Dana M Bell wrote:
Hi John,
The few pix I've seen show wavy, but there are two other demarcation issues to be aware of:
- Following a visit to one of the Douglas plants, Hap Arnold sent a memo that they had been incorrectly applying the camouflage. He was referring to the countershading beneath the stabilizers, where the Neutral Gray swept up the fuselage side to meet the tail planes. On later C-47s and C-53s, the demarcation runs along the bottom of the fuselage with a band of Dark OD between the Neutral Gray and the stabilizers.
- Douglas was one of the companies confused by the original orders adding a Medium Green pattern to the leading and trailing edges of all flying surfaces. Since the orders weren't specific, Douglas added the Medium Green to lower surfaces as well as upper surfaces. A June 1943 revision of the TO limited the disruptive pattern to upper surfaces and vertical tail sides only, but by that time hundreds of aircraft had been delivered with the strange disruptive pattern.
One final thought, the OD and Neutral Gray applied to tail planes, outer wing panels, and cowlings rarely matched the paint seen on the fuselage and inner wing panels - even on newly delivered aircraft. The subassemblies were painted by the subcontractors, who generally found different paint sources. As the paint faded, the differences in the paints became even more exaggerated.
Cheers,
Dana
Pretty interesting stuff!