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Re: OV-1 Color Question

From: Chuck Ross
Date: 2/18/2006
Time: 12:37:53 PM
Remote Name: 24.205.110.143

Comments

Well, I searched my own memory but found photographs to be more reliable.

The 244th Mohawks were flat OD with "subdued" titles and tail numbers in flat black. They had a flat black "anti-glare panel" below the windshield. They had the white "Delta Hawk" delta on top the inboard section of the left wing - between the engine and fuselage. This was a white equilateral triangle with a horizontal "missing" stripe starting halfway up the triangle and extending to about 3/4 the height of it. So picture a triangle but you can only see the bottom half and the top one quarter.

The area of nacelle just aft of the engine exhaust was always stained flat gray, almost black, from soot from the engine exhaust.

The landing gear struts were OD, but of course the sliding part of the strut was shiny sliver. The top of the flaps were dark red only on the parts that would be covered by the trailing edge of the wing when the flaps were retracted. I believe this was so you could tell at a glance if any flaps were extended.

To be sure you know what I mean, "flaps" ONLY refers to the high-lift devices on the trailing edge of the inboard section of the wings. So the ailerons, which are outboard of those did not have the red paint on them. If you are building the model with the flaps retracted, as, in flight, you needn't bother with the red.

The flap ends, and up inside the wheel wells were zinc chromate, which is a light to medium yellow-green. This same color can be seen on the "hidden" sheet metal parts of just about any large airplane - inside service access doors etc. I'm pretty sure the area inside the speedbrakes was also this zinc chromate but there is some chance it was red.

The interior: The instrument panel was flat gray, to the best of my recollection, about 20% or 30% gray. On some Mohawks the inside of the windshield posts might have been painted flat black. The instrument panel itself had many "front mounted" gauges which were black bakelite so the overall appearance was almost black on the pilot side. There were fewer gauges over on the right observers side so more gray showed.

For some additional guidance, go to www.airliners.net Go to their "photo search" page.

Under "Aircraft Type" use the dropdown menu and click on "other Grumman" Come down to "Keywords" and type in "mohawk" and leave "in all fields" selected. Optionally, come down to "sort by" and select "Year (oldest first)"

You should get about 48 Mohawk pictures. None of them will have been taken in Vietnam but some are typical of the era. This will give you tons of details like the upside-down triangle by the cockpit that indicates an ejection seat, the vertical warning stripe on the fuselage aligned with the propeller arc and so on.

I confirmed some of this information from their pictures but some from my own pictures. The only 244th plane I have a picture of is the one Major Hattori crashed into the Bassac. It was reassembled in the revetments and I took a picture of the wreckage while taxiing by one day.

You may also google OV-1 and Mohawk and see what you get.

Hope this helps.

Last changed: February 18, 2006