warbird markings

[tonyjohnson]

Although I considered marking this as OT, I think it applies to many of us and is RV related.

I am building an RV8A, but I own and fly a 1942 Taylorcraft L2. It was owned by the Army during the war and used as a training aircraft. It is painted in the Army training paint scheme that all of you are familiar with, yellow wings, blue fuselage, red and white striped rudder. Recently I stopped for fuel at a Florida airport. I was approached by the pilot of a Mooney or maybe it was a bonanza, who asked "Is that airplane owned by the military". Being a polite guy, I did not say "thats a pretty stupid question, it is clearly an aircraft that the military would no longer have a use for" I replied, "not any longer, I get to fly it now". He just walked away.

It only occured to me later that he was being critical of my flying an airplane, as a "civilian" with US ARMY painted under the wings.

I am very proud to own and fly a piece of history, and think that painting a genuine warbird in civilian colors ought to be a criminal offense. I view its paint scheme as entirely appopriate and a tribute to the men who learned to fly in it and later flew the T-6's then the Mustangs and other aircraft during WWII. This guy would have been happy to see my airplane painted pink, or some other civilian color, which I think would be an insult to its former pilots.

It never occured to me to be critical of the RV's painted in warbird schemes, as many of them are. By the way, my guess is than many of you who have warbird schemes are military veterans showing your pride in your branch of service. The rest of you are showing your respect.

Have any of you been criticized for the warbird schemes on your RV's?

[mark manda]

i know a guy in our Commemorative Air Force Wing who has a '49 Ryan Navion which is painted like a Coast Guard Copter.

man, they give him a bad time.

but the guy he bought it from was in the Coast Guard so he painted it the way he wanted it.

I was going to paint my Harmon Rocket like a Messersch (sp?) ME 109 but changed my mind.

[L.Adamson]

I painted my 6 (nose dragger) with WWII stars & stripes along with the five black & white invasion stripes on the fusealage & wings.

I grew up shortly after WWII, and my dad owned a surplus war trainer. And being highly interested in that time of history; I figured why not!

For some reason, I had a hard time with US Army or USAF markings, because it's not a real military aircraft; although my USAF son asked if it was legal. Apparently it's no problem.

I figured that VAF would look good too, but it would be a rip off of DR's wing.....

So............... I settled on the three letters of USA for United States of America.

No one has said anything negative, but many like the paint scheme of yellow, grey, white, and black. However, it's only been at the airport for a month and a half.

L.Adamson RV6A

[Dgamble]

On my most recent trip to Burke-Lakefront, they were having a small static display, including a smattering of military planes. The tower assumed I was part of the fly-in, so directed me to go park "over by the C-130," which was right in front of the terminal, while normal transient parking was much further away.

I almost got away with it...

http://n466pg.blogspot.com/2007/07/c...f-uss-cod.html

[DeltaRomeo]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

snip...
I figured that VAF would look good too, but it would be a rip off of DR's wing..... ...snip

You go right ahead. Don't mind a bit. <g>.
b,d

[CraigH@KRPH]

I recently purchased an RV-4 with a warbird paint scheme. I've recieved comments varying from "cool paint job" to "wanna be warbird, huh?".

The previous owner's father was a crew-chief on a P51 in Europe, so he had the RV-4 painted exactly like the P51 his dad crew'ed on. I personally thought that was neat and a great way to honor his father's service. When I explain this to those with negative comments their attitude usually changes.

[chrispratt]

Back in the 70's (yeah, way back when), I worked in marketing for Grumman American Aviation in Savannah where among other things we built AA-1 trainers (latter day Yankees).

To help promote our products, our ad agency came up with a campaign based on the efficiency of these planes under the theme: The Private Fighters from Grumman American. We called them fighters because they were more fuel efficient and less costly to operate than the competing Cessna, Pipers, etc. and were "fighting for your country's fuel." (Remember the gas lines of the 70's?) We even formed an "EEgle Squadron" (EE for Energy Efficiency) and badged the aircraft with this decal.

Part of the fun of the marketing campaign was that we painted our advertising promotional airplanes in military schemes. Originally, we did not intend to offer these paint schemes for sale. However, the demand from buyers was so great that we finally agreed to offer two of the schemes (one Navy and one Army Air Corps) as an option on the two-place airplanes but at an extra charge. Over 60% of the two-place airplanes sold left the factory with one of these schemes.

Obviously, people liked the idea of the military paint. I think the reason was partly to add a fun factor and also some fantasy to the flying experience. After all these were only 115 knot airplanes.

Interesting side note: The Army Air Corps scheme we offered was a camouflage dark brown, dark green mottled scheme with roundels. One day, we received a call from the FAA saying they had received a complaint from an airline captain who thought the camouflage was a safety hazard and we should stop offering this. (Apparently the captain kinda freaked out when he was flying on final beside a two-place Grumman in camo paint on approach to a parallel runway. To add insult to injury the Grumman pilot had the capopy open on final. How cool is that?)

Obviously we in marketing did not want to stop selling the paint scheme because it was so popular. So we came up with a solution we thought would solve the problem.

INVASION STRIPES.

Yeah, we told the FAA we would add invasion stripes to all future camouflage schemes. After all, if it was good enough for the Allies in WWII it should be good enough for peacetime flying. We never heard from the FAA again on the matter.

If you like military schemes on your RV, go for it.

Chris

[rv8guy]

I've had a few folks ask if it was legal (non pilots), but overwhelmingly positive comments from everyone.

I think it just goes to your personal vision, and in my case being an Army pilot, I had to go with the P-51 invasion stripes and all.

I do think those pilots had to be the best, and I tell everybody that asks about the paint that it is in honor of those great pilots from WWII.

When I parked at Sun-N-Fun this year, another 8 came in a little later and parked next to me in camping, and it had a FW-190 scheme and a German pilot. We day dreamed a bit about dogfighting and declared we both had the greatest paint schemes. What fun!!

Like YOU want it is the best paint scheme you'll ever get

[Eddie P]

Several years ago when I was going through an old issue of a workmate's EAA's mag I saw something that just blew me away - a beautiful RV-4 done up in a WWII scheme like some of you guys have on your own. I was always interested in experimantal aircraft, but after I saw that, I just knew that this was so entirely different and much more interesting than the many hours I had in production aircraft.

Besides being a generally good looking option and a sign of respect for aviation heritage in general, I think warbird paint schemes are just one small indication of what is so great about sport aviation. We have the freedom to do what interests and suits our desires. The alternative is to be subject to the same old set of limited choices - a la C-172, 182, PA, ETC. Cessna and Piper paint jobs look great on RV's, but so do warbird schemes.

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by chrispratt

Back in the 70's (yeah, way back when), I worked in marketing for Grumman American Aviation in Savannah where among other things we built AA-1 trainers (latter day Yankees).
......
If you like military schemes on your RV, go for it.

Chris

Hey Chris... did you build my 77 Tiger?.....

Here is an old advert with some of the paint schemes Chris is recalling...



Interestingly enough, the text could refer to present day RV builders....
gil A