Help with figuring out the color of a black and white photo

[tulsaboy]

Hello all,

I am trying to interpret the original colors found in the attached photo. I know for a fact that the wings are orange. The real question is the color of the fuselage. Other period Spartan School aircraft, specifically the C3 series of aircraft, were black with orange wings, an orange stripe with the Spartan logo, and (I think) an orange number. The lettering on the fuselage that says "Spartan School" I believe was yellow. The fuselage of all of the biplanes was black. There is some anecdotal information from Spartan students from the 1930's, most of whom are now deceased, that the C2 monoplane series was delivered in a standard scheme of maroon fuselage with orange wings. This is how the airplane in our museum is painted. The other intact surviving C2 is painted black with orange wings. Neither is wrong, but I'm most interested in trying to determine what the original scheme was for our airplane. The photo below is, happily, the exact airplane located in our museum. It does appear to me that the cowling is painted a silver color. I believe that the N-number is in yellow. Does anyone have any idea about the fuselage? I know that red and black both can read as black in vintage photos. Can anyone help? Thanks so much!

kevin

[WallyB]

No info but I'd say it's maroon. It doesn't look dark enough to be black compared to other things in the photo (cylinders, helmet and hair) which presumably are black.

[shrike]

Edit:

From Juptners (vol5 p84) Standard paint schemes from the factory were overall maroon, or maroon with yellow-orange wings

If I had to guess, I'd say the N-number and 'Spartan School' is white, with "8" being yellow

[tulsaboy]

Thanks for the input. I welcome more if folks have thoughts. Shrike, Juptner and others repeat old canards when it comes to Spartan airplanes without any real citation. Most people are ultimately quoting Chet Peek's book, which at the end of the day relied on the memory of George Goodhead who is now deceased. The airplane we have is his. He restored it in the 1960's according to his memory of what it looked like in the 1930's. I am trying to figure out if people agree with his memory or if the photos indicate that he may have had it wrong.
Kevin

[k5083]

If those wings are orange, then the film is panchromatic and not orthrochromatic, because they'd look almost black on ortho. Therefore red or yellow would not register as dark either. IMO, inconclusive whether fuselage is black or maroon, or whether the lettering is yellow or white (it's so bright that I'd slightly favor white, but not if there were contextual evidence otherwise).

August