USAAF Camouflge Reference Contents:
US Army Air Force Color Standards
On November 28, 1919, the US Armed Forces introduced Specification No. 3-1 as their first color standard—an archive of 24 hues that left only one standing during World War II. Before then though, the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) had already been utilizing a different palette in accordance with Specification 14057 since April 1931, albeit not without adjustment; it underwent revisions leading up to its ultimate transformation into 14057-C on December 27th, 1939.
In September 1940, Air Corps Bulletin No. 41 revealed an improved eight-color (later nine) palette that would be utilized by the USAAF when it superseded the USAAC in June 1941. Later on, Technical Order No. 07-1-1 provided instructions for camouflage schemes; yet more often than not commanders had to decide upon them autonomously according to conditions in their specific location.
During the first years of WWII, the United States Navy (USN) adopted a color system based on Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) Specification M-485 from December 6th 1940. This specification listed six, later seven, basic matt camouflage colors.
In an effort to standardize the color codes for the USAAF and USN (which had distinct camouflage schemes), Army and Navy Aircraft (ANA) Bulletin No. 157 was introduced on 28 September 1943. This bulletin featured a palette of 19 matte colors, as well as some semi-gloss hues, which were numbered using a three-digit system in the 6xx range.
To expand the color selection even further, ANA Bulletin No. 166 introduced an additional 15 glossy shades labeled 5xx. Surprisingly, there were a few extra colors that added to the 6xx series and brought the total number of hues up to 44. This system also provided multiple substitutions for UK colors since many US aircraft were delivered through Lend-Lease programs to Britain's Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm.
On January 12th of 1950, the United States issued a new Federal Specification TT-C-595 which replaced its previous ANA system with a four-digit numbering scheme. This was quickly phased out and by the 1950s had been superseded by the much more durable Federal Standard System, also known as FED-STD 595 or FS. Each color according to this specification is identified through an individual five-digit code.
| FS | Color Description |
| FS Xxxxx | First FS digit means color shine, gloss (1), semi-gloss (2), or flat (3) |
| FS xXxxx | The second FS digit points to the color, brown (1), red (2), yellow (3), green (4), blue (5), gray (6), and others (7) |
| FS xxXXX | Last 3 FS digits are used directly to indicate the shades, which usually go from lighter to darker |
Initially, the palette included 358 colors, with several shades present in only one or two of the three sheen options. Although the shades were identical regardless of the choice of shine, there were some exceptions over time - such as Olive Drab, whose semi-gloss version used for US Army tanks (FS 24087) was different from the matte version used on helicopters (FS 34087). Fortunately, after decades of effort, this error was finally corrected.
The Federal Standard system has experienced several transformations since its inception in January 1968 with 437 colors. It was updated to 611 shades in FED-STD-595B (January 1994) before transitioning to 650 colors in FED-STD-595C (January 2008). After World War II, the ANA Bulletin 157/166 persisted as a viable source until 15 October 1964 when it gave way to the more robust and sophisticated approach of FED-STD-595.
On February 17th, 2017, the Federal Standard system was superseded by AMS-STD-595 : Aerospace Material Specification Standard 595. This new standard is similar to FS in many regards and includes nearly all of its colors with identical numbers for convenience.
Designations used for color matches can be found in The Color Reference Desegnation Guide.
