USAAF COLORS

[ricardo]

Hi.

I recently found info which tells that the USAAF P-51s wheel wells, landing gears and doors were factory-painted aluminum instead of yellow zinc.

I also found info from another source which tells about the Army Navy Aviation bulletin standards (ANA). The source explains that the ANA 613 and ANA 603 replaced the Olive Drab Green FS34086 and Neutral Gray 36270 respectively 1944 onwards.

The ANA 613 replaced the British Dark Green FS34079 and the ANA 603 replaced the Medium Sea Gray FS36440 as well.

Is this possible?

[FLYBOYJ]

The document may have been issued to replace the FS colors but it may not have been enacted immediately. In addition, ANAs are applicable at the unit level and probably did not affect production aircraft as it would have to be written into the techinical requirements of the contract.

Chances are if the ANA document you seen is dated 1944, it probably did not effect contracts from 1944 and prior. For example if you had Mustangs from S/N 44-13200 to 44-13900, I would bet dollars to donuts that the FS requirement was called out in the contract for those aircraft.

[superunknown]

I would just like to point out that backing up what Flyboyj has just said, that most US aircraft destined for the ETO post '44 were not painted at all (outer surfaces) such as Mustangs, Fortresses, & Thunderbolts.

[Nonskimmer]

Yes, they finally realized that the paint added a significant amount of weight to the aircraft, and omitting the base paint actually improved flight performance to an extent.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by superunknown

I would just like to point out that backing up what Flyboyj has just said, that most US aircraft destined for the ETO post '44 were not painted at all (outer surfaces) such as Mustangs, Fortresses, & Thunderbolts.

Thats a good point! and I would even guess a lot of zinc chromate was omitted as well!

[evangilder]

Not only did you save weight, you also saved money for the paint.

[cheddar cheese]

They looked nicer in bare aluminum too. Not that that makes a whole lot of difference

[wmaxt]

Originally Posted by cheddar cheese

They looked nicer in bare aluminum too. Not that that makes a whole lot of difference

I think the paint was omited in mid '44. I read somewhere that it was also a taunt by announcing "Here we are". On the P-38s, the area behing the Turbos was painted with clear to protect the skin from the exhaust.

One story I heard from about that time was that one of the pilots mentioned in passing to his crew chief that he wondered if it would really make a difference. The next morning when he got to his plane the crew chief was putting the final touches of his bare but polished P-51. His crew chief had on the basis of an "I wonder..." statement kept the ground crew up all night and stripped the plane and polished it. If you've never done it thats an incredable amount of work.

It just reminds me what a good ground crew is worth!

wmaxt

[superunknown]

I think you may be right, mid '44 is more realistic, and is was for all of the reasons pointed out above, plus the f*ck you aspect that chedder cheese has just mentioned. Basically this late on in the war they didn't bother with camo on the aircraft metioned above, because quite frankly they didn't need it! Plus the fact most squadrons that wanted camo/paint jobs did it themselves, just look at the 56th FG as an example, some of their jug's were painted in a dark blue/black colour scheme which may/may not have been stolen from RAF stores (very similar colour to most RAF amulances!)

[ricardo]

And what about the ANA 613 & ANA 603? These two colors are definitively darker than FS34086 & FS36270.

Does someone have info about this?

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by ricardo

And what about the ANA 613 & ANA 603? These two colors are definitively darker than FS34086 & FS36270.

Does someone have info about this?

Probably some nerdy engineer at Wright Patterson decided to make the shade darker?

[evangilder]

Or they found that the darker color was 2 ounces lighter per airplane!

[FLYBOYJ]