Hi All,
Looking for something different for your next MH-47E or MH-60K model? Check out link for the gray Nightstalker Chinook and Blackhawk.
Sweet huh?
Cheers,
Albert [:o)]
Yep, they do that to blend in with the Navy helicopters when they get deployed to a Navy ship. I first heard them do that during Operation Prime Chance in 1987 with a pair of MH-60As. Prime Chance was the operation to sweep the Persian Gulf of Iranian speedboats and silkworm missile sites which had been attacking oil tankers. I didn’t know they recently did that again with this MH-47E and MH-60K. Thanks for the post, Albert. BTW, that’s a nice pair of DAPs you’ve got there.
I’m digging that grey Chinook.
Could be the basis for my next project, hmmmmmm.
Pretty cool. I have seen the USAF HH-60s in Gunship Grey, but never NightStalkers birds. All sorts of new options or those Academy DAPs.
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for the information, I did not know that. I wonder what the FS number is on that gray, looks too light for FS 36118 (could be the lighting though .) [%-)]
I may have to change my mind and do a gray Chinook instead of a black one (though it looks so sinister in black [:D] ).
Oh, FWIW there is a cool article on Army aviation assets in the latest issue of Combat Aircraft Magazine. Lots of good photos for reference (like the bumble bee-striped Blackhawks based in the ROK, and several SOAR chopper photos). [tup]
Cheers,
Albert [:o)]
[qoute]Lots of good photos for reference (like the bumble bee-striped Blackhawks based in the ROK
[/quote]
Those are the Medevac birds stationed at Camp Casey, part of 2ID. I saw them all the time when I was there. The helipad they often used was next to my Bn area and down the hill from my BOQ. They look pretty cool. Here is one.
Yep, the article in Combat Aircraft is fantastic! Shows pretty much the entire Army Aviation order of battle as it presently stands. Just a little frustrating cuz it shows the unit I’m going to as having Apaches when they don’t yet!
As for that grey, is that Light Ghost Grey? Looks too light to be Gunship Grey.
I saw that gray Nightstakers pic a while back and I’ve been snooping around here and elsewhere trying to find the answer to that very question. So far … nadda. My MH-47, DAP and Little Bird (whenever the @%$!*! thing is re-issued) will remain black, but my Kilo will likely end up in this gray color
If I had to guess, I’d say it looks closer to a Dark Ghost Gray, Neutral Gray or a Dark Gull Gray-type. It could be a custom mix even. I think they look almost like Gunship Gray due to the lighting thanks to typical east Tennessee mid-summer, hazy-high-overcast skies (under direct lighting there should be a crisp, direct cast shadow on the Chinook’s blades and rescue hoist, but here those shadows are diffused.)
Does anyone know what color the Army paints it’s RC-12s? This color doesn’t look to far off from that gray.
Trigger,
Bingo! I think you hit it dead on, that is RC-12 grey!
Great, so what grey is the RC-12 painted?
Looks like Dark Gull Grey to me. FYI, Operation Prime Chance Velcro Hawks were painted Light Ghost Grey, just like their Navy counterparts.
I’m probably stating the obvious here, but the bumble bee-striped Blackhawks posted by Gino and Albert, are painted like that to let the troops along the DMZ (including the North Koreans) know that these are med-evac helicopters and not an air assualt force. Wonder if that works or not…
Hmmm… do the NoKos care about the Geneva convention? Dunno… I’ve got a few shots of 2ID medevac birds that Bob Roebuck (he sometimes posts on this forum) sent to me. Some really nice stuff. I think I’m going to do my Academy bird in those colors just to be different.
[%-)] Well, I was kinda hoping someone out there knew the answer to that question! [:D]
Thanks Grant.
As to the NoKos obeying the Geneva Convention, I’m not sure… I just wouldn’t want to find out personally. [X-)][B)][B)][xx(]
Late last year I saw an MH-47 flying around my local airport (KCON, Concord, NH) and being an old Chinook guy, I had to get closer. It spent an inordinate amount of time (1+ hrs?) just hovering over one spot on the airfield before they flew back to the old National Guard ramp and shut down for lunch.
On closer inspection, the aircraft was grey, not IR Green or IR Black. Yikes! The tail # matched up to the prototype MH-47E. I snapped some pictures (they’re on my machine at home, I’m at work), but I can throw them up on the web someplace and link 'em tonight if anybody is interested… 
WOOOOHOOOO, that’d be me!!![:D]
Please post them, I’m very interested. [tup]
Cheers,
Albert [:o)]
OK, guys, here they are. I apologize for the lack of photographic clarity, this was with my crappy old digital camera last year. These were all taken on 2 Nov 03 at KCON. The aircraft in question is 88-00267, the very first MH-47E, for you aircraft spotter types.
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05503.jpg
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05504.jpg
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05505.jpg
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05506.jpg
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05508.jpg
http://www.emmasweb.com/images/DCP05509.jpg
That’s pretty much the best ones I have. Let me know if you have any questions.
Darin
Six turnin’, two burnin’, five gridin’ and four prayin’
WOW! Great pix! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent!
Definitely looks closer to Gunship Grey in those pics.
Thanks Darin, you da’ man! [tup]
Cheers,
Albert [:-)]
Thanks. I’m still trying to find out the FS Number for those and I’ve asked that question in the a/c forum. Here’s a decent pic of an RC-12: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/556920/M/ It looks more like a faded Dark Ghost Gray to me (I’m comparing it to the top of this weathered EF-18 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/553000/M/). We had some RC-12s from Hunter AAF retreat from Hurricane Floyd to here a few years back and I recall they looked like Dark Ghost Gray.
Now, I say that not to argue with Adrake2 - if he says MH-60As were Light Ghost Gray to blend in with Seahawks, I believe him. Maybe today’s are Light Ghost Gray - remember how in 1991 F-15s in the Ghost scheme started to appear darker because they switched paint manufacturers? It’s been 15 years between Prime Chance and these gray Chinooks and Kilos so who knows where they’re getting their paint from. Maybe today the idea is the same, but the colors have changed (Again I cite the F-15 with the switch from Ghost to Mod Eagle schemes).
With weathering and photo conditions, trying to figure out todays grays can be tricky. It’s like trying to figure out the colors of a Raptor - everyone had a different opinion until we heard from the Tyndall paint shop and Lockheed Martin and got FS numbers.