How to research paint schemes

voltigeur · Post by **voltigeur** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:49 am

I'm having some challenges trying to research when paint schemes were used on some of my aircraft. I have Sea Knights and Sea Stallions as well as Phantoms and other aircraft that have long long service records.

I know what years I want my units to represent, but I can't find information on when paint schemes changed over or what years they were used.

I'm specifically interested in Cold war 1980's information.

battlewagon · Post by **battlewagon** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:45 am

I would suggest posting the Squadrons, the year(s) and bases and if you are looking for carrier airwings post the name of the carrier they were assigned to. A few of us on the forum have probably served in the Navy and may have cruisebooks that have photos of several squadrons of aircraft and helicopters. For example: I have the USS Enterprise cruisebook from 1984 and all embarked squadrons are well represented.

For commercial sources, Squadron Signal publications has the "Walk Around" series that will cover many popular modern aircraft. The Naval Institute press has an enormous photo library that may be of use for Navy and Marine Corps squadrons / aircraft. I am not as familiar with similar resources for the Army and Air Force but other members of the forum can probably fill in the gaps.

I hope this helps.

voltigeur · Post by **voltigeur** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:11 pm

Thanks for the reply.

The aircraft that I'm having the most issue with are in fact my Marine aircraft from the Cold War period. I served in the Marines from 81 to 85 and remember seeing 3 paint schemes on their helicopters. When I first went in they were olive green (much the same as Vietnam era), Then switched to a really cool grey olive green and I think forest green tri color camo, then to the current grey.

Then there are the Harriers. Since I was a ground pounder and didnâ€™t swing with the wing I have no idea of what paint schemes were used before the current grey. Most of the photos from the internet are current ones so not much help.

Thanks for reminding me of Squadron, they are local and there is a museum that carrier a lot of their stuff.