Bell X-1A early colour scheme

[John R]

I thought that the X-1A was natural metal all over but I saw a couple of photos recently appear to show that the underside of the wing was painted. At first I thought it was white but it looks a shade or two darker than the white in the insignia.

Can anyone please enlighten me further?

John

Edited November 22, 2015 by John R

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

2 shades lighter than white!?!?

I must be having a slow day, sorry!

[John R]

You've never heard of bright white? It's me having a slow day. It should, of course, have said 'darker'. My thinking was 180 degrees out.

Thanks for pointing it out. Main post has been edited.

John

[JeffreyK]

Difficult call, but I'd go with white. Have a look here:

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/340606main_E-2490_full.jpg

and here: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/576875main_Maj_Arthur_full_full.jpg

There is little to no difference between the insignia and the wing. You probably went by the in-flight colour photo with the frosted LOX tank, but you have to take into account that the fuselage insignia is in blight sunlight while the bottom of the wing is in the shade...

Don't forget to paint the keel and vertical stab tip white as well.

Jeffrey

[Colin W]

Hi

There were quite a few X-1's in the end and there certainly was a white one. The original and first sound barrier buster was orange.

[gingerbob]

At the risk of thread hijack, does anybody know what the first one looked like when first rolled out (gliding test flights in Florida)? Was it same as now known, just without the "trademarked" name?

bob

[John R]

According to Jay Miller in 'The X Planes' the only marking on the a/c at that time was 6062 stencilled on the fin.

John

[Spad]

Try this:

http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/GrattonAubry/7905L.jpg

certainly looks white to me.

Worth remembering that this machine was more or less contemporary with NMF F-104s - with the white wings.

ATB
Rick

edit:

Mind you - just found this so it looks like you can decide for yourself and you will probably be right!

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4406/4406-040.jpg

Cheers

Rick

Edited December 6, 2015 by Spad

[John R]

Thanks Rick - I've seen both of those before altough I found the first only after I had asked the question. It appears that only the underside is white, presumably so that they could see it at altitude from the ground.

John

[Eric Mc]

Hi

There were quite a few X-1's in the end and there certainly was a white one. The original and first sound barrier buster was orange.

Altogether, six X-1s were commissioned - none of them were identical.

Three original X-1s were built, 6062, 6063 and 6064 They differed mainly in the thickness of the wing. The first two were originally finished in the bright orange scheme as it was assumed that this would make them more visible from the ground. In fact, it was decided that overall white was better and 6063 was later repainted.

At one point, 6062 retained its orange colours but with the the underside spine and taillfin painted white. 6064 was white but was lost before it conducted much research.

The second generation X-1s consisted of the X-1A, B and D (the C was not built). These were generally left in their natural metal but parts of the airframe were sometimes painted to aid visibility.

6063 was remanufactured as the X-1E which included some of the technical improvements of the second generation machines. It was white for its second career although it did feature black panels on the wing for some of its career.

I built these two permutations of 6063 not that long ago -

Edited December 7, 2015 by Eric Mc