Does anyone know the significance behind the standard F-16 paint scheme with the swoop of lighter grey in the front?
Is there a camoflage reasoning behind this other than it looks cool?
Thanks,
Michael
Educated Guess:
Because light does not hit that area as directly, and therefore not as much light is reflected back, a lighter color that does not absorb as much light reduces any dark areas and “blends” the two areas of the fuselage together. For these same reasons the vertical tail is the same lighter gray. And as the F-16 was intended as a daytime fighter workig close to the ground, it needed a scheme that would work well in both air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios. The lighter grays help to visually break-up the lines of the plane.
F-15Es are overall dark gray because their main hours of business are after dark. B-52s, B-1B and B-2s are the same dark gray because at high altitudes, their undersides actually reflect a significant amount of light back down. No joke, sunlight reflecting up from the earth hits the planes and is reflected back down again. That’s why you can so easily see a high flying 747 whose undersides is white. Painting those bombers a dark gray reduces that reflection.
Damn Grant…You’re a wealth of information. When’s the book coming out. [:D]
BTW, I haven’t had access to my personal e-mail for the past week since I’ve got a buddy staying in the den (computer room). I’ll try to sneak in there tonight. How did you like the pics? Is that what you were looking for?