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WW2 Aircraft Colors of The U.S. Army Air Force

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Corps Bulletin No. 41 revealed an improved eight-color (later nine) palette that would be utilized by the USAAF when it superseded the USAAC in June 1941.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 This was quickly phased out and by the 1950s had been superseded by the much more durable Federal Standard System, also known as FED-STD 595 or FS.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
A brief explanation of the color classification used by the Federal Standard system.

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
The list of colors introduced by Specification 14057-C of 27/12/1939. Note that the Munsell values are given using 1929 notation. To better align with the grayscale range, N values have been converted to their corresponding Hex codes.

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 ?
Air Corps Bulletin No. 41 of 09/16/1940 was approved on the outbreak of war. Among others, it introduced Olive Drab No. 41, Medium Green No. 42 and Neutral Gray No. 43 widely used in aviation camouflage in the first half of WW2.

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 - ?
Although U.S. Army Specification 3-1 of  04/21/1943 originally regulated U.S. Army armored vehicle camouflage, the colors established by this regulation were widely used for desert camouflage for USAAF and NAAF aircraft. Hex values taken from a color sample from Archer & Archer, revised to match the No. 306 Sand Munsell value provided by Nick Millmann on Britmodeller.

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 157 of 09/28/1943 was an attempt to standardize the colors used by the USAAF and USN. It originally contained 19 colors. ANA 620, 621, 622, 623, 625, 626, 627, 528, and 631 were added later.

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 - - -
ANA Bulletin No. 166 of 12.04.1943 expanded the list of colors introduced in ANA Bulletin No. 157. The available Munsell values were converted to RGB/Hex values using the Munsell color palette.

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

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