Jump to content

Douglas O-34/B7 Colour schemes


JOCKNEY

Recommended Posts

I have always had an interest in this rather awkward looking aircraft, so now that I have one to build, I would like to know more about which colour schemes it used.

Some of the interwar American paint jobs were very colourful, bright blue and yellow being the first to come to mind, so the brighter the better for this one.

Any help or advice appreciated.

Cheers Pat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of the time it would have been in olive drab and yellow, which I think a striking combination.

 

The change to blue fuselages came in 1934, and after the Air Mail fiasco, a few of these remained in service till 1938, and probably had blue fuselages when they retired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jay Miller did a monograph on the history of ANG aircraft many years back in the Aerophile/Aerograph series, and it might have had some good photos or discussion of the colors applied to  ANG O-38's, but I'm betting they were all either OD/yellow or blue/yellow, as stated above. I can check my copy to see if there's anything useful to you. The  AFM has an O-38 they recovered from Alaska and restored many years ago- IIRC it was covered in an issue of Wings or Air Classics. See the linked history and photos. Note the international orange on the cowling, fin, and fuselage band.

Mike

 

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197394/douglas-o-38f/

Edited by 72modeler
added text, added link
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe there were examples of the B-7 used in camouflage experiments involving the use of purple, with other colours.  I suspect this will be in Dana Bell's book on USAAC/F colours from Signal and probably also in the Monogram book on prewar USAAC.  More interesting than even the bright pre-war standard schemes, and certainly rarer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Well, I feel pretty stupid! I just now noticed that the query was about the O-34, not the O-38! I am so sorry! These old Mk 1a eyeballs ain't what they used to be! :sorry:

Mike

Relax Mike

 

I immediately assumed I had referenced the wrong aircraft, a perfect display of my limited knowledge of this era !

 

Thanks very much for link, it will be really useful in the future.

 

 Cheers Pat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...