Sandy P-39 colors?

[RKic]

I'm building a P-39Q "Devastating Devil" of the 4th fs 15th fg, used in the raid on Makin Island.

The instructions state a sand over duck egg blue finish. I understand that these planes were slated for service in Africa, before being sent to the Pacific, so should the colors be Bell's RAF equivalents? Or were they supposed to be delivered to the USAAF, and hence be OD (perhaps badly faded, giving the implication of a lighter sand colore in b&w photos) over neutral gray?

I have not been able to find any photographs of the actual aircraft

[Jennings]

In photos of the real a/c you can see where all the stencil data was masked over before the sand was sprayed on (AFAIK the only P-39s that left the factory in other than OD/NG were the British Airacobra I's). The color under the stencil data is very dark, undoubtedly OD. Dana Bell's conclusion is that they were painted in probably Corps of Engineers vehicle colors in the islands. The sand color was different from ANA Sand. There was no reason to have overpainted the neutral gray on the belly.

MP

Edited August 9, 2010 by Jennings

[RKic]

Dana Bell's conclusion is that they were painted in probably Corps of Engineers vehicle colors in the islands. The sand color was different from ANA Sand. There was no reason to have overpainted the neutral gray on the belly.

MP

Thanks for the info.

Any idea what shade of sand the ACoE used?

[Matt Roberts]

I have used Desert Storm Sand for them (there were also some P-40Ns in the same scheme)

[RKic]

a pinkish sand then.

[gmat]

The 46th FS P-39s had the Sand only on Canton Island. When they went to Makin, the Sand had been removed. I suspect that a water color paint had been used, which made it easier to remove. I remember seeing some 46th FS P-39Qs on Makin with a scrubbed look, not a repainted look. Some sources, including the excellent Pineapple Air Force, by John Lambert, has the undersurface as a pale blue. But I also suspect it may have been NG. The idea of it being pale blue might come examination of photos, where undersurface looks lighter in photos of the P-39Qs at Canton, but this might be explained by the tropical sunlight, reflecting off the light colored sand, making it look lighter than normal. Canton Island was a really small and bare atoll. It was a case of the ironic 'a girl behind every tree.' So the Sand would have helped blend the aircraft with the coral sand. The 45th FS, with P-40Ns at Baker Island were also painted in Sand/NG but kept it when they moved to Makin. The 45th had some extra P-40Ks that came over on an escort carrier for the invasion, but those, along with 72nd FS P-39Qs, also on the same carrier, were always in OD/NG. One intriguing thing was that the 531st FS with A-24Bs were also at Canton before the invasion. Might they have also been painted in Sand and had it removed before going to Makin?

Best wishes,

Grant