F4U-2 Color Scheme

The F4U-2 was (with a couple of exceptions) modified by the Navy from production Vought F4U-1 "birdcage" corsairs to be a night fighter.

The airplanes came from the factory in a blue-gray over light gray paint scheme. They were subsequently repainted by the Navy in the tri-color paint scheme before they were deployed.

Basically, the tri-color scheme required painting the top of the fuselage, wings, and horizontal tail non-specular sea blue; the bottom of the fuselage, wings (with an exception for that portion of the wings that folded upward) and horizontal tail non-specular white; and the vertical tail, the sides of the fuselage, and the bottom of wings that folded upward non-specular intermediate blue. The sides of the fuselage could be painted intermediate blue by either of two methods, A) by blending the non-specular sea blue and white so that the result on the side of the fuselage that was vertical approximated intermediate blue or B) by painting the side of the fuselage intermediate blue and blending it into the top and bottom color "without noticeable demarcation".

This is a head-on comparison of the factory blue-gray/light gray scheme (on an F4U-1 modified with the R-4360 for evaluation) versus the tri-color scheme:

Note that it's hard to believe from this picture that the vertical fin on the left is blue-gray and the one on the left is intermediate blue or that the bottom of the fuselage on the left is light gray and the one on the right is non-specular white.

This is an example of the Norfolk-type scheme:

 NASA Langley Image #EL-2000-00231 dated 31 July 1943

For a discussion of the Norfolk scheme, see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/01/ww-ii-color-scheme-anomaly.html

There is an excellent illustrated article on the development of the F4U-2 and VMF(N)-532 operations by Richard Abrams in the Spring 1973 issue (Volume 18 Number 1) of the American Aviation Historical Society Journal. It is clear from the pictures that the -532 Corsairs were painted in a Norfolk-type scheme before deployment but over time the demarcation of colors and the colors themselves faded. (It appears that any F4U-2 with the side number 2XX is from -532.)

However, many illustrations (and some models) show F4U-2s over painted with black along the sides of the fuselage. Abrams states unequivocally that this was not so, although he may only have been sure about the initial paint scheme in general and VMF(N)-532 in particular. The existence of a non-standard scheme was probably based on these pictures of VF-101(N) F4U-2s being readied for take off from Intrepid. The paint scheme doesn't correspond to either the Norfolk scheme or the production Vought scheme.

Steven Eisenman has noted that there is an area of intermediate blue between the top and bottom colors on the cowl and aft fuselage, just much lower than usual on the Corsair:

Note that the vertical tail is almost certainly intermediate blue but the sides of the fuselage look darker than the top of the fuselage. Some have speculated that the sides of the fuselage were painted black, but if that were accomplished to reduce the visibility of the airplane at night, then surely the vertical tail would have been toned down as well. One possible explanation for the darker color on the sides is that it was the result of a repaint following the removal of the red surround on the national insignia with the original sea blue having faded. However, that doesn't explain the complete lack of color differentiation on the cowling. Another is that the method A was used to paint the side of the fuselage without bothering to blend the sea blue and white very much...

Dave Hansen notes that the F4U-2 pictures above were the VF(N)-101 detachment aboard Intrepid. The squadron decal on the right side of the fuselage just below the windscreen was removed when a VF(N)-101 detachment went aboard Enterprise. He also reported that these airplanes had received the additional armor plate atop the very rear of the canopy.

In his opinion, the side of the fuselage was freshly painted semigloss sea blue. For his 1/32 Tamiya build, see http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=56654&page=1