Does anyone know what the colors for the SBD Dauntless in June 1942 (Battle of Midway) is? I am interested in both the Navy names for the colors and how they can be replicated using standard paint system colors.
And, can anyone identify the closer dauntless in this photo
http://www.indianahistory.org/programming/erniepyle/scrapbook/midway3.jpg
(i think it’s at other sites but this is the one that came up first in the google search)
sPh
HEY,
I found some sites with color pics. Judging by the color of most of them and others i would say that it would be a dull blue.
http://www.warbirdalley.com/sbd.htm
http://www.compass.dircon.co.uk/SBD.htm
http://www.sunwest-emb.com/wiseman/dauntless.htm
http://www.military.cz/usa/air/war/bomber/sbd/sbd_en.htm
Hope this helps.
Randy
Hey Healey,
The SBD’s in that photo are aircraft #'s 9 & 13 from Scouting 8 aboard USS Hornet (CV-8) and are approaching the heavy cruiser Mikuma, already on fire from earlier attacks by aircraft from the Hornet and Enterprise.
Click here for a page on the Naval Historical Center’s website which deals with the Battle of Midway. There’s also a page on this site dealing with SBD’s at the Battle of Midway, but I haven’t been able to find it since I first saw it and I apparently didn’t bookmark it. 
If you grunge around on that site, though, (there’s usually a ton of links on every page) you’ll find a whole-lotta interesting stuff about Midway in general as well as other battles, events etc.
Go here for some decent reference on the colors of USN aircraft from the 30’s to present day. Just scroll down a tad 'til you see US Navy. The colors listed are presumably the closest FS595 matches to the original ANA colors, and I’d use the color samples on this site as a good but, nonetheless, general reference.
Your best bet for colors, if you’re using enamels, would be the Testors Military Colors, there’s two ranges of these. You may have to do a bit of mixing if they don’t have the FS numbers that you need. You should be able to get something close, though.
Fade to Black…
The top color is USN Blue-Gray and the bottom is light gray. They are both made by Model Master, but I don’t have the numbers off hand. I’ll see if I can find them for you.
Go to www.aeronaval.net and order their book SBD-Dauntless the Battle of Midway.I just received my copy and it is outstanding! It has 215 pages with half the book dedicated to the battle itself and the rest dedicated to the SBD-3.photos,1/48 drawings color profiles the works.Every photo from the Erection and Maintenance manual on the SBD-3 is in there.I"ve been collecting books on Naval Aviation for over 30 years and this is one of the best I’ve ever seen on a WWII navy aircraft.