Hill Aerospace Museum, a recent visit

[k5083]

Well, the museum might not be interested in the paint errors, but I am. I think I have spotted a few issues, although in the scheme of things, not huge ones. Do tell! One interesting, though historically not earth-shattering, detail I notice from photos of the original 132649 is that the tail number was done in standard Navy font on the fixed vertical fin, but standard USAF 45-degree font on the rudder (i.e. on the left, the "49" was in a different font from the "326"). My speculation would be that when handed over from the navy, the rudder was repainted from USN standard white to gray, and the numerals repainted using USAF stencils. But I've yet to see even a plastic model decal sheet that gets that right, which is saying something.

Some profiles and models I've seen suggest that the entire white underside may have been overpainted to gray. True?

August

[JohnB]

It's nice that they painted the A-1 as Major Fisher's aircraft. He was from the area.

[Lon Moer]

I'm sure that the F-86 is supposed to represent Capt. Clifford D. Jolley's F-86 "Jolley Roger".
Capt. Jolley was the first Air National Guard "ace" of the Korean War and was from the Utah Air National Guard.

Last edited by Lon Moer on Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Ken]

Some profiles and models I've seen suggest that the entire white underside may have been overpainted to gray. True?

August

Sorta true. The airplanes were stripped and repainted 100% COIN gray, so no "overpainting" occurred. There were a few tails that made it to the AF in full USN paint, but they are rare oddities, as were some early USN transfers to the VNAF that sometimes later transferred to USAF units. I only mention this because combat paint is a topic where one can not say "always" or "never".

Ken

[k5083]

Some profiles and models I've seen suggest that the entire white underside may have been overpainted to gray. True?

August

Sorta true. The airplanes were stripped and repainted 100% COIN gray, so no "overpainting" occurred. There were a few tails that made it to the AF in full USN paint, but they are rare oddities, as were some early USN transfers to the VNAF that sometimes later transferred to USAF units. I only mention this because combat paint is a topic where one can not say "always" or "never".

Ken

Interesting. So can we infer that 649 was one of those with the tail still in USN paint, since it has the USN font? Otherwise the switch in fonts from fin to rudder is hard to explain, though still possible. But I haven't squinted at enough photos of USAF A-1Es to have much of a theory.

August

[Ken]

Rudder change in theatre?