Favorite aircraft paint or camo scheme, or lack thereof

[fubar57]

When asked why the aircraft were now grey instead of the flamboyant color schemes of the 60-70's, and Admiral/General said, "Better a boring aircraft than missing aircraft".

Geo

 

[tengu1979]

Desert RAF cammo Hurricane for me please .....

 

[stona]

Not really a favourite as I like unusual WW2 schemes but I do like this Indian scheme.

And it works!

Cheers

Steve

 

[Airframes]

Ah, inspired by Mr. Singh's shirt factory, on Chullabach Road ..............

 

[fastmongrel]

Always liked the high altitude anti flash white of the V Bombers before they were re tasked with low level attacks and painted in camo

 

[razor1uk]

Valiants, I can't say they look nice, like a chubby goose, but then again, they do look like similar to the smaller B-66

 

[Piper106]

I like the US Navy dark glossy blue scheme used from about 1945 until 1955 (or so).

One part that confuses me is that the I have seen photos of aircraft in this scheme where the aircraft base color is as dark as the surround on the national insignia (to the point of them being the same tone), and others where the base color of the aircraft is lighter than the insignia surround. Was there that much variation to the blue used, or am I seeing some other effect???

 

[vikingBerserker]

You mean like this, Dave?

That's the one! (Great Pics)!

 

[gjs238]

How about this beauty...

 

[pbehn]

Serious question guys....many of the military colour schemes make them more visible rather than less, what is the thinking behind it?

 

[blueskies]

 

[Wildcat]

I'm a big fan of the allied New Guinea theatre markings of white tail white leading edge

 

[razor1uk]

Serious question guys....many of the military colour schemes make them more visible rather than less, what is the thinking behind it?

Some of that would be to enable easier visual identification usually by anti-aircraft artillery defending ground troops etc. This is because very often ground forces would typically fire at any low enough aircraft if they could not be sure it wasn't one of their own.
Even then some gun crews and troops who had been stressed by attacking aircraft previously and the few trigger happy ones would shoot their own out of plane-shock/fear.

That is why things like the higher visibility designs were used in some areas, for example; the IJA IJN usually had long (upto 1/2 to 2/3's wing span) yellow wing leading edges, the RAF too used similar 'thinner' yellow strips, Luftwaffe had typically yellow (mainland Europe) or white (for the Med' Africa) 'theater of operation' and also as AAA ident' wing tips tail bands with full or under nose/engine panels, and also the allied 'Invasion Stripes' too were for aero ground forces ident' to aid in visual recognition between friendly and enemy A/C.

 

[pbehn]

Some of that would be to enable easier visual identification usually by anti-aircraft artillery defending ground troops etc. This is because very often ground forces would typically fire at any low enough aircraft if they could not be sure it wasn't one of their own.
Even then some gun crews and troops who had been stressed by attacking aircraft previously and the few trigger happy ones would shoot their own out of plane-shock/fear.

That is why things like the higher visibility designs were used in some areas, for example; the IJA IJN usually had long (upto 1/2 to 2/3's wing span) yellow wing leading edges, the RAF too used similar 'thinner' yellow strips, Luftwaffe had typically yellow (mainland Europe) or white (for the Med' Africa) 'theater of operation' and also as AAA ident' wing tips tail bands with full or under nose/engine panels, and also the allied 'Invasion Stripes' too were for aero ground forces ident' to aid in visual recognition between friendly and enemy A/C.

Thanks, I think the D Day stripes started on the Typhoon because it looked similar to a Fw 190 from some angles. But by D Day there was so much striped paint I cant see why the little that was left was camo paint.

 

[pbehn]

Some of that would be to enable easier visual identification usually by anti-aircraft artillery defending ground troops etc. This is because very often ground forces would typically fire at any low enough aircraft if they could not be sure it wasn't one of their own.
Even then some gun crews and troops who had been stressed by attacking aircraft previously and the few trigger happy ones would shoot their own out of plane-shock/fear.

That is why things like the higher visibility designs were used in some areas, for example; the IJA IJN usually had long (upto 1/2 to 2/3's wing span) yellow wing leading edges, the RAF too used similar 'thinner' yellow strips, Luftwaffe had typically yellow (mainland Europe) or white (for the Med' Africa) 'theater of operation' and also as AAA ident' wing tips tail bands with full or under nose/engine panels, and also the allied 'Invasion Stripes' too were for aero ground forces ident' to aid in visual recognition between friendly and enemy A/C.

Thanks, I think the D Day stripes started on the Typhoon because it looked similar to a Fw 190 from some angles. But by D Day there was so much striped paint I cant see why the little that was left was camo paint.

 

[stona]

The striped markings on the Typhoon were introduced in an effort to easily distinguish them from the Fw 190. There were instances of Typhoons being attacked by friendly aircraft, one case in which Canadian Spitfires shot a couple down springs to mind.

The 'special markings' for Overlord, also known as invasion stripes or D-Day stripes, are not the same size or configuration.

Despite the special markings many allied airmen were apprehensive about flying over the invasion fleet. RN gunners in particular had earned a reputation for shooting at anything that flew, even their own FAA aircraft.

Cheers

Steve

 

[pbehn]

The striped markings on the Typhoon were introduced in an effort to easily distinguish them from the Fw 190. There were instances of Typhoons being attacked by friendly aircraft, one case in which Canadian Spitfires shot a couple down springs to mind.

The 'special markings' for Overlord, also known as invasion stripes or D-Day stripes, are not the same size or configuration.

Despite the special markings many allied airmen were apprehensive about flying over the invasion fleet. RN gunners in particular had earned a reputation for shooting at anything that flew, even their own FAA aircraft.

Cheers

Steve

My Uncle was on an armed Liberty ship during DDay he was in the ROC and his sole job was to identify friend or foe to the American Gunners who were new to Europe. He saw 2 minutes action in 2 weeks but got a commendation from the ships captain. "That two minutes justified to myself and my crew all his training and his presence on my ship". I believe that later they tried to use P38s near the fleet and keep the SE fighters away.

 

[GrauGeist]

For WWI, definately the individual schemes and default lozenge patters of the Germans and occasional Austrian aircraft.

For WWII, the Italian Africa camo was superb followed closely by the Luftwaffe's Afrika camo. I also liked the Nachtjager "mottled" camo schemes.

 

[nuuumannn]

Thanks Dave

GJS, I'll see your Richtofen's Triplane and raise you six more! (The German Great War colourful schemes were nothing if not imaginative)

 

[vikingBerserker]

I forgot the Polish one with the shadow pics of WW2 Fighter pilots