The Ship Model Forum

I'm currently producing scale model decal artwork for the Airfix 1/72 RAF HSL kit. The specific subject is HSL 166, based at Malta in the summer of 1943. I’ve already acquired Pitchfork’s Shot Down and in the Drink, Periera’s Boats in the Blue, Overill’s Crash Boats of Gorleston, and Pritchard’s very interesting scale plans for HSL 130 (same class). I’ve ordered Galea’s Call-Out, covering RAF rescue services based at Malta, but I understand that book concentrates on ops and has little to say about markings. I’ve also explored a bunch of websites that include HSL material, and I’m still in a quandary.

HSL 166 was a 63’ Type 2 HSL “whaleback” produced by the British Powerboat Company. That said, the many photos of this boat class on http://www.rafboats.co.uk and published elsewhere show the operational configuration and markings varied considerably among this class.

As fellow modelers, we know if it's worth doing it's worth doing right, and if you don't know, ask somebody who does, so here are my markings questions for 166:

1. Was the blue/white (or red/white) checkerboard across the forecastle seen on some boats present on Malta-based HSLs, and did it specifically signify a “Malta-based” HSL? Did 166 have a checkerboard? What colors?

2. What color was the “166” on the forecastle? Looks like red or possibly a medium blue, with a white outline. The EAFA 8mm color film noted below clearly shows a blue number with white outline on HSL 159 (same class, but assigned in the UK in 1944).

3. What colors were the hull and deck painted? We modelers know how difficult—actually impossible—it is to judge colors from b/w photos. Contemporary color photos of HSLs seem rare.

a. John Pritchard’s scale plans state the hull was glossy black and the deck/superstructure medium gray.

b. I have a series of color profiles obtained from an unknown source that suggest black/yellow for boats in the Med (and UK?), but sea gray/medium gray for Pacific-based boats.

c. The 8mm color film at http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/933 shows HSL 180 (same class) with a black hull and medium gray deck & superstructure; purportedly this scheme with white callsign #49 and the large star on the forecastle date the scheme in mid-late 1944 in the UK. The film also shows HSL 159 with a “powder yellow” deck and superstructure top (much lighter than the Identification Yellow (orange-yellow) hull number. Interestingly, it shows the deckhouse sides and front are painted medium gray, not black as literally always depicted in artists’ renderings.

4. Were “rescue success” markings (analogous to aircraft mission and "kill" markings) common on Malta-based boats? Did 166 carry such markings, and if so, where?

5. To what unit was the boat assigned? Graham Pitchfork’s Shot Down and in the Drink mentions the Air Sea Rescue Unit (no unit number provided) at Malta. “ASRU" is pretty generic, and he gives no details other than the unit was temporarily reinforced with eight addition HSLs for the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation HUSKY). Based on the Malta Aviation Museum's PDF of PICK-UPS By RAF AIR/SEA RESCUE & MARINE CRAFT SECTION, it looks like HSL 166 was assigned to Malta from at least Jan to Jun 1943—although we know it had to have been assigned in the vicinity (not necessarily Malta) in early Aug 43 since it made a rescue attempt in the Eastern Med. I’ve obtained RAF message traffic from Kew (The National Archives) suggesting the the boat belonged to 259 Wing RAF, 201 Group, but no indication of squadron/flight, etc. Also from Kew I have the relevant pages from the Air Sea Rescue & Communication Flight, Malta, RAF Operations Record Book (Form 540), but the book includes only aircraft activity—no seacraft, so perhaps the HSLs were assigned to a different organization?

The RAF message traffic states HSL 166 sortied from Kyrenia, Cyprus, to pick up crew in the Eastern Med. Was it common for Malta-based boats to forward deploy to Cyprus and elsewhere for specific ops? Or had 166 been reassigned to a different unit by 3 Aug?

TIA