Oh, those Lily White Bottoms

PaintsWithBrush

Nothing naughty, it's a question about Navy aeroplane pain schemes. I also posted this on the Aircraft forum but I think the answer might be here.

On the early war Navy aeroplanes, the paint scheme was Intermediate Blue over Light Grey. Later, this changed to Dark Sea Blue top, Intermediate Blue sides, White lower surfaces. Why was this? Why not keep Light Grey as the lower surface color?

Does any one out there have an idea on this?

Regards, PWB.

I'm guessing on this, but having worked some camulflage projects on aircraft, I suspect the idea was to cut visibility as seen from below.  The sky is actually quite bright with reflected sunlight.  Dark and even medium grey appear dark against blue sky, if the object is too small to resolve and determine actual color.  You need a very light grey or close to white. In a sense the bottom of the plane is in shadow.  So you need a very high reflectivity paint to reduce visibility.  I think they were hiding it from ground viewers (AA gunners) as opposed to intercepter pilots, who would be close enough to see the color.  Sort of like adding lights to air intakes and other camulflage schemes.

I cant say why, but it is interesting to note that the Navy would adopt two of their longer lived paint schemes for aircraft that could say they have roots in WW2 or immediately before. The Light Gull gray over white is VERY similar to the Dark Gull Gray over White seen on Atlantic Anti Submarine aircraft. IIRC, the white was chosen for the properties above and also for its' ability to blend in to cloudy sky backgrounds prevalent where much of the ASW work was occurring. The AAF developed and used a similar scheme of OD uppers over White sides and lowers for its' aircraft involved in ASW work.

The later overall Gull Gray and subsequent TPS schemes could be said to trace back to the overall light gray used in the "neutrality" scheme used on USN aircraft thru 1941. That first "low vis" scheme using low contrast squadron markings and smaller national insignia was found to have good properties in masking the aircraft against the sky from air to air or sea to air threats. It's only drawback was standing out against the ocean when viewed from above. The Japanese Navy kept a similar scheme on their aircraft for a year or so longer then the USN.

Well, with 88 views and only 2 replies, it seems this is one of those questions that doesn't have an easy answer.  Thanks for trying.

Regards, PWB.

I think Don is right because in a hot hazy humid climate such as in the pacific where the fighting was, the sky is white.  Here outside of Washington DC in the summer when the weather is hazy hot and humid, the summer sky is white, not blue.  Note that the planes operating in the atlantic had a different scheme since the north atlantic climate was very different.