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RED BARON RETURNS,
I feel there is a good chance that 425/17 was sent from the factory specially finished for MvR. The fact that the aircraft was sent without upper-surface camouflage means something. As I see it the debate is: was the aircraft painted red on the upper surfaces or was it CDL? In either circumstance it retained its normal markings and stencils as well as under-surface camouflage (unless this had been over-painted red but that seems unlikely).
Why would you send an aircraft in CDL on its upper surfaces with all other markings standard? My answer is you wouldn't. If you were going to customise the aircraft to this extent then you may as well finish the job by applying the red paint.
If you look closely at the port side fuselage cross (photo appears earlier in the thread) - at the section outside of the cross field - then you can see that the initial red layer was applied in long vertical strokes, in much the same manner as you would expect the streaky camouflage to have been applied. I think this was factory applied paint and the poorer quality paint job around the cross area was done in the field.
I believe that maintenance information is non existent.
Langdon
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