I am kit bashing a P-63 kit into what was called the L-39. It was a Navy Contract in the late '40s to investigate the behavior of swept wings at low (carrier landing) speeds. Two P-63Cs were modified to suit and yielded valuable flight test data. However, the version in the picture was used later by Bell to test the behavior of the X-2 wing. I have enough info to be dangerous. However, I don’t know what color this last version was. From what I understand, the original two L-39s were painted dark navy blue overall. However, the version in the picture was an in-house Bell project and I only have this black & white photo. Therefore I’m not sure what color it was. Any help would be appreciated. I’m still getting modelling techniques down and now I find out I’m a rookie in research. Hopefully some of you Aircraft Trivia Pros can help me out. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!
Your talkin my kind of plane…!!! My Grandpa worked at Bell for many years and boy do I have a collection of original pix… As an added bonus I live about 15 minutes from the Bell plant in Niagara Falls NY (aka Wheatfield NY)
Just so happens I have a few photos of this L-39. The colour appears to be either a Drk Green over Neutral Gray, overall Drk Green or a Non SPec Sea Blue. The angles of the photos are a little hard to make out the seperation between the colours if indeed she had a two tone job.
The colur she wears seems to be darker than the other war time schemes that the 39’s wore… I’ll do some more reference checkin fer ya.
If you can find out if Bell has any public access archives like Boeing, I’d be much obliged. This ought to cool. I always liked the lines of the Airacobra and King Cobra, but this L-39 is just drop dead sexy. Take care.
I am researching the Bell L-39 especially the -2 with the l/e extended to the fuselage ( used by Bell to test the wing for the X-2) and have been unable to confirm the colour. However, CZECH MASTER produce a 1/72 scale resin kit (# 28) and the, admittedly inaccurate, 3 view gives the colour as" Sea Blue Gloss overall" which seems logical as the a/c was a US Navy project. All the detail b&w photos I have seen give no indication of two tone colour. This is the only source I can find for 3 view drawings and does not show the 4’ fuselage extension, the sheeted over main wheel wells, the lack of nose gear doors on the later version of the -2 or changes to extend the l/e to the fuselage. So I am drawing my own which will be the basis for the 1/6 scale radio control model I plan to build.
Having spent two years searching for details I would love to get hold of confirmation of colour. It was hard enough to find out what the wing span actually was! Also “Let Let Warplanes” website claims blue overall as the colour. Remember that the side of the fuselage is stained and faded by the hot exhaust gases so looks light grey.
If you want any other details I have I would be happy to share.
