Hi All,
I’m thinking of making a diorama of a South Pacific island airbase during the late 1940’s. I’ve seen, in all sorts of media (snapshots, historical movies, recreated movies and museum pieces) what looks like all types of finishes on the Naval/Marine aircraft that flew in the South Pacific during WW II in that region. I suspect that the planes came off of the production line in a gloss coat of paint and the sun, sand and surf eventually wore the finish out in varying degrees when the photos were shot.
Can anyone tell me if this is on target or is there something I’m missing? Did certain units prefer the drab to the shiny?
Thanks,
John
John
You definitely hit the bullseye there.
Those glossy finishes didn’t last very long once exposed to the elements.
Please post a photo of your diorama when you’re finished!
Merlin
You know, Guadalcanal was in the south Pacific, and had a somewhat famous collection of planes. That might be a good subject, the cactus air force.
madda
For late 40’s Pacific aircraft, look for references of Naval air warefare durring the Korean War. It’s a couple of years latter then what you want but there’s lot’s of sources for it. And it was a time that the royale blue color was still being used by the navy. Remember, the red bar started to appear on the national insignias by 1946.
A good movie source - ‘The Bridges at Toko-Ri’. It’s got Panther jets, Skyraiders and even a R-5 helicopter in period colors and natural wear.
I’m lucky enough to have a booklet I picked up in the late 60s or early 70s - It was composed of copies of USN and USAAF Tech Orders on camoflouge dating from 1940 to 1946 and had paint chips made from the actual paints used by the U.S. military during that period just inside of each color - It was published by one of the IPMS chapters to raise money (don’t have it here with me right now) - According to the USN TOs, most Naval aircraft were painted in dull colors until late 1944 or early 1945. There were exceptions - basic trainers painted in gloss paints, the blue on the top of horizontal surfaces (wings and tail planes) was semi-gloss on aircraft with the three tone camo - Apparently when the Navy went to the gloss blue over all it tended to fade to various shades of green (Ref Saburo Sakai (sp) writing in “Zero”)