W.I.P. P-38J from the 474thFG

[lyric1]

Fencer sent me some great resources (thank you, Fencer!) that help a lot.   Haven't been able to look through them all yet, but this YouTube video was very helpful:



Some color screen captures of another P-38 in the same squad:

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These color images clearly show the "7Y" designation goes with the black triangle and blue spinners.  Although I saw all three squads by tail symbol (square, triangle, circle), I didn't see any red spinners - just blue, yellow, black, and some unpainted spinners.

Was looking at the same videos as you said everything but red. Maybe they standardized colours at some point later on?
Go with blue its hard to debate the video evidence.
I always thought my photo was hard to see a shade of red?

[oboe]

I agree, lyric.  I always thought red showed up as much darker in B&W photos, but that probably stems from my experience with early B&W copiers in the 70s, where red photocopied as black, and light blue literally washed away - remember those old light blue photocopy marking pencils?

Dan (GuppyJr) is another great 474th FG resource; hope he can jump in here.   Another factor may be the fact that this was a hard fighting outfit on the ground going through Hell and High Water.   Whatever command says about "official" colors might have less effect on a frontline outfit in daily contact with the enemy.  Who knows,  they might swap and trade airplanes between squads to even out losses or something, and may not always have time to paint the "official" colors onto the plane.   Not sure.

[lyric1]

Have a profile in one of my books.

[oboe]

Which book is that from?  It looks familiar.

[lyric1]

Which book is that from?  It looks familiar.

American Eagles USAF Colours 2.