Regarding gun port tape on Spitfires...

Hurricanes had red tape too. You more or less just described what duct tape is made from. So that's likely all that was...an "old School" version of it. I'm sure more knowledgeable people will chime in soon. I've seen it in white too, but on American Pacific theater machines. On my 'Cane and 'Spit I used red decal squares cut out of an old decal sheet. Some kits come with them as decals. Joe

Think sticking plaster (as for wounds.) They were made of fabric, pre-coloured, and with a peel-off backing. Once applied, it was common practice to go over them with clear dope. They first appeared mid-1940, and were probably red so as to act as a warning to passers-by that the guns were loaded and cocked.

Edgar

I heard they were also to help reduce the freezing at altitude of the gun tubes....

I was under the impression that they were to keep dirt out of the guns during take-offs, mainly because the Spitfires, Hurricanes, Corsairs, etc. operated from grassy/dirt fields in most cases.

Perhaps its all of the above?

Steel Beach (available at Sprue Brothers) has them. They are self adhesive red vinyl. Here's the Monogram Spit with the vinyl applied.

www2.dragndropbuilder.com/.../6910855_orig.jpg

The earliest account of their use is in an article – Fighters in the Field – author Peter Masefield published in The Aeroplane 23rd November 1939. At the end of 1939 Peter Masefield was in France.

“An interesting point is that, as the guns are completely housed in the wings, the gun-ports in the leading-edge are covered over with a strip of doped fabric so no holes are left. This makes quite a difference at the take-off, on the climb and to the top speed as well. When the guns are fired the fabric is shot through at once. It is stripped off and replaced by a new piece when the machine comes down”.

Great info guys. Thanks!

My best friend who was a fighter pilot in WW2 said they had a guy in their squadron named "Dopey".

Full time job setting those things closed.

Tunisia, so it couldn't be freezing the receivers. Beaufighters so it couldn't be speed.

Just SOP and there you go.

I read where it was used to keep dirt out of the guns operating from grass fields and it also alerted the ground crews as to which aircraft needed rearming on their return, especially during the Battle of Britain where aircraft were turned around very quickly.