Chemical composition of aircraft paint during WWII

[chick56]

Can anyone tell me what was the chemical composition of the paint used by British aircraft during WWII. I really only need to know if it was oil based or some thing else.
I'm trying to find out why the blue paint used during the transfer of spits to the island of Malta would flake off quite easily.
I believe that the planes were painted blue with watered down deck or aircraft paint, but this leads me to another question: if the blue paint was watered down, then it's unlikely that it was oil based. Furthermore if it was deck paint, surely this wouldn't have been water based......or was it?
chick56

[dundurn]

The aircraft were standard land-based Spitfires. Their wings didn't fold and so they were transported fully assembled (some aircraft were shipped disassembled in crates) on the deck of an aircraft carrier. For service in Malta a North African sand or photo reconnaiscance pale blue scheme might have been better but they were shipped with a standard brown/green UK camouflage. On the deck of the ship this was no camouflage at all so a temporary blue water-based paint finish was applied to try and make them a bit less conspicuous. It wasn't intended as a permanent covering and there was no "standard" shade or depth of colour - just whatever it took to make the underlying colours disappear.

[Octavius]

Wartime shortages sometimes forces substitutions that changed the final appearance of the finish substantially. For instance, substituting linseed-oil varnish for the nitrocellulose-based carrier specified for many older aircraft finishes could make identical pigments look radically different. When pigments were supplied dry for mixing with a locally available carrier, such substitutions were common. In extremis, ground crews might substitute water, diesel oil, or in the dead of a Russian winter even gasoline.

If you open this link and go to page 94, you will see a whole section dedicated to the Malta �Blue� Spits.

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/faq/planeta lkingtips_1.doc#_Toc38519343

[Mikeyd2]

Just to add to the other answers...

http://www.merlinsovermalta.com/aircraft/

When the aircraft were put aboard the USS Wasp they were wearing standard camouflage schemes but on the deck of an aircraft carrier sailing through the Mediterranean these camouflage patterns offered no protection. The solution was to paint the top surfaces of the aircraft blue. Paint was taken from the stores and applied to the aircraft. There is no definitive colour match because paint was mixed and watered down to ensure there was enough to go around.

[chick56]

Thanks to everyone who replied, I now have the information I required to the full.
Regards
chick56.