Warbird Information Exchange

Lt Darwin Berry 4th FG ready to go at Debden Summer 1944

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Don't touch my junk!!

Actually, I would award "best Mustang photo" to Charles Brown's famous air-to-air shot of Mustang Mk.I AG633 XV-E, but this is a mighty fine one as well.

August

Always wondered if the anti-glare cowling paint for the 4th was matte black or olive. Now I know.

Thx Jack!

t~

Very nice photo showing some interesting details - the red 'no step' L on the flaps continues slightly on to the wing root (as per factory drawings). The anti-glare is Olive Drab (again as factory drawings). The invasion stripes have been quite neatly applied and the nose red does look rather glossy. Not too many stencils/stamps visible apart from the 'STEP HERE' on the port wing root but it seems many got worn off quite quickly in service.

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Warbird Colour - Authentic historic aircraft finishes http://www.warbirdcolour.co.uk

I am not sure the anti glare panel is olive drab.

August

It is!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Really? I thought towards the front gave it away as being olive.

t~

Look at the tires...thats one heavy kite!!!!

jim

It's subjective. There's a lot of color shift in this image and very little yellow or green left. The parts of the panel that look yellowish have a lot of glare on them. (Note the same yellow tinge on the exhausts.) The best-exposed parts are right in front of the windscreen area and they look black to me. Overall I really can't tell from this pic, and wouldn't believe anyone who says he can.

August

It's olive drab. Compare it to the invasion stripes, or the black of the dash (which is in the same light).

One in twenty adult males is color blind, so it is, indeed, subjective. However, USAAF Mustangs were almost always painted with olive drab anti-glare panels. I say almost always because as soon as I say always, someone will scrounge up a photo of a hot pink anti-glare panel...but they were almost uniformly painted olive drab. Which makes perfect sense, since the flat drab paint was both abundant and less reflective than black.

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What is red, furry and on your six?

Remember that it would not have been painted at the same time or with the same black paint as the invasion stripes. So the fact that it looks different from the invasion stripes is not informative. OTOH the panel looks similar to the black wing stripe and the tiny bit that we can see of the black vertical tail stripe. But that is not conclusive either. Comparison with dash is the most convincing argument for OD.

I agree that it is probably olive drab. Not certainly. Not enough yellow or green left in the pic to distinguish that reliably from black (e.g. check vegetation in background).

August

Jack, of course it's the all-time best P-51 photo...

4th FG....any questions?

...I'll keep my trap shut......

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Flying is easy: just learn how to throw yourself at the ground and miss

It could go either way I think. It certainly looks to be OD, but compare the color shade to the black stripe on the wing, towards the leading edge. They look almost identical.