On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:46:10 GMT, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

No truth at all. The color is a logical choice because the airplane is
designed to work low against the earth tones. You also see some of the
A-10s have been painted in grays. Does that mean they were expected to
do Navy work?

I believe that all the AF Warthogs are gray, and were painted thus as
a result of the pilots' unhappiness at flying an olive drab aircraft
at altitude in Desert Storm and of course in Kosovo (15,000 ft!).

Certainly the 75th FS Warthogs in Gulf War II were gray:
www.warbirdforum.com/avg.htm

"The paint scheme had nearly always been dark green--apparently to
show 'solidarity' with the Army" and for camo

A 1997 GAO report on the Gulf War critized the "problematical paint
scheme"

"Accounting for the new higher altitude attack preferences and tacitly
admitting that the green paint scheme had been a factor in Desert
Storm losses, the service repainted Hogs light gray."

(Quotes from Campbell)



all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com