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A Problem with a Printing Order

As always, one had to expect from time to time problems of a most unusual nature.

When the order and instructions came for Royal Air Force Band posters, it was specified with military precision and firmness that the uniforms of the pictured bandsmen must be the exact shade of blue-grey as the uniforms they wore.

It would have been a very simple request to comply with, had a swatch of the proper cloth accompanied the order. ...

Enquiries were made over a fair-sized area with the object of locating a former RAF serviceman, but with no success.

All we could learn was that the shade of color used in the uniforms of Royal Airt Force was not the same as that used by the Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

On mentioning our trouble to a Rouleau storekeeper, he at once told of an RAF man working on a farm about six miles from town. I phoned this man, told him my story, and was assured he would come to see me in a couple of days as he felt he could be of some help.

He arrived two days later, but his first comment was somewhat disappointing. He had no RAF uniform. He suggested that if we had different colors of inks he felt he could correctly pick out the correct shade.

This resulted in the mixing of inks in different shades of blue, with white and black added. After several mixes he finally said, "I am sure that is it" - indicating the mixture last compounded.

... we went ahead with the color he selected, and hoped for the best.

His sense of color proved to be fantastic. Later, it was most gratifying to watch members of the band, when it came to Regina, walking past the full-sized pictures on billboard posters. The color of their uniforms and that on the posters were absolutely identical. (Excerpt from Paper, Pen and Ink by Andrew King, Pg 83-84)