QUOTE: Originally posted by WingleBeast
we know the army is not going to produce a whole new paint color just for the wargames and are pobably going to use there same old colors. |
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On the contrary, that's
exactly what they did. While they had existing colors that were also used, different colors were continually being tried. And these colors were, almost without exception, temporary water-soluble paints.
Colors for use as camouflage were continually being developed and evaluated. The War Games were maneuvers not only to evaluate the readiness of the military, but also served the purpose of testing new tactics and new methods of concealment, ie; camouflage.
So while it's true that not all camouflage colors were developed specifically for War Games, it is true that the "art" of camouflage as applied by the USAAC was constanly evolving in the 1930's.
The GHQAF Maneuvers of 1938 provided not only the first large scale test of water soluble (read temporary) paint on natural metal aircraft, but also marked the first known instance of paints being documented by name and number. The list of colors and their numbers kept by the painting team indicated a previously unknown level of standardization by Materiel Command.
This is a list of some of the colors: (taken from
Air Force Colors Vol.1 1926-1942 by Dana Bell)
25 White
26 Sand
27 Light Blue
28 Sea Green
29 Dark Blue
30 Dark Green
31 Dark Olive Drab
32 Neutral Gray
33 Black
34 Rust Brown
This is a quote from the same book by Mr.Bell:
"Color numbers 35 through 40 are an unsolved mystery at the time of this writing. The numbers were reserved with QM Corps in January 1939 for paints alleged to be under development, but further documentation has not been found. Even the color names are unknown. The possibility of six unknown colors popping up without notice makes interpretation of any black and white photos in this era a trifle risky.
The orange used by the 27th PS is a prime example, and almost certainly one of the missing six."
This, to me, explains why you can't find some or many of these colors in any range of hobby paints today. All the colors in question were temporary water-soluble paints and were not "standard" USAAC camouflage colors. Remember, the army did not permanently (or temporarily) camouflage their aircraft on a regular basis before the nation's entry into WWII.
Also, simply as a point of interest, the colors on these P-36's of the 27th PG have been alleged to have been used in the 1939 War Games, as I mentioned in my last post. I also mentioned the controversy surrounding that common belief.
They were, in fact, painted
especially for the 1939 National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio. They never saw use in any War Games or maneuvers. Also, no two planes were painted alike. Some used as little as 2 or 3 colors with some using as many as 7!
You asked about the diagram. The main references I used for this and my last post were several works by Dana Bell. One was the book I mentioned earlier and the rest were several magazine articles he had written. This particular diagram came from an article in an old IPMS magazine. I don't have the original anymore, I zoxed what I wanted and sold all my IPMS rags. Several of the photos came from misc books.
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