US Army Air Force Color Tables
Specification 14057-C (Dec. 27, 1939)
| Color | FED-STD | ANA | No. 41 | Munsell | ||
| No. 25 | White | FS 37886 | ANA 601 | No. 46 | N9 | |
| No. 26 | Sand | FS 31433 (?) | ANA 616 | No. 49 | 5YR 7/4 | |
| No. 27 | Light Blue | FS 35466 (?) | - | - | 5B 7.6/4 | |
| No. 28 | Sea Green | FS 34092 (?) | ANA 612 (!) | No. 42 (!) | 1G 2.8/3 | |
| No. 29 | Dark Blue | FS 35109 | - | - | 4B 2.8/3 | |
| No. 30 | Dark Green | FS 34077 (?) | - | - | 4G 2.4/1.8 | |
| No. 31 | Dark Olive Drab | FS 34088 (?) | ANA 613 (!) | No. 41 | 8Y 3.6/3 | |
| No. 32 | Neutral Gray | FS 36173 | ANA 603 (!) | No. 43 | N5 | |
| No. 33 | Black | FS 37038 | ANA 604 | No. 44 | N2 | |
| No. 34 | Rust Brown | FS 30117 | - | - | 5YR 3/4 | |
Air Corps Bulletin No. 41 (Sep. 16, 1940)
| Color | FED-STD | ANA | 14057-C | Munsell | ||
| No. 41 | Dark Olive Drab | FS 34086 (?) | ANA 613 (!) | No. 31 | ? | |
| No. 42 | Medium Green | FS 34092 | ANA 612 | No. 28 (!) | ? | |
| No. 43 | Neutral Gray | FS 36173 | ANA 603 (!) | No. 32 | ? | |
| No. 44 | Black | FS 37038 | ANA 604 | No. 33 | ? | |
| No. 45 | Insignia Red | FS 31136 | ANA 619 | - | ? | |
| No. 46 | Insignia White | FS 37886 | ANA 601 | No. 25 | ? | |
| No. 47 | Insignia Blue | FS 35044 | ANA 605 | - | ? | |
| No. 48 | Identification Yellow | FS 33538 | ANA 614 | - | ? | |
| No. 49 | Sand | FS 30315 (?) | ANA 616 | No. 26 | ? | |
US Army Specification 3-1 (Apr. 21, 1943)
| Color | FED-STD | ANA | No. 41 | Munsell | ||
| No. 302 | Earth Brown | FS 30099 | - | - | ? | |
| No. 303 | Field Drab | FS 30118 | ANA 617 | - | ? | |
| No. 305 | Earth Yellow | FS 30257 | - | - | ? | |
| No. 306 | Sand | FS 33448 | - | - | 0.7Y 6.6/3.7 | |
| No. 307 | Light Blue | FS 35190 (?) | - | - | ? | |
| No. 312 | Earth Red | FS 30117 | - | - | ? | |
| No. 319 | Olive Drab | FS 34088 | ANA 613 | No. 41 | ? | |
| No. 321 | Light Green | FS 34258 | ANA 611 | - | ? | |
ANA Bulletin No. 157 (Sep. 28, 1943)
| Color | FED-STD | No. 41 | 14057-C | Munsell | ||
| ANA 601 | Insignia White | FS 37875 | No. 46 | No. 25 | 8.3Y 9.17/0.6 | |
| ANA 602 | Light Gray | FS 36440 | - | - | 2.4GY 6.51/0.5 | |
| ANA 603 | Sea Gray | FS 36118 | No. 43 (!) | No. 32 (!) | 3.7PB 3.94/0.96 | |
| ANA 604 | Black | FS 37038 | No. 44 | No. 33 | 3.2PB 2.28/0.1 | |
| ANA 605 | Insignia Blue | FS 35044 | No. 47 | - | 5.7PB 2.47/1.55 | |
| ANA 606 | Semi-gloss Sea Blue | FS 25042 | - | - | 1.0PB 2.94/1.5 | |
| ANA 607 | Non-spectacular Sea Blue | FS 35042 | - | - | 0.3PB 2.67/1.4 | |
| ANA 608 | Intermediate Blue | FS 35164 | - | - | 0.3PB 4.86/2.45 | |
| ANA 609 | Azure Blue | FS 35231 | - | - | 5.3PB 5.36/6.35 | |
| ANA 610 | Sky | FS 34424 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 611 | Interior Green | FS 34151 | - | - | 3.3GY 4.55/3.6 | |
