Suzanne Parish P-40

[Bearcat SA]

Can someone provide details on the accuracy of pink colour scheme of this aircraft. I see that some references describe the pink colour as accurate but I struggle to believe that any war time P-40 was that pink ... a light sand colour with a pink hue maybe ...but that pink?

[dirtysidedown430]

Aircraft left factory in OD green or forest green with large amount of lead in paint. When they got to the NA the sun with large amounts of UV reacted with paint and turnef pink. Sort of free battle field mod which worked pretty good in the end.

[k5083]

Actually it was Sand (ANA 616) that faded to desert pink and it did not typically, and not likely ever, reach the hot pink of that P-40. The color was a personal preference and the museum's justification was not taken seriously by many, even in 1978.

August

[Steve Nelson]

The "boudoir pink" on Ms. Parrish's P-40 is not even close to any color used on a combat P-40. The "faded desert tan" story is a stretch at best..ANA Desert Sand did fade, but to more of a pale apricot shade. The various markings on the plane are basically fantasy as well (particularly the mascara and lipstick.) From what I've always heard, she went with the bright pink as a bit of good-natured rebellion against the "he-man" dominated warbird world of the 1970s. My "inner rivet counter" cringes everytime I see the plane, but at the same time it's an iconic peice of warbird history in itself, and I hope it's never changed.

SN

[Lon Moer]

I do remember the Air Classics story and the "tan from the can turned pink" story, but you also
have to remember that before it was painted pink it was going to be an air racer.

[Speedy]

I do remember the Air Classics story and the "tan from the can turned pink" story, but you also
have to remember that before it was painted pink it was going to be an air racer.

Ah yes...the stalled Bob Downey project. Of note, the Allison out of that plane did make it into a race. At Mojave '74, Sandberg's P-63 "Tipsy Miss" grenaded the alcohol burning race motor. Overnight they made arrangements to get the bone stock Allison out of this P-40 (I'm not sure that it was IN the airframe at the time, but that's where it came from), and Lefty was able to win the Consolation race with it--the only race that Tipsy Miss ever won.

[marine air]

Supposedly the Kalamazoo Air "Zoo" ran by John Ellis received paint chips from the Smithsonian and in fact the desert tan paint applied to P-40's would fade when exposed to the harsh North African climate. Yes they adjusted it and painted the aircraft in high gloss. No there weren't any "female sharks mouths" on airplanes because there weren't any female combat pilots flying P-40's back then.
The aircraft was a huge hit when it made the scene at Oshkosh that year . (1981?) I personally at that point didn't know P-40s ever had desert tan paint schemes. Second, I had never heard of the WASPs, as like Tuskeegee Airmen and CY with his Bell X-1, no movies had been made and they had been forgotten about in some history books. She was a real WASP and had flown in WW II! She was also the President of a large cosmetics company and her husband the Chairman of the Board of Proctor and Gamble. The quality of the paint and art work was first rate. The P-40 drew a huge amount of attention. There were no female warbird pilots at that time.
Last, her P-40N was the first one many of us had seen with a back seat. Rumor had it there was a control stick in the back. Everyone wanted a ride but I never saw anyone in the back seat probably because of the liability.

[bdk]

I believe that Frank Sanders did the restoration.

[Steve Nelson]

At some point the backseat was removed and replaced with an air conditioning unit. I was told Sue had one of those air-conditioned suits like race car drivers wear.

SN