Color Bands on Ordnance & Pyrotechnics During Vietnam War

Can someone please directe me to a source on the color bands used on ordnance and various pyrotechnics (such as the LUU-2 flares) during the Vietnam War?

The only thing I have now is the 31 year old Replica in Scale magazine (Spring-Summer 1974) which doesen't address pyrotechnics and a change to MIL-STD-709C.

Thanks.

Reply to
robbelothe
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wrote

Pyrotechnics aren't all that much different from anything else except they usually have a band to show the color of the flare or smoke.

Try "ammunition color coding" on Google.

KL

Reply to
Kurt Laughlin

Thanks, Kurt. I did that earlier and only came up with a some references to the MIL Standard noted above. The search continues....

Reply to
robbelothe

I don't know *exactly* what they did in the Vietnam era, but I can tell you what NATO standard colour coding is now. I have no reason to believe that USAF practice was much different in the past.

The main body of the weapon is painted in an approriate colour. Live heavy munitions such as bombs and cluster munitions are painted Deep Bronze Green (although the USAF usually uses an olive drab colour). Missiles used to be painted white, but for the last twenty-five years or so have been painted light grey - whatever is usual in the air force at the time. RAF missiles are painted Light Aircraft Grey. I imagine that USAF missiles are painted FS36375, but don't quote me on that. Practice weapons, which may or may not have an explosive content, are painted Deep Saxe Blue, which is in fact a medium blue similar to RAF Azure Blue. Inert weapons are painted dark blue.

Each weapon component is marked with a role band.

High explosive components are marked with a yellow band.

Low explosive components, such as rocket motors, are marked with a brown band.

Incendiary components are marked with a red band.

Armour piercing components are marked with an additional black band.

Chemical components are marked with a grey band.

Inert components, where they are not already painted blue, are marked with a dark blue band.

Note that I have said "components". Some weapons are comprised of more than one component, each of which will be marked in accorance with its requirements. For instance, a Sidewinder missile body is comprised of four visible components, only two of which are explosive. Therefore the warhead will have a yellow band while the rocket motor has a brown band.

The black band denoting "armour piercing" is additional to the explosive role band. The BL755 cluster munition is painted Deep Bronze Green. It has a yellow band to denote a high explosive content and a black band to denote armour piercing. Some marks of BL755 also have the yellow band represented as a row of diamonds to denote that there are submunitions present. this was also true for the JP233 area-denial weapon.

Small practice bombs usually carry a brown band on a deep saxe blue body. Practice versions of operational weapons usually have a deep saxe blue body with either a yellow or a brown band dependant on the size and nature of the spotting charge.

A practice bomb dispenser or a rocket launcher can be carried by an aircraft while it is unloaded or expended. For that reason they are never marked with a role band.

It should also be noted that the non-explosive components (by which I mean components that were never intended to carry a charge, such as tail units or Paveway seeker heads) are painted to match the operational role. However, they are usually kept in conditioned storage so the paint finish is good. Bomb bodies are usually stored in the open and so their paint finish weathers quite drastically. A bomb finished in a light drab colour with a dark green glossy tail unit would be quite realistic.

There are of course minor variations to the above. The US Navy has used cluster munitions which were painted white and heavy weapons which were painted light grey. However, the role bands were standard.

I would imagine that your flares would be painted olive drab with a red role band.

Hope this helps.

Reply to
Enzo Matrix

Check here....

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Reply to
Tom

wrote

??? These didn't help?

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I can get 709, 709A, and 709B at work tomorrow, but I don't recall there being much difference except in the area of practice/dummy ammo and chemical munitions.

KL

Reply to
Kurt Laughlin

Parachute flares used in Nam were plain aluminum. Don't remember what colour the band was. In the Navy A4's often carried parachute flares externally on practice multiple bomb racks (PMBR). Loading them was a delicate operation. Dick...

Reply to
Dick

Heck even handling flares was risky. In 1966 a flare was accidentally ignited on the U.S.S. Oriskany by sailors transferring them to a flare locker. They threw the flare into the locker thinking the lack of oxygen would extinguish the flame. Magnesium doesn't need oxygen to burn so it set off all the other 575 flares in the locker. The ensuing fire almost engulfed the ship, took over 3 hours to bring under control and killed many sailors and airmen.

Dick wrote:

Reply to
Jeff Barringer

Thanks for your informative posting! I have three questions about the BL755:

  1. Do you know why Deep Bronze Green was used on this weapon? Or is it the standard color for UK-produced munitions? Is BS 381C-224 the correct designation?
  2. I usually see four white stripes on the lower side. I assume they are for handling, but do you know why they are so clearly marked? You hardly ever see that on other weapons.
  3. I didn't know about black signifying armour piercing, but I found it on some pages that were posted in this thread, so it is a NATO standard apparently. Do you know why there are no black stripes on other cluster munitions like the Rockeye and CBU-87?

Thanks in advance!

Rob

My models:

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Me 163B site:
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AQM-34 site:
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Reply to
Rob de Bie

It is the standard colour for UK air-dropped munitions munitions. BS381C-224 is correct. Deep Bronze Green is also used for the exterior of the CBLS (Carrier Bomb Light Store), a practice bomb dispenser. The paint is usually matt, but BL755s have a high-gloss finish. Remember that 1000lb bomb bodies are stored in the open so they can fade to almost any colour. The non-ex components such as tails are stored in containers, so they have fresh paintwork.

The British Paveway II presents an interesting mix of colours. The bomb body is faded Deep Bronze Green. The tail unit, seeker head and fins are painted by Texas Instruments in whatever is the favoured USAF colour at the time - usually an olive drab. The interface fairings bewteen the bomb body and the seeker head and tail are made in the UK by Hunting Engineering Ltd. They are painted matt Deep Bronze Green.

The BL755 is a "soft skinned weapon" and believe me, it is *very* soft. If you drop a screwdriver on the skinning, it is possible to pierce it! (Been there! Done that!) When it is being handled the BL755 cannot be moved around directly on the forks of a weapon loader like most heavy-drop weapons. It requires a padded trough. The white lines indicate where the structural bulkheads are within the body of the weapon. Although the loading forks never actually touch the weapon, the idea is to line them up as closely as possible to the lines, so distributing the lifting stress through the bulkheads.

I believe that both of those weapons can be refilled with different submunitions at unit level, therefore the main dispenser unit would not have the markings.

Reply to
Enzo Matrix

Great information, thanks!

The stripes make sense now..

Thanks for answering all my questions, I appreciate it!

Rob

My models:

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Me 163B site:
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AQM-34 site:
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Reply to
Rob de Bie

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