House Livery - Confederate Air Force

[Sasquatch]

I've seen in various old airplane magazines (Air Progress, etc.) that sometime in the late '60's many of the CAF warbirds where painted into (what the captions refer to as) a "house livery", with fuselage and wings painted white, and red and blue striped trim in various forms. Later versions on some planes added the CAF "Ghost Squadron" shield, and maybe additional lettering or possibly modifications to the US insignia, such as adding a red meatball to the star and deleting the bars...though I can't really remember all the variations I've seen over the years.

Can you CAF experts tell me more about this livery? Which planes had it? About what dates were the planes carrying these colors? Any other anecdotal information is very much appreciated. I was even thinking that making a model or two of some of the planes in those colors might be fun, but I'd like to learn more about the scheme's history if I can. If you have any photos that you don't mind sharing, those would also be very cool to see.

Thanks in advance...I appreciate your help with my questions!

--Tom

[Jerry O'Neill]

P-38 White Lightning had that paint right up until it was stripped off at Breckinridge just a few years ago. It's the last one I know of to have had the CAF scheme on it.
Jerry

[T J Johansen]

The ones I know which had the "house" colors were:

P-51D N10601
P-38 N1107V
P-38 N25Y
P-40 N1228N
FG-1D N9964Z
F8F-2 N7957C
F6F-5 N7681C

FM-2 N681S This a/c had a variation of the colors with a dark stripe on the lower fuselage and a dark colored back.

I think the bombers (B-25 & A-26) were the only ones to wear a Confederate "national" insignia.

Add to that privately owned P-51D N835J which also wore the "house" colors around 1970.

T J

We have an old CAF book here at the house, and in it is a photo of the line-up at Rebel Field. The picture shows the P-40 (not the current N model, but a M), F8F-2, P-38 (N1107V), P-51, P-47N (N478C now N47TB), FG-1D, F6F-5, and P-63 (N9004R). All are in the red, white, and blue paint scheme. Of course, White Lightnin' is shown in these pictures as well.

There are other pictures showing the Wildcat, once in the paint scheme TJ describes, and then again in the standard paint job. TJ's description shows N6815, while the standard painted one shows N68JS.

Also, the Hellcat's N number is shown as N7861C.

TJ is right in that the B-25 and A-26 were the only ones with the "national" insignia, however all the fighters did have a small Confederate flag somewhere on the airframe.

There is also a second F8F wearing these markings, but I can't make out the N number. This airframe, has a Bear painted on the nose with the name "Bear Cat". Original huh? I also don't see any photos of the second P-51.

[Cripes A Mighty]

P-38 White Lightning had that paint right up until it was stripped off at Breckinridge just a few years ago. It's the last one I know of to have had the CAF scheme on it.
Jerry

I am a little out of date on my CAF news (besides FiFi and Texas Raiders), what is white lightning's color scheme now?

I have to agree with Ryan's answer on the official paint. I think we are both looking at the same book (blue one).

[Elroy13]

P-38 White Lightning had that paint right up until it was stripped off at Breckinridge just a few years ago. It's the last one I know of to have had the CAF scheme on it.
Jerry

I am a little out of date on my CAF news (besides FiFi and Texas Raiders), what is white lightning's color scheme now?

I have to agree with Ryan's answer on the official paint. I think we are both looking at the same book (blue one).

First off...WELCOME ABOARD Cripes!!

Here is a link for the progress on white lightning and her new appearance!

http://www.ezellaviation.com/p38.htm

[Sasquatch]

Wow...this is good stuff guys...thanks! I didn't realize so many of the planes were painted that way. Neat concept. Anyone know the thinking inside the CAF that led to it? Maybe the idea of a clearly identifiable "private air force" sort of thing, or something like that, before the idea of painting the aircraft as historic warbirds got started? That's just a guess of course, but it would be interesting to know how the standardization came about.

Also, do I understand correctly that the B-25 and A-26 were in the house colors?

And I'm not sure what the term ""national" insignia" means...are we talking stars and bars, or the star/meatball, or something else?

Thanks again for all the great input...I really enjoy learning CAF history.

Have a great weekend...

--Tom
(Yikes...it's snowing outside here in Seattle... in March yet!)

[Cripes A Mighty]

One morning a few of the founders went out to fly the 1st mustang in 1957 and someone had painted Confederate Air Force on the fuselage. No one knows who.

Really dont know how the paint came about. Maybe because some of the first airshows were at Naval Air Bases etc. Patriotic I suppose. Thats my guess.

Edit* Oh the insignia was similar to our stars and bars but with the confederate flag instead of the star. Both the Invader and the Mitchell were white and they had a checkerboard tail (or tails for the 25). The B25 was named Rowdy's Raider (didnt it end up in a cemetary????)

[JDK]

As I understand it, we are looking at the era when civil paint on warbirds was more common than military schemes. I put a photo on the title page of the Warbirds Worldwide directory (3rd Ed) of the CAF fleet back in that earlier era. P-38 in the foreground, B-25 in the 'Confed' bomber scheme, Bearcat, P-40, Corsair and A-26 in civil schemes and Mustang 'Lou' in that military scheme.

[Chad Veich]

This was sent to me by Gerald Martin some time back. Too bad it's not in color!

[D Fisher]

"Too bad it's not in color! "

Here's one from my collection.

Last edited by D Fisher on Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Cripes A Mighty]

Very nice. Always neat to see a color photo of something you only knew as black and white.

[Randy Wilson]

To the best of my knowledge, the variations on FM-2 N681S registration as painted, i.e. N68JS and N6815, are simple errors but I could be wrong. She was certainly N681S when I sponsored and flew her.

Randy

[CWBuff]

Here's a photo that was on epay recently... anyone have a good scan of this photo, or others taken during the same flight?

I'd also like to see some shots of the P-40 in this scheme, if anybody has one.




Fade to Black...

[Cripes A Mighty]

Here are some scans of 8 x 10s that were sold in the PX long ago down in Harlingen. Sorry about the large size of the first two, for some reason they wouldnt go down like the others. I had forgotten that Texas Raiders wore the paint scheme at first also.







and for good measure