| ANA 612 | Medium Green | FS 34092 | No. 42 | No. 28 (!) | 0.3G 3.57/1.85 | |
| ANA 613 | Olive Drab | FS 33070 (?) | No. 41 (!) | No. 31 (!) | 7.0Y 3.62/1.5 | |
| ANA 614 | Orange Yellow | FS 33538 | No. 48 | - | 0.5Y 7.16/11.0 | |
| ANA 615 | Middle Stone | FS 30266 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 616 | Sand | FS 30279 | No. 49 | No. 26 | ? | |
| ANA 617 | Dark Earth | FS 30118 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 618 | Dull Red | FS 30109 | - | - | 9.3R 3.71/5.5 | |
| ANA 619 | Insignia Red | FS 31136 | No. 45 | - | 5.2R 4.16/10.65 | |
| ANA 620 | Light Gull Gray | FS 36440 | - | - | 4.55GY 7.08/0.27 | |
| ANA 621 | Dark Gull Gray | FS 36231 | - | - | 7.3B 5.36/0.5 | |
| ANA 622 | Jet | FS 17038 | - | - | 0.8PB 0.68/0.5 | |
| ANA 623 | Sea Blue | FS 15042 | - | - | 0.55PB 2.59/1.45 | |
| ANA 625 | Sea Plane Gray | FS 26081 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 626 | Semi-gloss White | FS 27875 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 627 | Field Green | FS 34097 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 628 | Sierra Tan | FS 30219 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 631 | Forest Green | FS 34079 | - | - | ? | |
ANA Bulletin No. 166 (Dec. 4, 1943)
| Color | FED-STD | No. 41 | 14057-C | Munsell | ||
| ANA 501 | Light Blue | FS 15102 | - | - | 3.7PB 3.54/8.15 | |
| ANA 502 | Insignia Blue | FS 15044 | - | - | 4.9PB 1.25/2.95 | |
| ANA 503 | Light Green | FS 14187 | - | - | 8.5GY 4.67/8.15 | |
| ANA 504 | Olive Drab | FS 24165 | - | - | 6.8Y 2.88/1.95 | |
| ANA 505 | Light Yellow | FS 13655 | - | - | 5.4Y 7.74/11.8 | |
| ANA 506 | Orange Yellow | FS 13538 | - | - | 1.2Y 7.3/13.05 | |
| ANA 507 | Aircraft Cream | FS 13594 | - | - | ? | |
| ANA 508 | International Orange | FS 12197 | - | - | 9.3R 4.49/13.7 | |
| ANA 509 | Insignia Red | FS 11136 | - | - | 7.65R 3.13/11.5 | |
| ANA 510 | Maroon | FS 10049 | - | - | 1.4YR 2.38/3.25 | |
| ANA 511 | Insignia White | FS 17875 | - | - | 4.2GY 8.93/0.6 | |
| ANA 512 | Aircraft Gray | FS 16473 | - | - | 2.4B 6.68/0.8 | |
| ANA 513 | Engine Gray | FS 16081 | - | - | 2.7B 3.10/0.35 | |
| ANA 514 | Instrument Black | FS 27038 | - | - | 2.4PB 2.30/0.4 | |
| ANA 515 | Gloss Black | FS 17038 | - | - | 0.9PB 1.34/0.45 | |
| ANA 516 | Strata Blue | FS 15045 | - | - | - | |
References to USAAF WW2 Colors:
- Archer, Robert D. and Archer, Victor G., USAAF Aircraft Markings and Camouflage 1941-1947, Schiffer Publishing (1997)
- Bell, Dana, Air Force Colors Volume 1 1926-1942, Squadron/Signal Publications (1995)
- Bell, Dana, Air Force Colors Volume 2 ETO & MTO 1942-1945, Squadron/Signal Publications (1980)
- Elliot, John M., The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide Vol 2 1940-1949, Monogram Aviation Publications (1989)
- Rodrigo Aguilera, The World Wars.net
