It's interesting that John says he asked someone at Shorts about this. I was under the impression that the story was being circulated mostly by word of mouth, but if Shorts can actually confirm that it was initially painted orange, I guess that's as close as we're going to get to some facts on this - so I'll drop a line over to Shorts and see what they have to say.
Thanks guys!
Strange business though if it is true - one wonders why fluorescent orange would have even been chosen for a paint scheme, and just as crazy is the notion of stripping it all off again!