The beautiful color schemes of the 1930s, the so-called "Golden Age" of aviation (and not just for those Chrome Yellow wings, either), gave way to the realities of impending war. Gray/Blue topsides and Gray bottoms became the first iteration of the many World War II schemes that we saw in the first CONA post. The difference here is the "Neutrality" markings that theoretically identified U.S. aircraft as off-limits to combat (unless it was to protect U.S. shores and waters). To that end the pre-War national insignia of a blue roundel with a white star and a red center remained on the aircraft, but now in six positions (upper left wing, upper right wing, lower left wing, lower right wing, left and right fuselage sides) for greater visibility. Thus the eternal dilemma was revisited: how to have enough camouflage so your opponents can't see you too quickly, but with enough visibility that your own side won't shoot you down by mistake.
To aid in that visibility red and white stripes (eventually standardized at seven red, six white like the U.S. flag) were painted on the rudder of the vertical tail. It still added a dash of color to the very subdued war camouflage. The Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) EA-6B Prowler (the first photo) and this Beech TC-12B (above) are really nice recreations of that early 1940s scheme. Alas, it was not to last as the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 plunged the nation into war.
The red and white stripes went fairly quickly. But so, too, did the national insignia with the red center. It seems that nervous gunners on ships and ground units, and even in bomber aircraft as well as fighter pilots, took to shooting at anything with red in it as being automatically Japanese. After a series of "friendly fire" incidents, all red was removed from national markings on all U.S. aircraft, and any other markings period in the Pacific Theater. By the Battle of Midway, in early June 1942, the red was gone. This Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) S-3B Viking is a nice representation of that Midway era scheme.
And yes - there will be more to come....
Perhaps the most colorful aircraft certainly in today's U.S. military are the CAG birds of the Navy. CAG stands for Commander Air Group. He is the boss man of the Carrier Air Wing, composed of the various squadrons embarked aboard a typical American aircraft carrier.
Since the standard battle colors of contemporary military aircraft are various shades of gray (or as one friend puts it, "yuck gray"), colorful aircraft are a rarity. Fortunately Navy rules allow each squadron to paint up two aircraft in CAG markings - ostensibly because its the airplane (and the spare) that the CAG gets to fly should he choose to do so (or is qualified to do so).
Regardless, the squadrons usually try to out-do each other, hence the very colorful, sometimes gaudy markings that are sought after by slide and image collectors.
This EA-6B Prowler of VAQ-209 is heading down the taxiway to the runway at Nellis AFB during the recent ISAP event there. Activated, or "stood up," in 1977, VAQ-209 is a reserve squadron that calls itself the "Star Warriors." Yes, that is Darth Vader's head adorning the vertical tail of the Prowler.
I have to admit to some mixed feelings about these markings. While a wonderful piece of graphic art, and while Darth Vader is an iconic American image, he is, after all, a bad guy. At least he was in Star Wars (yes, I know it's called A New Hope" now, but to me it'll always be just Star Wars) and in The Empire Strikes Back. It wasn't until The Return of the Jedi that he redeemed himself - which I never really bought dramatically.
Regardless, in his incarnation as Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker was the villain. Even more bluntly, he was evil personified! So why on Earth would clean-cut American aviators - the Good Guys - want to take as their squadron symbol something perceived as evil personified? On top of that he was the front man for the spread of an evil empire! Is that the message we want to spread?
I suppose in the business of war the psychological trumps questions like that. Various squadrons have the grim reaper as their mascot. Some have werewolves, some have Vikings and other fierce warriors while one famously has Felix the Cat. It's whatever makes your morale strong and melds you into a cohesive fighting unit. If Darth Vader's mask is too cool for words, then the symbolism behind it takes a back seat.
I just wonder what the other side thinks and if irony is lost in war?
The beautiful color schemes of the 1930s, the so-called "Golden Age" of aviation (and not just for those Chrome Yellow wings, either), gave way to the realities of impending war. Gray/Blue topsides and Gray bottoms became the first iteration of the many World War II schemes that we saw in the first CONA post. The difference here is the "Neutrality" markings that theoretically identified U.S. aircraft as off-limits to combat (unless it was to protect U.S. shores and waters). To that end the pre-War national insignia of a blue roundel with a white star and a red center remained on the aircraft, but now in six positions (upper left wing, upper right wing, lower left wing, lower right wing, left and right fuselage sides) for greater visibility. Thus the eternal dilemma was revisited: how to have enough camouflage so your opponents can't see you too quickly, but with enough visibility that your own side won't shoot you down by mistake.
To aid in that visibility red and white stripes (eventually standardized at seven red, six white like the U.S. flag) were painted on the rudder of the vertical tail. It still added a dash of color to the very subdued war camouflage. The Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) EA-6B Prowler (the first photo) and this Beech TC-12B (above) are really nice recreations of that early 1940s scheme. Alas, it was not to last as the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 plunged the nation into war.
The red and white stripes went fairly quickly. But so, too, did the national insignia with the red center. It seems that nervous gunners on ships and ground units, and even in bomber aircraft as well as fighter pilots, took to shooting at anything with red in it as being automatically Japanese. After a series of "friendly fire" incidents, all red was removed from national markings on all U.S. aircraft, and any other markings period in the Pacific Theater. By the Battle of Midway, in early June 1942, the red was gone. This Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) S-3B Viking is a nice representation of that Midway era scheme.
