Most Visible Color for Aircraft

Jeff Franks wrote:

I read where they did a study that the best camo against the sky (opposite
of your question) was a powder pink. Course, the military opted for the
second best, gray.

I tend to doubt that. The U.S. military did not hesitate to fly pink aircraft out
of North Africa in WW II. The color worked well against the sand of Tunisia; not
so well against the skies of Italy and Rumania.

I don't know that an F-15 fully armed and painted pink instills much fear.

Well, if you aren't scared of it and need to be, you die. Doesn't matter what
color it is.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

Gregg Ballou opined

A study was done in england to find the best color/pattern for
increasing glider visibility. They found out that solid black was
best (unfortunetly grp aircraft have to be mostly white, heat issues)
and that bright stripes on a white aircraft broke up the silhouette
and did'nt improve visiblility. I heard the same argument regarding
military use of parachutes, they are grey because all black creates a
definitive outline even at night.

Is black good when looking down for an aircraft?


-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?

I haven't heard anyone comment on an unpainted (silver) metal plane.
Any thoughts on if it is easier or harder to see than a painted one?

"Ash Wyllie" wrote in message ...
tompet opined

Howdy,

I've been looking all over, and I can't seem to find any discussions on the
relative visibility of various colors for aircraft. I would guess that the
best color might be different when viewed against the sky or the ground.

From flying RC models, I have find that yellow stands out the best. Even in
twilight I can track a plane from the open sky to below the tree line.

-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?

During WWII the RAF painted its photo-recce planes dark blue so they
couldn't be seen.

First off, it's sort of an electric robin's egg blue - not very dark, and
secondly, very few of us are flying at 40,000'.

Very few Hurricanes did either.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (requires authentication)

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

Several British spitfire photo recon aircraft were pink in WW2.

However this was not to make them dificult to see, but to make the German AA
gunners laugh so much they couldn't shoot straight!

Hope this helps,
Peter


I read where they did a study that the best camo against the sky (opposite
of your question) was a powder pink. Course, the military opted for the
second best, gray. I don't know that an F-15 fully armed and painted pink
instills much fear.

On the reference, Julian, I simply cannot remember where I read that... I
was surfing various government and military web sites when I chanced upon
it, sometime in the past ten years if that helps...

Black planes were normallyused only for night hunters, being too visible
during the day, and that was universal among the combatants of WWII...
Remember, in those days you had to fly up on someone's tail to blast them,
so low visibility was crucial for survival at night... Much of the aircraft
in the battlefield had their paint mostly stripped off and repainted to
match their environment - and too hell with some armchair general's orders
back in the states...

Look at the picture of Yeager's, Glamorous Glennis in actual battle dress,
it is a smudged, dull, grey to match battlefield murky/smoky conditions and
prevent reflections...
In today's battlefields, the ID is made by the electronics and the missile
launched from miles away... Visibility is now an issue for air traffic
control and rescue crews, not air to air combat...
denny

"Julian Scarfe" wrote in message Do you have a
reference for the study?

I remember the RAF Tornados getting painted black all over some years ago
after similar studies.

Bruce Bockius opined

I haven't heard anyone comment on an unpainted (silver) metal plane.
Any thoughts on if it is easier or harder to see than a painted one?

A good mirror is real hard to see.

"Ash Wyllie" wrote in message
...
tompet opined

Howdy,

I've been looking all over, and I can't seem to find any discussions on
the relative visibility of various colors for aircraft. I would guess
that the best color might be different when viewed against the sky or the
ground.

From flying RC models, I have find that yellow stands out the best. Even in
twilight I can track a plane from the open sky to below the tree line.

-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?


-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?

Bruce Bockius wrote:

I haven't heard anyone comment on an unpainted (silver) metal plane.
Any thoughts on if it is easier or harder to see than a painted one?

My personal experience is that they show up well on sunny days and disappear on
grey days.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

Cub Driver wrote:

During WWII the RAF painted its photo-recce planes dark blue so they
couldn't be seen.

First off, it's sort of an electric robin's egg blue - not very dark, and
secondly, very few of us are flying at 40,000'.

Very few Hurricanes did either.

That's why they used special Spitfires for the job.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

Black is the best. The RAF did a study. They're now painting all their
trainers black.

Paul

wrote in message
...
I've been looking all over, and I can't seem to find any discussions on
the
relative visibility of various colors for aircraft.