USAAF Buffalo

[MIflyer]

From the Kagero book, a Buffalo pressed into service by the USAAF in Australia. Any guesses as to the colors used?

 

[nuuumannn]

Hm, interesting colour scheme. Can't say for certain, but all the Buffaloes operated by the USAAF in Australia were ex Dutch B-439s. From the original Dutch order diverted to Australia, four were kept for the Americans, whilst 17 went to the RAAF. Of these, after only a year of operation, 13 went to the USAAF. These initially wore the colours they operated in RAAF service as well as serial numbers, but with the RAAF roundel replaced by the USAAF star in a blue circle and a tail number on the fin. The one photo I have seen of one of these ex-RAAF Buffaloes shows the aircraft in a two tone colour scheme topside, possibly the same as this P-40, which wears a standard RAAF colour scheme for the time. Perhaps someone else has more information?

DSC_5422

 

[MIflyer]

I assume that that the P-40 was in standard RAF colors as painted by Curtiss. However I have been told that one of the brown colors used by Curtiss was a lighter shade than used on British aircraft, not really a sand color but possibly the inspiration for the misnomer "Sand and Spinach." Unfortunately some people today have been known to take that designation literally.

I assume that the USAAF paint job on the Buffalo has been modified considerably from whatever it was for Dutch use.

 

[Dana Bell]

The Dutch Buffs were delivered in "Young Leaf" and "Old Leaf" - I'm not sure if they were repainted before passing to the AAF, but OD would have made more sense than Aussie colors. I've long wondered what they really looked like. Perhaps Jim Maas will chime in...

Cheers,


Dana

 

[fubar57]

Interesting Dana. That is the first mention I've heard of those colour names. Always learning here

 

[MIflyer]

The pattern looks different than the one used on RAF Buffalos, so it probably was not just an overpainting of a similar pattern on Dutch airplanes.
Never heard of Old Leaf or New Leaf, either.

Did the Dutch Buffalos actually retain the belly window?

 

[MiTasol]

Marcel may be able to provide details on the Dutch colours especially if the colours were the same in both Europe and what is now Indonesia.

 

[Capt. Vick]

The Dutch Buffs were delivered in "Young Leaf" and "Old Leaf" - I'm not sure if they were repainted before passing to the AAF, but OD would have made more sense than Aussie colors. I've long wondered what they really looked like. Perhaps Jim Maas will chime in...

Cheers,


Dana

I emailed him, so fingers crossed

 

[vikingBerserker]

I have a copy of an article written by Peter Boer about the aircraft taken over by the US from the Dutch, I'll see if I can find it. Also, they did retain the belly window. The have a wrecked one in their main museum and that's one of the peices.

 

[vikingBerserker]

You want this: "Refugee, stranded and evacuated aircraft of the NEI Army Aviation Corps in Australia and British India"

Refugee aircraft of the NEI Army Aviation Corps in Australia and British India, illustrated 12 February 2020 version

 

[MIflyer]

From that document: "Although the first B-25Cs arrived before Java's capitulation the bombers could not be flown to Java anymore and were stranded. The delivery of B-25Cs in the U.S.A. continued for a few weeks and the final bomber arrived in Australia on 7 April 1942."

My friend Ward Duncan, maintenance chief of the 9th PRS in India, said that the Dutch specified a version of the B-25 with limited internal fuel tankage, with the result that you could have a short ranged airplane that could carry bombs or a longer range one that carried fuel tanks in the bomb bay. No wonder the bombers could not be delivered to Java. They ended up with a Dutch B-25, which they used for photo delivery and as a hack for running around India.

It looks like the CW-22B mentioned was a variant of the Curtiss Basic Combat Fighter.

 

[jimmaas]

Regarding the colors used by the Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps, they were indeed called 'old leaf' (oudblad) and 'young leaf' (jongblad), although these were probably very unofficial (the pre-war Martin bombers were originally delivered in 'sparkling yellow' and 'twinkling blue', so you get the idea).

