re: Corsair photos
Jack,
Sure looks like zinc-chromate under the exterior paint to me … I would have bet against it.
Went down to the Tri-State Warbird Museum (Batavia, Ohio) today and took some photos of the Corsair they are rebuilding. A lot of this bird has been “remanufactured” in the shop there, but, on the part that is still untouched, I couldn’t see any zinc-chromate on any exterior surface where the paint was missing. I didn’t get to talk to any of the airframes guys as I’d hoped, as they were working (and getting paid, four of them - sweet job). They rebuild by the book, using original drawings and specs. I don’t know what to infer from the way the “new” parts look right now, but there is very little zinc-chromate on the exterior surfaces of those, either.
You have brought up an interesting question here, and I’d hoped to get some skinny on it from the guys in the shop, but, like said, they were busy. I have pretty much the run of the place, but not the shop, so talking to the restorers is pretty much hit and miss, and it didn’t happen today. I believe there may not be just one answer. It could be one of those time-place-circumstance things.
Here’s a closeup look at the remaining original section of the plane, paint missing areas (the green bit on the right of the first shot is tape), 2 views, followed by some shots of the rebuilt parts of the Corsair. It was left abandoned on a bone-heap for the past 30 years or so, degrading away. It is currently about two years from flying, but it will fly.
What the hell, here’s the engine, too:
And a re-built motor mount to go with it:
I worked for Boeing (commercial side) for a few years and had the opportunity to walk around the production floor a few times.
The airliners going down the production line have a zinc chromate sort of coating on the outer skin panels. However when that plane goes into the paint hanger, the chromate coating is stripped off before the plane is painted. The primer they use is a sort of neutral gray.
This is contemporary construction methods, but I think the practice was probably similar in WW II. There may have been some factories or some cases where the outer chromate was not stripped before the final paint was applied and some factory photos show planes coming down the production line with all planes in bare metal, even ones that were painted.
Those pictures of planes that were showing zinc chromate green showing through where paint had warned may have been repainted at a depot where somebody decided to primer all planes getting repainted with zinc chromate before putting on the final paint.
There have been a lot of “what color interior” threads here. The answer is that what standards there were often weren’t followed very closely either in the factory or in the field so planes ended up with a wide variety of different painting techniques and patterns.
Bill