Camo B-58

coulda sworn I was in the comsale. sure makes things rough when you have 4 window open. never know quite where you are...

A drawing is as far as it went. Appeared in a tech manual, but was never done.

Tom

I was kind of surprised to see it with the black tail & belly, like the B-52s. I was expecting it to have the light gray belly & camo up the tail. The Testors kit offers a camo pattern doesn't it? Is it this same pattern?

Well, actually the T.O.1-1-4, (15 May 1970) specified Tan, 34201, Green,

34079, Green, 34159 and Black undersides. Not the "normal" SEA colors. Yeah, I know, 34079 is, but the others and the pattern are all different.

Those are the same colors as the BUFFs used during that same time period. Also of interest is that, like the BUFFs, the Black undersides continued 80% up the nacelles and fuselage sides to the bottom of the cockpit windows. Also Black for vertical tail's sides.

An interesting scheme, but despite the constant conversations, I am convinced it never happened. There are several patterns shown for other aircraft that never saw the paint, like the C-124, C-141 (in the standard three tone SEA scheme), C-54 and C-118, F-86D, and SA-16 Albatross. But only the B-58 is the subject of the constant conversations.

Norm

like the C-124, C-141 (in the standard three tone SEA scheme), C-54 and C-118, F-86D, and SA-16 Albatross. But only the B-58 is the subject of the constant conversations.<

The T.O. also showed an SEA F-106 scheme. At the time I saw that (1970s) I thought it was cool. Now I'm glad Sixes never got that scheme.

There were also drawings for an Asia Minor scheme on the F-100. I still like that one.

CB

Imagine a C-124 in SEa or Asia Minor camo, the darned thing wouldn't make 180 knots with all that extra wieght

oxmoron1 MFE

Probably not through any "official" source.

When a military document is revised, all of the superceded pages are in theory eliminated and thrown away. That way the T.O. is always up to date. So what you are looking for is a T.O. that is years out of date.

What you need to do is find some nut like me who kept everything he could find on the subjects he was interested in, and then convince him to sell it!!

Good luck

Norm

find on the subjects he was interested in, and then convince him to sell it!!<

Or scan it and upload it.

CB

Or make some photocopies!

IIRC, the F-86L's of the OK and CO ANG were natural metal with a lot of International Orange HiViz trim.. The Guard got rid of the F-86L prior to the camo flurry. The F-86H, F-84, RF-84 and RF-101 a/c in the ANG did wear camo at one time or the other. The F-89 units were nmf or ADC gray, However, (and there is always "However" in life) I can positively state that ALL B-58 units in the ANG used camo on their a/c!

Rick

Now that is as sneaky as it gets.

Norm

Rick, My brother-in-law, who flew BUFFs for twenty years, told me that the Arc Light camo scheme paint weighed 800 lbs IIRC.

Phil

that doesn't supprise me at all, it takes on averave about 6 to 7 litres of paint to finish the average car, (inc primers,base and top coats) multiply that by the area on a B52 and that's a lot of extra weight to carry. not supprising then that many commercial airlines opt for not painting wings, horizontal tail surfaces and often the belly of their aircraft. extra weight = lost profit margin

I recall reading that there was infact a semi serious proposition to sell surplus B-58's to Australia, to the extent that an artists impression of one painted up in RAAF cammo and markings was produced. anyone know any more about this?

From

" Probably due to its high cost and complexity, the B-58 was never exported to any foreign air forces. However, in 1959-60, there was an attempt to sell a stripped version of the B-58 to the Royal Australian Air Force. The RAAF B-58 was to have had the ability to carry conventional iron bombs on special wing root-mounted pylons. In the event, the RAAF was not very interested, and the project was dropped before any serious discussions could begin. "

'bout all I could find.