfield topic strictly but I'm hoping someone can tell me the answer to this question I have: when aircraft serial number on fuselages were overpainted with the 18" band paint, was the serial number reapplied?

They should of been as it's the aircraft unique ID. That said, during wartime things often got done quickly and serials were over painted and corrected later. Case in point, Transport Command were told to put invasion stripes on all transport aircraft and gliders just 24 hours before D-Day. The rate at which these had to be painted resulted in a lot of aircraft having their serials accidentally painted over.

Thanks. I thought they would have been reapplied. I applied EE602 to a MkVc Spitfire (1942 gift) in my flight sim but was told the band would have covered the number so I removed the part covered. I've been mulling over why cover the serial number? I'll reapply the number.

I forgot to ask: could or were cannon & machine guns be fired at the same time? 1 button for both or 1 for each?

Thanks.

The serial number should always be visible.
I assume you are talking about the invasion bands or stripes used in WWII, the stripes weren't applied over the serial, the whole area being masked off from the stripes. In many cases the serial was applied aft of the fuselage stripes anyway.
However as OEB says there may be odd cases where this wasn't followed?

This nice Dakota shot illustrates what I mean, notice the serial is fully visible over the band, www.airshows.org.uk/news/riat_dak11_1.jpg

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No, I mean the fuselage band. The serial number should be seen which is sensible & contradicts what I was told! As you can just see in the screenshot, I've reapplied the serial number.

Any info about the guns? My MkVc has them all firing.....

Ah, that band, that looks right to me - very nice.
I don't know about the guns I'm afraid, in fact I didn't realise that cannons were fitted alongside machine guns, might be worth asking the Spitfire experts on Key Forums.

Ooh I can answer this - I literally saw a program about it last week.

The firing button on the yoke was a rocker type so if you pressed one end it fired the guns, the other fired the cannon. Press it in the middle it fired both together.

OneEighthBit;95000 wrote:

Ooh I can answer this - I literally saw a program about it last week.

The firing button on the yoke was a rocker type so if you pressed one end it fired the guns, the other fired the cannon. Press it in the middle it fired both together.

Nice one. Thanks.
I've just seen a photo of the said button on a site of a bloke building a MkV cockpit. I think he's using a real spade column too.

I forgot to ask what the program you was, was?

Spitfire Ace - It's on YouTube at the moment in parts. Puts 4 young guys through the same basic training as a BoB Spitfire pilot to see how they fair.