Simviation Forum - I have a question.

Aug 9^th, 2005 at 5:53pm

Martini Offline
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Why are military planes - here and in real life - painted in the green camo? Doesn't that stand out?What's the point of using camo if it makes you more visible? Please explain.

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Reply #1 - Aug 9^th, 2005 at 6:02pm

C Offline
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Depends on where the aircraft are being viewed from. From above, traditionally green was quite good. Most military combat aircraft are now painted shades of medium/dark grey (certainly all front line types that I can think of at this time of night in the RAF and USAF (F-117A excepted)). With modern air defence capabilities camouflage is no longer as crucial as it used to be anyway.

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Reply #2 - Aug 9^th, 2005 at 6:06pm

Martini Offline
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Yeah, good point.

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Reply #3 - Aug 9^th, 2005 at 6:46pm

beaky Offline
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If you look at the old-school military planes, they're camoflauged much the same way birds and fish are- dark and mottled earth-tones (green or brown) on top, light on the bottom. The idea wasn't so much to be less conspicuous to other planes at the same altitude; it was to be hard to see from above or below.

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Reply #4 - Aug 9^th, 2005 at 6:49pm

Martini Offline
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Another good point. I guess if a plane was flying level with you, no amout of camo could make you miss it unless it was quite far away.

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Reply #5 - Aug 10^th, 2005 at 10:21am

Hagar Offline
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It would also depend on the terrain you're operating over. No point in flying over the Libyan desert in camo designed to merge with fields & trees over Europe or vice versa. In some areas like the Eastern Front in WWII they had summer & winter schemes. Naval aircraft are almost always painted dark blue on the upper surfaces as they normally operate over the ocean.

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Reply #6 - Aug 10^th, 2005 at 10:44am

Jakemaster Ex Member

Camo is still used. Like the Israeli airforce has a desert camo on their planes. I think that using camo now doesn't make much sense for huge world powers because they fight all over, and so they would have to repaint constantly. But for the IAF, they fly in israel and surrounding area, where it is all desert.

By the way, I am huge "israeli pride" because I am jewish, so that Is why I use them for an example, but Im sure other forces do similar things.

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Reply #7 - Aug 14^th, 2005 at 11:35am

Sytse Offline
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Cammo doesn't work when flying. Because it doesn't matter what colour you paint the darn things, when viewing from a distance (like in combat), they'll always show up as white. Except if they're painted black, but that's easier to spot during day times.
The only time cammo works on a plane is when it's on the ground. So they aren't too easy to spot for recon planes or any other flying thing that wants to see them.

&&Virtual Red Arrows homepage

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Reply #8 - Aug 14^th, 2005 at 4:52pm

Ivan Offline
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Quote:

Camo is still used. Like the Israeli airforce has a desert camo on their planes. I think that using camo now doesn't make much sense for huge world powers because they fight all over, and so they would have to repaint constantly. But for the IAF, they fly in israel and surrounding area, where it is all desert.

By the way, I am huge "israeli pride" because I am jewish, so that Is why I use them for an example, but Im sure other forces do similar things.

IDF has desert camo with light grey bottom (lighter than NATO)
NATO has standard non-reflective greys
Russia has various schemes depending on plane type and region. Usually Flanker is 3-tone blue, MiG-29 is dark grey or green and ground attack is colored according to the terrain where its base is.

Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones), Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here

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