A-10A in grey camo with warthog nose art

[RobL]

Hey all

 

Just sizing up my options for my next build once I get my current WIP air plane done...

 

I have the Academy 1/72 A-10A kit, I also have the Italeri 1/72 A-10A/C kit.

 

Initially I planned on building the Academy kit, in the "lizard" scheme, and robbing a few of the weapons from the Italeri kit.  However I'm leaning towards doing a grey 'hog now, mostly because it looks like less of a pita to mask up or do freehand with an airbrush.

 

So, I'm wondering, were any A-10A's painted in the grey scheme, and did any have the warthog nose art?  Could I get away with painting the Academy kit's subject on the decal sheet in the grey scheme rather than the "lizard" scheme without the excuse of "artistic license"?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited April 9, 2020 by RobL

[Creepy Pete]

Sure.

[k5054nz]

@Creepy Pete ooooh that looks good!

[RobL]

Ah cool thanks.  I realised after posting this thread that I have paint masks for the "lizard" scheme.  Will be a shame to let them go to waste.  Hmmm...

[Muzz]

I’m no A-10 expert but surely that photo is a C and not an A? I didn’t manage to find any photos of A’s with this nose art, mostly the shark mouth or snakes head.🤔

[alt-92]

The Italeri is also an -A model despite what it says on the box. 

 

[Creepy Pete]

@Muzz, oops, Didn't notice he was looking for an A. Different units use different animals. Here's an A from Barksdale with the hog nose. Indiana has the snake head, the sharkmouth is a Moody thing. Arkansas has a different design for the hog's head.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Creepy Pete
nosebonks are a thing

[Slater]

All A-10A's were originally painted in the grey scheme and went to European 1 in the early 1980's (?). Although I'm not sure if the early FS numbers matched the current scheme.

[CT7567]

5 hours ago, Slater said:

All A-10A's were originally painted in the grey scheme and went to European 1 in the early 1980's (?). Although I'm not sure if the early FS numbers matched the current scheme.

This is only partially correct.  According to noted researcher @Dana Bell the initial production A-10s were delivered in what is usually referred to as the MASK 10 gray scheme (debate exists as to whether this was a two or three color scheme, and the MASK grays did not have FS595 equivalents).

 

During the Warthog's  intial testing and development, a wide variety of camouflage schemes were tested, most notably in the famous JAWS (Joint Attack Weapons Systems) trials that featured several multicolor schemes.

 

JAWS Part I - Hyperscale

 

Following the JAWS trials it was decided that a green-based scheme was most appropriate for the A-10's primary role as a low-level tank hunter in central Europe.  Hence the adoption of the European I scheme of FS 36081 gray and two greens, FS 34092 and FS 34102.  The Euro I scheme was the first one worn by many A-10s, particularly those in US Air National Guard and Reserve units.  This became the standard scheme for all Warthog operators, with exception of PACAF units that painted a small number of FAC assigned aircratf in overall FS 36118 gray and a couple of one-off test schemes in the leadup to Desert Storm.

 

Post-Desert Storm there was a consensus that the Euro I scheme was too dark when viewed from below against the Warthog's primary threats of AAA, SAMs, and MANPADS.  One USAFE unit (IIRC correctly, the 52nd Wing at Spangdalehm, Germany) used the widely available compass ghost grays (FS 36320 over FS 36375) in a *similar* pattern to the original MASK scheme. Later a modified version of this ghost gray scheme was standardized across the A-10 fleet, including a gunship gray (FS 36118) false canopy under the cockpit. This scheme is still in use today, thus standard for all A-10Cs except the one-off special schemes using green over gray as a callback to WWII historic schemes.

Edited April 12, 2020 by CT7567
*Corrected FS reference for Euro I Green

[Slater]

True about the early schemes. Although at Davis-Monthan AFB in the 1978-1980 timeframe, all of our A-10's were grey. I think they were just starting to transition to Euro 1.

