Reply #191: World War II camoflage!!!

[DulceDecorum]

This is the first part of the three-part feature covering the finishes and colours used for the interiors of American-produced aircraft of the World War II era. This part gives general information on the development and the variety of finishes used. In the part two we will cover interiour finishes of the US Army Air Corps / Air Force types. Part three will be devoted to Navy aircraft types. - Ed.

<snip>

We know now, contrary to these perceptions, that interiors of US aircraft weren't always Interior Green or Zinc Chromate at all; in fact some kinds of aircraft were never painted in either colour.
The answers here are complex. It is one thing to prove an old theory wrong, yet another to find out with a degree of certainity what colours were used. In the research trying to determine colours of aircraft interiors, we are still halfway through.
Part of the problem is that "standards", even though they existed, were often seemingly loosely defined, which in turn lead to them being widely superceded by practical thinking. Unlike for example the German RLM, USAAF did not seem to enforce its own standards. Paints that did not meet correct colour specifications were used anyway, and often not checked on subsequent batches. There were different paint makers, shortage of certain chemical ingredients, re-formulations to facilitate mass-scale production, and paints mixed locally at the assembly line.
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm

And what, pray, does all this have to do with
N644AA
the Pentagon wall
and September 11, 2001?

Put it in context please, RH.

Zinc Chromate
Anyone who has ever read anything on the subject of US aircraft interiors must have stumbled upon the name Zinc Chromate. Yet, do you know what Zinc Chromate is? Understanding it is an essential starting point for the discussion on anything concerning interior colours.
Zinc Chromate is a corrosion resistant agent that is added to certain coatings. Even today, chromate finishes including Zinc Chromate provide superior corrosion resistance. ADDITIONALLY, ZINC CHROMATE IS HIGHLY TOXIC thus protecting the surface from proliferation of organic matter.
In the aircraft industry of the 1940s, Zinc Chromate was used as an anti-corrosive barrier primer; it could be described as a sort of painted-on galvanizing. It has been developed by Ford Motor Company by the late 1920s, subsequently adopted in commercial aviation and later by the US Military. Official USAAC notes mention successful application of Zinc Chromate primer starting from 1933, but it has not been adopted as standard until 1936.
BACK THEN, AS WELL AS IN THE PAINT INDUSTRY OF TODAY, THE TERM ZINC CHROMATE DOES NOT REFER TO A PAINT COLOUR BUT RATHER A PROTECTIVE COATING. Therefore, the precise colouring of it is and has not been considered as important as the chemical composition. In the official notes of the period, the name Zinc Chromate is often accompanied by the name of particular manufacturer, thus mentioning Ford Zinc Chromate, DuPont Zinc Chromate or Berry Brothers Zinc Chromate. This means that the actual colour of Zinc Chromate coating may have varied from batch to batch or manufacturer to manufacturer without it being viewed as an issue.
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm

What was that again?
ADDITIONALLY, ZINC CHROMATE IS HIGHLY TOXIC thus protecting the surface from proliferation of organic matter.

HIGHLY TOXIC!!
Do you HONESTLY think that in 1991,
Boeing was using THIS multicoured crap on the INTERIOR of their planes?
Well it wasn't.

Boeing BMS 10-79 (Airbus TNA 10113)
is a polyurethane primer with strontium chromate.
Check the short pdf file for yourself.
http://www.mapaero.com/fiches_techniques/gb/023.pdf