Spitfire Battle of Britain camouflage — paint codes across four brands
Every Spitfire in the Battle of Britain wore an identical upper-surface camouflage scheme: Dark Earth and Dark Green in a disruptive pattern, with Sky on the undersides, spinner and fuselage band. The colours were MAP (Ministry of Aircraft Production) standards — the same as the Hurricane. What differs is the split line: the Spitfire's curved fuselage creates a more complex, wavy demarcation that is one of the most distinctive features of a BoB build.
The scheme — A and B
Unlike many aircraft, the BoB Spitfire had two mirror-image camouflage schemes — A and B — applied alternately to successive aircraft off the production line. In the A scheme, Dark Brown (Dark Earth) appears on the starboard side of the nose; in the B scheme, it appears on the port side. This is visible from below and from ahead. Before building, identify which scheme your chosen aircraft wore — photographs of the specific serial or code letters are the only reliable source.
The three colours
The warm brown. On the Spitfire's A scheme, this appears on the port side of the upper fuselage and dominates the port upper wing. In the B scheme, the positions reverse. It is a genuine earth tone — not reddish, not sandy — and should look distinctly warm against the cool Dark Green.
Cool, deep green — the other half of the disruptive pattern. Should read noticeably darker than the Dark Earth. At scale, both colours benefit from subtle lightening of around 5–10% to compensate for the scale effect. Pre-shading with near-black along panel lines adds depth that the real aircraft achieves through natural variation in the paintwork.
Sky is a pale, slightly warm grey-green — not blue, not grey. Used on the undersides of all BoB Spitfires, plus the spinner, fuselage code letters and fuselage band. Some Spitfire spinners carried a narrow black spiral stripe on the Sky — check references for specific aircraft. Humbrol 90 is the standard reference for Sky and has remained consistent for decades.
The entire Spitfire cockpit interior, instrument panel surround, seat back, sidewalls, wheel bays and undercarriage legs were Interior Grey-Green. This is a cool mid-tone that reads slightly greener than it looks in the tin — the scale effect makes it appear lighter than the real thing, so avoid further lightening it.
Roundels and codes
All BoB Spitfires carried Type A1 roundels on the fuselage (red, white, blue — no yellow outer ring) and Type A on the upper wings. The lower wing roundels were Type B (red and blue only, no white). Fin flash was full-width. Sky code letters at approximately 24-inch height. Serial number in black on the port rear fuselage.
By October 1940, yellow outer rings on fuselage roundels were appearing on newly delivered aircraft; older machines in service retained the original Type A1. Check the delivery date of your specific subject if modelling a late-battle aircraft.
For interactive colour chip comparisons and weathering notes by airfield, see the Spitfire reference page.