[Filler]

For some reason I thought that the A-10 camo scheme was not Euro 1. I thought the three paint combo on the F-4E & Gs  and RF-4Cs was Euro 1. Could anyone clarify this?

[Jabba]

I always thought that the 2 Greens and Dk Grey scheme was known as "Euro 1", and did not matter as to what aircraft that it was applied to.

[Filler]

@Jabba, you’re likely right. I’m probably well off the mark but I thought the A-10 and the Phantoms I mentioned were in different FS colours. But then the B-1 and various cargo aircraft carried the same or similar scheme. They all tended to look slightly different in my eyes. Perhaps more just down to size and shape.

[CT7567]

On 4/20/2020 at 11:20 AM, Filler said:

For some reason I thought that the A-10 camo scheme was not Euro 1. I thought the three paint combo on the F-4E & Gs  and RF-4Cs was Euro 1. Could anyone clarify this?

 

On 4/20/2020 at 2:24 PM, Jabba said:

I always thought that the 2 Greens and Dk Grey scheme was known as "Euro 1", and did not matter as to what aircraft that it was applied to.

 

On 4/20/2020 at 3:39 PM, Filler said:

@Jabba, you’re likely right. I’m probably well off the mark but I thought the A-10 and the Phantoms I mentioned were in different FS colours. But then the B-1 and various cargo aircraft carried the same or similar scheme. They all tended to look slightly different in my eyes. Perhaps more just down to size and shape.

Jabba has this pretty well correct. There are several variations om the green and gray schemes that qualify, some less officially than others, as "European I" camouflage, and a few others that use similar colors but technically have an official name other than Euro I. (For discussion purposes I'm considering "official" as coming from any edition of USAF Tecnical Order 1-1-4, the formal publication documenting all these schemes).  [Source: Dana Bell, USAF Colors & Markings in the 1990s]

 

My understanding is that the A-10 was the first USAF aircraft to adopt the scheme known as "European I" (variations in the scheme used during the tests mentioned in an earlier post on this thread probably account for there being no official "European II" or subsequent schemes).  As noted above, the A-10 scheme uses three colors:

-  FS 36081 (sometimes, and only unofficially, referred to as "Euro I" or "dark gunship gray")

-  FS 34102 (the medium green color used in the earlier Vietnam-era Southeast Asia scheme)

-  FS 34092 (a darker green, unofficially called "Euro I green")

 

Ironically I believe the A-10 was the only type to use this scheme with no color variations, but there were a multitude of types that adopted a similar scheme that replaced the FS36081 dark gray with FS36118, commonly known as "gunship" gray.  This may have originated with Military Airlift Command's transport fleet where the lighter gray reduced issues with cabin heating.  This "gunship variant" of Euro I was worn by types including the C-5, C-141, C-130, C-23, C-27, UH/HH-1, HH/MH-3, HH/MH-53, HH-60, and OV-10.

 

The Phantom's version of Euro I was unique to the F-4 family.  The Southeast Asia scheme had FS 30219 dark tan along with two greens, FS 34079 and FS34102.  Originally SEA scheme undersides were overall FS36622 light gray, later the light gray was replaced with a mirror pattern of the topside colors ("SEA wraparound" scheme). For Euro I Phantoms, the tan in the wraparound scheme was replaced with FS 36081 gray (to my knowledge there was never a Euro I Phantom with the light gray undersides).

 

The B-1B's early service scheme is offficially the "Strategic" camouflage, consisting of FS 34086 green over FS 36118 gray with a disruptive pattern of FS 36081 dark gray over top and bottom.  The same scheme was worn by most of the B-52 fleet (G & H models), and the FB-111A (as the "Dark Vark"). Because of the colors used this is sometimes referred to as a "Euro" scheme, but there's no such reference in any official standards.

[Filler]

@CT7567, thanks for such a detailed and authoritative answer. It’s all a lot clearer now.