Q Ran Boasson would like to know the origin of the black-and-white undersides applied to RAF fighters - Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims - at the beginning of World War Two. What was the scheme's purpose, and why was it so short-lived? Q Roger Freeman's late uncle was a gunner with the Royal Artillery's 30 Regiment, Light Anti-Aircraft, stationed in North Africa and Italy in 1941-45. He diligently recorded events in a diary throughout his war service until being demobbed in Austria in 1946. Among the entries are references to a "white Consolidated Liberator" seen in June 1943 at Castel Benito. Curiosity prompted the gunners to ask the RAF groundcrew what its purpose was, to be told that it was "a mail plane" flown on a route between the UK and Tripoli, with stops in Algeria and Morocco. Of greater interest to the gunners was the chance for an illegal flight back to RAF Brize Norton for the princely sum of £10 - the limiting factor being that the stay was limited to 48 hours before the return trip. One gunner made the journey successfully without his absence being noted, but a few weeks later a second man left on the aircraft and never returned. Nor did the Liberator. The unfortunate individual was eventually reported AWOL with the aircraft believed shot down. A week or so later, 30 Regiment moved on to El Azizia. Roger's uncle related the story in his book Tobruk to Trieste - Life of a Bofors Gunner 1941-45, but can anyone confirm that such a mail service was operated by the RAF, and could the 'white' Liberator have been a Coastal Command example? DC-3s were prey to German fighters on the Lisbon-Whitchurch route around mid-1943 and other unarmed commercial aircraft were reported as shot down by both sides, so could the 'missing' Liberator have been one of these?
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