B-24 color

[recon]

What is the correct color for a B-24 on the Polesti raid?

Thanks,

Mike

[1to1scale]

ANA 616 US Desert Sand. Has a tan/pink hue when weathered, although the US did use this color again in Operation Desert Storm on a few helicopters in the 90’s. It’s hard to say what is the correct shade, as color pictures from back in WW2 tended to fade, so colors gets skewed toward blue/green. Descriptions say that the color faded to a pinkish color as the yellow got sun bleached, plus flat paints from then also tended to get a chalky white appearance as UV rays damaged the paint. Longevity was not expected as planes were “war weary” after a few hundred hours and needed engine replacements. At a certain point it was quicker to replace a B-24 than replace its engines and repair wear and damage, so longevity of paint was not terribly important. And then the final aspect is dust and dirt, many MTO aircraft simply were covered in fine powdery dust common to all the airfields.

[recon]

I finally got my decals for “sleepy” and the fs number they listed is 30480. 
i couldn’t find any supplier for this color.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

thanks

 

Mike

[JohnB]

You need FS 30279 Sand for the uppers and RAF azur blue for the undersides. H&B Hobbies has them in their Colourcoats line. They are: ACRN16 Gulf Pink Sand and ACRN12 Azure Blue.  Those are RAF colors but they closely match the US colors.

[1to1scale]

Correct me if I’m wrong, didn’t the early B-24s paint the undersides neutral gray? 

[JohnB]

12 hours ago, 1to1scale said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, didn’t the early B-24s paint the undersides neutral gray? 

Yes. I forgot to add that in my earlier post.