Warbird Information Exchange

Would anyone have the paint codes and colors that were applied to a C-47 in the 1942-45 time period? It would be appreciated.

Warbirdfinder,

The exterior of C-47's were painted in the same OD paint color as any other aircraft of the period. They ALL came out of the factory with the same paint job regardless of the ultimate customer. The photos I have seen of factory fresh C-47's (both Long Beach and OK City plants) that were displaying markings of the USAAF, USN, Russian, Chinese, RAF, RAAF et.al. were painted with classic olive drab on the upper surfaces and a grey on the underside. Once the were received by the ultimate customer the color scheme may changed to fit local combat conditions. I have noted photos of Russian aircraft (C-47, A-20, P-39, Spitfire, O-52 et.al) with a poorly applied white-wash camouflage obviously done in the field.

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

Thank you.

Partly correct...

To answer the original question, we need to know what specific year as the color of Olive Drab changed in 1943 when they went to the Army Navy Aircraft color pallet from the Spec 3-1 colors. Prior paints faded pink while the later color faded to brown.

Olive drab no. 41 is the older OD while the newer is ANA 613. The grey also changed.
Pre 43's are on the left and ANA's on the right.
http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.as ... 6173+36118

_________________
Tyler Pinkerton
Active Member of Air Heritage Inc. of Beaver Falls, PA.
Aircraft: C47B, C-123K, Fairchild F-24, Funk Model B, L-21B, T-28B, T-34B
Static: F-4C Phantom II, F-15A, T-3 Provost

The line of the grey also changed from wavy to straight.
I have noted contrasting shades of OD on leading edges of wings behind the de-icer boots and what I call the "saw tooth pattern" on the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer.

The countershading was Medium Green, and was used on the leading and trailing edges of many USAAF aircraft to "break up" the outline. The Medium Green was actually lighter than the OD when applied, but the OD faded much faster, leaving the Medium Green appearing darker. The center portion of the vertical fin also often looks darker on wartime C-47s..I'm assuming because they were painted separately or by a subcontractor. The outer wings and vertical tails of OD B-17s were also often darker than the rest of the aircraft, because they were pre-painted by a subcontractor.

OD has been notoriously difficult to properly pin down, because of weathering the the field and variations in the color itself. Researcher Dana Bell once noted that the USAAF was primarily concerned with paint adhesion, rather than a precise color math, and never rejected a batch of paint because of color.

SN

It's hard to tell for sure, but I have always attributed the center section of the vertical being darker due to an over zealous paint sprayer painting the medium green on the leading and trailing edges as the vertical gets the scallops just like the wings and horizontal/elevators.

_________________
Tyler Pinkerton
Active Member of Air Heritage Inc. of Beaver Falls, PA.
Aircraft: C47B, C-123K, Fairchild F-24, Funk Model B, L-21B, T-28B, T-34B
Static: F-4C Phantom II, F-15A, T-3 Provost