Puma 50 Year Paint Scheme

[wellsprop]

Hi all, just seen this on Facebook

 

https://www.facebook.com/377763476127/posts/10157913743426128/

 

Heres the RAF link for those who don't have Facebook

 

https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/stations/raf-benson/news/puma-50th-anniversary-paint-scheme-unveiled/

 

I for one, think it looks absolutely superb. I love the retro colour scheme and the subtle Union flag. It's almost made the Puma look good 😂

 

I doubt this one will cause as much debate as the union flag Typhoon did! (personally, I really dislike the Typhoons scheme). 

[junglierating]

Ok I like it....nod to the fleets past and a subtle union flag unlike the typhoon....i agree with you Wellprop😀

Lights blue touchpaper and stands back 🥳

[Alpha Delta 210]

Very smart. I really like it.

[Des]

Like that one !!

 

Nice use of the retro colour scheme and the Union Flag is tastefully done.

[PLC1966]

Proper colours on the Puma again.  Lovely.

[speedy]

Yep like that, the best scheme I think.

[Red Dot]

Very stylish, but it didn't take much thinking about did it?

 

Andy

[tonyot]

I like the Puma,..... but that is the way they looked when I flew in them,..... nice to see a retro scheme and the union flagf looks great too. Still a brilliant camouflage scheme, especially over built up areas. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by tonyot

[exdraken]

Union Jack seems the way to go currently!

 

but I really like the camo!

 

wonder why camo is out of fashion with some.... I'd always assume with helicopters it'd be relevant ...

 

France, Spain Italy, Sweden, ISrael, Australia... all use heavily camouflaged helicopters...

wonder why others go with drab or grey only... (only maintenance cost related?)

[Graham Boak]

Drab, and even grey at times (notably air-to-air), is a camouflage.  Not all camouflages are multi-colour.  It's partly a matter of combining or compromising different principles: are you using it to hide or are you using it to distract?  A single colour, apart from its advantages in mass production (less important nowadays) and cost, is usually better at hiding: reducing the distance at which the aircraft can be seen.  When a pattern is used, it is in order to distract or confuse the enemy, making it more difficult to to judge your identity,  speed and/or direction.  Sometimes these two principles are better combined, at other times not.

 

Camouflage is a fascinating subject full of subtleties - or sometimes misunderstandings - but there's certainly more to it than maintenance costs.  Even when principles are abandoned, as in the use of gloss paint because of "parade" purposes, maintenance is not usually prime. After all, in the armed services, traditionally the one thing to avoid in peacetime is doing nothing, and maintenance is perhaps more legitimate for this than other ideas that occur.