Warbird Information Exchange

Question for the Stearman aficionados - what do the various color band markings on the wings and fuselage mean? I've seen red bands, green bands, and even some restored airplanes with blue bands. I've read that they mean the airplane was used for radio training or instrument training, but which colors correspond to what use? Thanks for any info!

Zack

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Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
"America's Flying Museum"
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org

See if you can get your hands on this book:

The Official Monogram U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide, Vol 2: 1940-1949

There's also a volume 1 version that covers Naval aircraft from 1911 - 1939.

The aforementioned book lists all the color bands and what they stood for along with the timeline of use.
Don't know about the Stearman, but with the SNJ, the meaning of the color of the bands changed
over time (there were Tech Orders covering the painting / marking of Naval aircraft, so they should be
the same for all Naval aircraft for a given time period).

Example, with the SNJ, red bands used to mean instrument trainer up until a certain date/year, then red became
target tow aircraft and green bands became instrument trainer. Orange = Naval Reserve aircraft.

Bela P. Havasreti

I always thought the colors differentiated squadrons based on one airfield?
IIRC, similar color bands were used pre-war on operational types...those may have been to designate flights.

I certainly could be wrong...and the Navy did like to make things difficult.

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I'm more familiar with the trainer types than the fighters, but the Navy used tail codes to designate aircraft assigned to a particular squadron / base (WB = Whiting Field, SB = Saufley Field, etc.). The aforementioned book does a good job of explaining all the codes + colors used on Naval aircraft of the time period.

Bela P. Havasreti

Zach,

The 3' wide red bands signified instrument trainers up until 1943, the Navy then switched to the same width Kelly green bands, and even some black bands. Nobody can ever seem to confirm the use of blue bands as seen on some restorations, but they look pretty. The blue rudders indicated reserve training squadrons, and no specific shade of blue was ever specified.

Mike-

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[b][color=#0000BF]Silver Wings Flying Company,
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Thank you Mike - I appreciate the info! I couldn't find any further explanation of the blue bands either, but I did find one reference that stated that black bands were used on Stearmans used at a school for training new flight instructors.

Zack

_________________
Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
"America's Flying Museum"
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org