Question for Slipdigit pertaining to U.S.A.A.F.

[David Layne]

Why did the Americans not use camouflage on its B 17 and B 24 bomber fleet?

Why was the Eighth Air Force so named? Was there a First through Seventh Air Force also?

What was the name of the U.S.A.A.F. in the Pacific?

[David Layne]

Sorry for the poor grammer in the title, could not figure out how to edit the title to take in out!

[Za Rodinu]

With the war as advanced as it was and with the diminishing capabilities of the Luftwaffe, camouflage painting was deemed unnecessary.

Advantages: Shorter production time - no painting operation, no drying, curing, etc. Faster flight due to smoother surfaces and also weight saving.

If you see a silver plane int the sky, it's American.
If you see a grey plane in the sky, it's British,
If you see a green plane in the sky, it's Russian,
If you don't see any plane in the sky, it's the Luftwaffe

[Slipdigit]

Originally Posted by David Layne

Why did the Americans not use camouflage on its B 17 and B 24 bomber fleet?

Why was the Eighth Air Force so named? Was there a First through Seventh Air Force also?

What was the name of the U.S.A.A.F. in the Pacific?

1. As Za said, found it wasn't necessary for the reasons he gave plus the weight savings of not having paint could be used elsewhere. Same reason the space shuttle's big fuel take is not painted white anymore. Early on, USAAF aircraft were painted green. Naval aircraft had some form of painted camo early on but then later on,most went to all blue, they were never bare-metal.

2. It was the eighth air force planned to be formed I guess. 1st through 4th were training commands and CONUS defense. Air bases here in Alabama and surrounding states were 3rd Air Force. It formed out of VIII Bomber Command.

3. There were several, dependent on the year. They were named early on then given numerical designations later on. I can't remember all the named air forces, but the had names like Far East Air Force, which was mostly caught on the ground at Clark AFB, Dec 8 1941. Numbered Air Forces were the 5th, 11th, 13th and 20th. I think you might can count the 14th as a Pacific command, it was in China, with units bombing Japan at one time.

[Hawkeye90]

As stated by Slipdigit early war 17's had drab paint but it was not uncommon to see

camouflage patterns in The USAAF in 1943.

[Za Rodinu]

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

Naval aircraft had some form of painted camo early on but then later on,most went to all blue, they were never bare-metal.

Jeff, you leave bare aluminum to the TLC of salt spray and tell me about it later

[Slipdigit]

Originally Posted by Za Rodinu

Jeff, you leave bare aluminum to the TLC of salt spray and tell me about it later

It gets religous doesn't it?

[Za Rodinu]

You might say so. It gets powdery, then flakey, then holy. That is, with a hole where your piece of metal was.

[machine shop tom]

I remember reading somewhere that a shipload of P-38s got wetted with seawater on transit to some Pacific island base. By the time the planes got to their destination, they were mostly good only for spare parts.

I'll do some research and will update with specifics.

tom

[syscom_3]

The B17's and B24's did not sport camo as to save paint resources during the manufacturing process. Consider the quantities of paint needed to paint a single bomber, the manpower needed to paint it, and then the manpower and time needed to paint hundreds of them every week.

Plus theres the weight saved by not painting them. Plus the aerodynamic advantages.

Finally, when you have overwhelming air superiority and there's no threat to your aircraft at the airbases, why try to hide?

For Air Forces:
1st AF USA
2nd AF USA
3rd AF USA
4th AF USA
5th AF SW Pacific
6th AF USA
7th AF Hawaii/Central Pacific
8th AF W Europe
9th AF W Europe
10th AF CBI
11th AF Alaska
12th AF Italy
13th AF SW Pacific
14th AF CBI
15th AF Italy
20th AF B29's against Japan

In 1944, the 5th and 13th AF's combined to be the "Far East AF". In addition, by middle 1945, the FEAF and 7th AF's were all based in the Western Pacific and comingled targets and missions.

The even number AF's assigned to the "USA" were mostly training commands after middle 1943.

Hope this helps.