WWII Fighter Paint Scheme

[jma]

Just an enquiry of casual interest!
Can anybody enlighten me as to the purpose of the yellow stripe on the wing leading edge of certain WWII colour schemes? As seen on some British fighters eg, Hurricane, Spitfire.
Thanks

[Kermit 180]

So you see it coming. The same reason propellers had yellow tips. Experienced ground crews were as valuable as pilots.

Kermie

[jma]

Thanks for that.
Makes sense but why on some aircraft & on certain colour schemes & not others? Was it not deemed to be a success?

[PaperTiger]

I'm no WWII buff, but wasn't the 'stripe' just the tape over the gun ports ?

[Jhieminga]

The tape over the gun ports was doped red fabric, no yellow there! It was one patch per wing on the Hurricane but on the older Spitfires you would see four red patches per wing.

No clues on the yellow I'm afraid although Kermit 180's reply makes sense to me.

[JPJ]

Weren't later Spitfire cannons protected from FOD by Condoms, Rubber, Airmen For The Use Of?

[poetpilot]

....then later when they were used by the Irish Air Force they used two condoms...... to be sure, to be sure....