I theorise that when the change to overall GSB was initiated fleet-wide, a decision was made on Bennington to repaint its Helldivers from their original four-colour scheme to overall dark blue. However, I suggest the repaint option is also valid, possible, and in some circumstances even probable given that there are no pictures of VB-82 four-colour Helldivers while we know that there were certainly contemporary (to the day, in fact) squadrons in the same task force still flying them. On balance, this one could go either way and indeed in some respects I’d agree that it might even be more likely that these aircraft were GSB and the pics are telling a different story than that which I am reading. Is my hypothesis at least as plausible however? I’d argue yes, it is. Is that repaint consistent with any other theory though? yes, it could be evidence of a maintenance repair, anti-corrosion process or a myriad of other maintenance functions. ConclusionĪre #95 and #83 definitely repainted? No, but #83 has undisputedly had some repaint. To me, this actually is a reflectivity issue and indicates a new coat of GSB on the entire tail to replace the Intermediate Blue that would have been there prior to the repaint. There’s a difference again between the surface of the horizontal stabilisers and the upper fuselage. Additionally, there’s also a clear difference in the reflections of the deck hands on the paint in this area. If however this is a repaint, the fuselage would be new paint while the upper wing would be left the original GSB. If this is an overall GSB aircraft I would expect it to have far less contrast between the fuselage side and wing surface. The paint on the wing surface is very weathered but also looks to be a different shade of blue compared to the GSB on the fuselage side. Difference in Weathering, Wear and Reflectivity However, if this was a repaint the fin would have been repainted from Intermediate Blue original to GSB as I believe it shows in this picture. While that could be a reflectivity change (as it could be on a line directly towards the rear from the base of the glass) I don’t think it is there is simply no difference in angle to the sun to cause a change in reflectivity right at the point the fin joins the fuselage. Where the fin becomes part of the fuselage the colour abruptly changes. I think it’s interesting that the new paint reaches approximately as high above the deck as a man would be able to reach working a paint brush off a ladder. However, if this was an aircraft that was formerly four-colour, the White underside of the inboard portion of the wing would have been repainted while perhaps the Intermediate Blue outboard portions outboard of the wing fold would have been left as they were. The underside of the wing is clearly a different colour on the inboard portion to the outboard part, and the contrast between the two is too great to be “old” GSB and “new” GSB, in my opinion. Based upon it, my hypothesis that this aircraft (while it’s a different aircraft, both are from the same squadron, on the same ship, at the some time) was a four-colour which was re-painted to GSB rests on the following details 1. …which is a shame because I thought this one was the smoking gun, so to speak. There are plenty of similar images that show the same effect and I don’t dispute this as a strong theory to explain the original image either.Īnd yet the way the demarcation sweeps up so purposely towards the tail on #95 and yet the way it perfectly joins at the stabiliser and yet…Ĭonsider the picture below, which I posted early in the Hyperscale thread and repeated later but which received almost no attention… And I must agree, it’s a strong argument consider the image below where there is no doubt the aircraft is all GSB but the sunlight reflecting off the upper parts makes it look much lighter. While my theory was that this was an aircraft that was originally a four-colour repainted to GSB when the spec changed it’s fair to say that the consensus of the Hyperscale participants was for reflection instead. Below is the link to the discussion as it played out. As Hyperscale’s “Plane Talking” forum is a great source of knowledge and expertise on US military aircraft, I posted a question seeking opinion or knowledge on this image. Two theories immediately came to mind either this was a phenomena of reflectivity, somehow the light is reflecting off of the glossy paint differently around the curves fo the airframe or it’s actually a different colour. This aircraft has what appears to be a different colour on the upper fuselage compared to the lower.
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