RAAF Royal Australian Air Force camouflage 1941-1945

RAAF Royal Australian Air Force camouflage 1941-1945

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) had its own palette which, while roughly based on RAF colors, had slight variations to the originals. Additionally there was a small number of unique colors which are the subject of this section. RAAF aircraft followed a similar camouflage pattern as the RAF but with differnet colors. The topside camouflage was composed of Earth Brown K3/178 and Foliage Green K3/177. Earth Brown was more akin to a chocolate brown and slightly darker than RAF Dark Earth. It has been matched to FS 30099. Foliage Green was a deeper green than RAF Dark Grey, and would have certainly been better suited for the lush jungle canopies of the South Pacific. There is a debate on whether it more adequately matches US FS 34092 or FS 34096. The use of these colors would have resulted in RAAF topsides looking darker and warmer than their RAF counterparts. Undersides were painted Sky Blue K3/195. This would have been similar to its RAF equivalent although brighter, thus making it more appropriate for the clearer Pacific skies. Aircraft employed in night operations had their undersides painted Night K3/179 or Special Night K3/315. Many RAAF aircraft in the South Pacific (mainly fighters) featured prominent white tails like their USAAF counterparts. They also had white leading edges, possibly to distinguish from the yellow leading edges of Japanese fighters, and these typically extended across the whole wing.

From December 1943, RAAF aircraft dispenseed with the Earth Brown, leaving many aircraft with single topside color of Foliage Green. Undersides were painted Medium Sea Grey K3/183, similar to its RAF equivalent and also lighter than an earlier grey that was used as a pre-war underside (before Sky Blue became available). Many aircraft, particularly twin-engined ones like the Beaufighter and Mitchell, were painted in overall Foliage Green. From May 1944 it was further ordered that all RAAF combat aircraft be delivered in natural metal finish (NMF). Aircraft that had already been painted likely remained so.

Lend-Lease aircraft from the US were usually left in their original colors (Dark Olive Drab No. 41 over Neutral Gray No. 43 with optional Medium Green No. 42 blotches) with occasional modificatons such as repainting the underside Sky Blue in some early aircraft. Some early aircraft may have been painted in US equivalents (DuPont matches) of the Temperate Land scheme. Likewise, many British aircraft like Spitfires were left in their original RAF colors, either the Temperate Land, Temperate Sea, or Day Fighter schemes, or in their respective RAAF equivalents. It was common to see RAF schemes with some RAAF color modifications or touch ups and overall, it must be emphasized that there were no hard rules for RAAF aircraft overall. For example, one interesting and unique paint scheme were the ‘Black Cats’, a number of Catalinas that were painted black in order to conduct special night-time operations deep into Japanese-controlled waters.

The RAAF palette largely applied to aircraft that served in the Pacific theater, usually under US command. Many RAAF squadrons were attacked to the RAF in Europe and the Mediterranean and in these cases, followed RAF conventions relative to their theater and role. A similar logic applied to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAAF) which in the Pacific largely used US Navy colors or equivalents from its own palette.

Fighter aircraft:

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
P-51 Mustangs
Vultee Vengeance
CAC Boomerang
CAC Wirraway
Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII
Bristol Beaufort Mk.VIII
Mosquito
Bell P-39 Airacobra
Brewster F2A Buffalo
Lockheed Hudson
Bristol Beaufighter
Douglas A-20 Boston

Color camo:

Only Colourcoats and Lifecolor make RAAF-specific paints. Of the four main colors, the underside Sky Blue and Medium Sea Grey are closest to their RAF equivalents and should be an acceptable substitute. Earth Brown and Foliage Green are trickier and, barring specific paints, can be matched to their closest FS equivalents, FS 30099 or FS 34092/34096. Because the latter are almost universally available, only direct matches are provided below. FS 30099 is rarer, but available from Vallejo, AK Real Colors, and Hataka. Tamiya’s Flat Earth (XF-52) is probably the closest generic equivalent, and certainly closer to the RAAF color than RAF Dark Earth. Colourcoats also has a small range of RNZAAF colors.