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Early (80's) F-15A Colors


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Only the first 21(i think) production jets Blks(7-11-MC) for the USAF got the scheme..During the production of the Blk 11-MC jets...18 aircraft in total the scheme was changed to the grey Compass Ghost scheme...airframe 73-0100 being the first one painted

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Yeah, I knew of the early air sup blue, but thought that it was only on very early and few few of them. The thing that confuses me is that two bobs sheet and a couple other ref I've come across say that 73-103 was two tone grey camo. In some of the pics it looks like a very light/faded two tone, others its more clearly blue. Maybe my question should be "how long did these jets wear the stripes & would the airframes paint job been updated during this time?" For some reason I thought the red/white was only worn briefly, no? Found very little info anywhere specifically on this plane/history.

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Air Superiority Blue was long gone by 1980. If you see an airplane in two-tone camouflage, it's the Light and Dark Ghost Gray. Photo reproduction (especially anything you see online) is always highly suspect. I've never seen an Eagle in anything besides standard LGG and DGG in service. It might *appear* more blue in some photos, but standard colors are standard because they're standard. I've not seen a single F-15A/B of that time period that wore anything else.

The candy striped F-15s only existed for a very short time in the late 1970s at Luke AFB. The white tail codes and serials are a giveaway to the time period as well. By the end of the 1970s/early 80s they were all black.

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The candy striped F-15s only existed for a very short time in the late 1970s at Luke AFB. The white tail codes and serials are a giveaway to the time period as well. By the end of the 1970s/early 80s they were all black.

Yep, and Wolfpak has those markings (dated 1976) on its thank-you sheet from last December.

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It's the lighting. I talked to a maint. guy at our reception ceremony when we adopted the F-15 and transitioned out of the 106. I noticed that the aircraft looked different from all the others sent to our squadron for the ceremony. He said it was something in the paint that helped it to adapt and change a bit.

scan0025-4.jpg

scan0024-4.jpg

scan0021-5.jpg

Two of the pictures were taken with a flash and the other two I just used the lights in the hanger.

Edited by ikar
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A couple of points:

The blue jets were matt on top and glossy underneath (to make them easier to clean).

73-103 had International ORANGE and white stripes, NOT red! Compare the band color with the red 'bar' in the national insignia.

73-100 was indeed the first gray jet, it also received the yellow and black sabre bands. Off the top of my head, I think that 74-137 was the first gray two-seater, but that may not be correct.

The 'candy cane' air force was done in late 1975. The official rational was to make the jets easier to tell apart during ACM (dogfight) training. It was really a way to get the squadron commanders some cool looking jets. It was also the bi-centennial year, so such things seem to have been easier to get approved. I'm not sure when the markings were removed--it was after I left Luke in mid-76. The latest picture I have was taken by someone else in late 1976.

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  • 3 years later...

MRvark,

Been wanting to redo 73-103 since having done it as a kid in 1979.  BLUF, if I used FS15450 and FS35450 "Air Superiority Blue" I understand that I'd be correct from your post?

And a very interesting piece of information regarding the international orange v red. I've went back to scour the few available images, they've all got an overall Ektachrome tint to them, and hard for me to tell whether the strips are a different value or who 'nuther hue than the red in the national insignia.  But I have to believe you know because you were there.

Thanks,

Joe

 

On 5/9/2016 at 6:26 AM, mrvark said:

A couple of points:

The blue jets were matt on top and glossy underneath (to make them easier to clean).

73-103 had International ORANGE and white stripes, NOT red! Compare the band color with the red 'bar' in the national insignia.

73-100 was indeed the first gray jet, it also received the yellow and black sabre bands. Off the top of my head, I think that 74-137 was the first gray two-seater, but that may not be correct.

The 'candy cane' air force was done in late 1975. The latest picture I have was taken by someone else in late 1976.

 

Edited by mb1k
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On 4/11/2020 at 9:28 AM, mb1k said:

 BLUF, if I used FS15450 and FS35450 "Air Superiority Blue" I understand that I'd be correct from your post?

And a very interesting piece of information regarding the international orange v red.

 

As pointed out a couple of posts down, 103 was a grey jet with orange and white stripes.

Edited by mrvark
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In an earlier post, Jim correctly states that 73-100, the 34th single seater, was the first F-15A delivered in two tone grey.
And 74-137, the 10th two seater, was the first B model (then referred to as TF-15A) delivered in two tone gray.
 

Regarding Joe’s inquiry, this would imply that 73-103, with the orange and white stripes, was in fact two tone gray, not Air Superiority blue.  Correct?

 

Here it is parked beside an Air Superiority blue jet.

 

Rich

 

 

Edited by RichB63
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26 minutes ago, RichB63 said:

Regarding Joe’s inquiry, this would imply that 73-103, with the orange and white stripes, was in fact two tone gray, not Air Superiority blue.  Correct?

Yep, you're correct--I got focused on the flat/gloss blue and didn't read closely enough to connect it to 103. 

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Since this thread was revived, here are some other details to go with the blue scheme.  They used the early main wheel hubs, still carried "turkey feathers" on the engine nozzles, the ejection seat was the Escapac, no ECM "black boxes" were fitted to Bay 5, and the standard training load at Luke was one centerline tank.  The AIM-9 rails may or may not have been carried, the wing pylons almost always were though.  Since the cockpit displays defaulted to AIM-9P if nothing was carried on the wing pylons, an AIM-9P CATM was not necessary and therefore not generally used.  I can count one finger the number of times I flew with an AIM-9P CATM.