Unfortunately, in the words of Max Schep in Camouflage en Kenmerken op Vliegtuigen van de ML-KNIL, page 440 (the part in English!) "No paint orders, drawings or sketches survived so research can only be done on images and survived aircraft parts". Max's book indicates his estimate of the factory finish on the Brewsters (applied by the manufacturer) was Oudblad = FS 34096 and Jongblad = 34064. Undersurfaces were aluminum lacquer. My understanding is that veterans identified the colors as close to the two greens in USAF 1960-70 tactical camouflage, so Oudblad = 34102 and Jongblad = 34079. This would certainly better reflect the amount of shade difference evident in photos and also the brutal effect of equatorial sun.

As far as Buffalos in Australia, there were 21, all ex-ML-KNIL, and all originally in the two -blads over aluminum lacquer. However, only one was the short nose Model 339D that appears at the start of this thread, and it wasn't coded '308'. It retained its original ML-KNIL code number of 3119, although now painted on the rudder in yellow:

The remainder of the Buffalos were the long nose Model 339-23's with three digit numbers on the rudder. They were erected by the Australians, and most of the 20 served with the RAAF for some time, and then rejoined the others which has been used by the US Fifth Air Force in Australia.

Whether the Australians repainted the Buffalos in the prescribed colors of Earth Brown and Foliage Green can be debated. Certainly the colors on the upper surface of '3119' follow the same pattern as specified by the Dutch, and I can't see a pressing need to repaint a second-line airplane. On the other hands:
- the undersurface on '3119' looks repainted and probably was in RAAF Sky Blue (FS = 25550) and this likely applied to all the other Buffalos;
- this picture of a long-nose 339-23 does not follow the ML-KNIL pattern, so it and some others may have been repainted in RAAF upper surface colors:

unless you think the painters at Brewster Aeronautical got sloppy at the end of the production run.

Hope that helps.

 

[MIflyer]

The document linked to by VikingBerserker says that 3119 was the most widely used of the Buffalos the USAAF acquired. None of those used by the USAAF had guns installed; they were used as fighter trainers by pilots how had come straight from the US with nothing more advanced in their logbooks than the AT-6. They used up a lot of P-40's trying to learn how to operate more high performance aircraft. They also got some two seat CW-22 to use as fighter trainers.

This duplicates the experience of the USAAF in the PI, where they used A-27's intercepted from an order by Thailand as fighter trainers and also used their P-35's for that same purpose.

So, the USAAF in the PI and Australia used the CW-22, A-27, and Brewster B-339, all in numbers of a dozen or more, mainly as trainers. I did not know about the CW-22 and had always assumed that the Buffalo use by the USAAF was only a couple airplanes that had escaped from Java.

 

[jimmaas]

"So, the USAAF in the PI and Australia used the CW-22, A-27, and Brewster B-339, all in numbers of a dozen or more, mainly as trainers. I did not know about the CW-22 and had always assumed that the Buffalo use by the USAAF was only a couple airplanes that had escaped from Java."

None of the Brewsters were escapees from Java. All were on ships that were diverted after it was clear the ML-KNIL was doomed. As far as escapees, I know one Martin 139WH-3 made it to Australia. I'd have to check the PC Boer book for others, but definitely no fighters.

 

[MIflyer]

Yes, that is what the Refugee Aircraft article says, they were from diverted shipments. And a number of unassembled Dutch P-40E's were captured by the Japanese and were assembled and actually used by the the JAAF for defense of their newly acquired territory.

 

[jimmaas]

Yes, that is what the Refugee Aircraft article says, they were from diverted shipments. And a number of unassembled Dutch P-40E's were captured by the Japanese and were assembled and actually used by the the JAAF for defense of their newly acquired territory.

Some of the P-40E's were assembled by the Dutch and one was flown before the capitulation. This photo shows the ML-KNIL red-white-blue flag painted over the USAAF star:

The photo was taken by the Japanese in March 1942.

 

[vikingBerserker]

"So, the USAAF in the PI and Australia used the CW-22, A-27, and Brewster B-339, all in numbers of a dozen or more, mainly as trainers. I did not know about the CW-22 and had always assumed that the Buffalo use by the USAAF was only a couple airplanes that had escaped from Java."

None of the Brewsters were escapees from Java. All were on ships that were diverted after it was clear the ML-KNIL was doomed. As far as escapees, I know one Martin 139WH-3 made it to Australia. I'd have to check the PC Boer book for others, but definitely no fighters.

The Martin crammed with people was the last one to escape, but IIRC some transport/cargo aircraft had left earlier.