 

Regards,

Murph

Edited by Murph
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5 minutes ago, Murph said:

Since this thread was revived, here are some other details to go with the blue scheme.  They used the early main wheel hubs, still carried "turkey feathers" on the engine nozzles, the ejection seat was the Escapac, no ECM "black boxes" were fitted to Bay 5, and the standard training load at Luke was one centerline tank.  The AIM-9 rails may or may not have been carried, the wing pylons almost always were though.  Since the cockpit displays defaulted to AIM-9P if nothing was carried on the wing pylons, an AIM-9P CATM was not necessary and therefore not generally used.  I can count one finger the number of times I flew with an AIM-9P CATM.

 

Regards,

Murph

If you want to do a blue jet with weapons loaded, the OT&E Det from the 57 FWW jets (LA code with yellow/black checkerboard fin flash) were seen with inert AIM-7Fs & AIM-9Ps, sometimes fully loaded (4+4) along with the centerline tank.

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  • 2 years later...
On 4/12/2020 at 8:50 AM, RichB63 said:

Regarding Joe’s inquiry, this would imply that 73-103, with the orange and white stripes, was in fact two tone gray, not Air Superiority blue.  Correct?

 

Rich

 

 



Rich, thanks for the assist! That's exactly my question.

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On 5/8/2016 at 6:16 AM, mungo1974 said:

Only the first 21(i think) production jets Blks(7-11-MC) for the USAF got the scheme..During the production of the Blk 11-MC jets...18 aircraft in total the scheme was changed to the grey Compass Ghost scheme...airframe 73-0100 being the first one painted


Mungo, Murph, mrVark...

Thanks for the information! At this point I'm painting it per Two Bob's call sheet. 2-years later it's still in the queue. I'm believing mrvark's post that it was a gray bird, sounds like he was THERE to know. I'm just revisiting this post because I just picked up a bottle of Mr. Color Air Superiority Blue (no. 74) yesterday since it's the first time I saw it on a the shelf. I'll save that for another F-15A.  I'm not trying to beat a dead horse. I'm posting to make me smarter on F-15s by picking your brain.

I comprehend your post as "...the first 21 (i think) jet blocks (7-MC thru 11-MC) for the USAF got the scheme" meaning air superiority blue. I found information saying that there were 18 airframes in F-15A-11-MC (74-094 to 74-111). Making ALL of the Block 11-MC run gray. This leaves Block 7-MC to Block 10-MC the only ones to be delivered with air superiority blue?

 

Blocks 7-MC to 10-MC cover 73-085 to 74-093 making it 23 airframes. Candy Cane F-15A being 73-103 makes it a blue bird? But 73-100 was the first "gray jet". Sounds like a good topic for a chapter or at least a few paragraphs of an reprint edition of "F-15 in Action". Of course, only us modelers care. LOL

Here's my source: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/f15_6.html

Screen Shot 2022-09-14 at 12.37.13 AM.jpg

Edited by mb1k
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5 hours ago, mb1k said:


Mungo, Murph, mrVark...

Thanks for the information! At this point I'm painting it per Two Bob's call sheet. 2-years later it's still in the queue. I'm believing mrvark's post that it was a gray bird, sounds like he was THERE to know. I'm just revisiting this post because I just picked up a bottle of Mr. Color Air Superiority Blue (no. 74) yesterday since it's the first time I saw it on a the shelf. I'll save that for another F-15A.  I'm not trying to beat a dead horse. I'm posting to make me smarter on F-15s by picking your brain.

I comprehend your post as "...the first 21 (i think) jet blocks (7-MC thru 11-MC) for the USAF got the scheme" meaning air superiority blue. I found information saying that there were 18 airframes in F-15A-11-MC (74-094 to 74-111). Making ALL of the Block 11-MC run gray. This leaves Block 7-MC to Block 10-MC the only ones to be delivered with air superiority blue?

 

Blocks 7-MC to 10-MC cover 73-085 to 74-093 making it 23 airframes. Candy Cane F-15A being 73-103 makes it a blue bird? But 73-100 was the first "gray jet". Sounds like a good topic for a chapter or at least a few paragraphs of an reprint edition of "F-15 in Action". Of course, only us modelers care. LOL

Here's my source: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/f15_6.html

Screen Shot 2022-09-14 at 12.37.13 AM.jpg

 

Joe,

This would not be a good topic for a Squadron Signal "F-15 Eagle in Action" rewrite. S/S in Action series usually had several flaws in each edition, mostly due to assumptions.  That's not to say that there wasn't some good material in there.  McDD started painting jets DGG/LGG during the -9 block beginning with 73-100, so 73-094 through 73-099 were most likely delivered in ASB. (There I go, making assumptions!)  Best way is to troll the google-sphere and find dated photos for the particular jet you want as evidence.  

K/r,

Dutch

Edited by Dutch
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On 5/8/2016 at 9:57 AM, Dax said:

Why do some early F-15As almost appear blue? Some perfect examples are on Two Bob's F-15 Candy Cane

Its a trick of lighting, I'm guessing? or is it my imagination?

In Dax's photo link at the very beginning of this post, I find it interesting that of the three jet line-up, the first (74-103) and the third (unk) jet are in DGG/LGG while the second jet (73/74-08*/09*) is in ASB.  Only 73-103 carries the orange/white candy cane stripes. 

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FWIW, I had a bottle of Mr. Color Air Superiority Blue, but ended up using a bottle from SMS Premium instead because it was a closer match to my FS595B chip. If you haven't tried them, they're really nice paints; no thinning required, available at USAGundam.

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