The Cold War Begins...and so does the Jet Age!

    After the fall of the Third Reich, Russia decided to impose its version of government on the city of Berlin. Russian troops created a blockade of all road and rail traffic into and out of the city. The newly-formed United States Air Force decided to assist the beleaguered city by forming the largest airlift in history-what would go down in the history books as the Berlin Airlift.

    Thus began the Cold War.

    After World War Two, the United States and Russia had the two most powerful air forces in the world. In the latter years of the war, jet aircraft had been developed, and now they were coming into service in greater numbers. U.S. Air Force aircraft remained in bare metal, with colorful unit markings. Naval aircraft remained in their overall dark sea blue livery. The nationality marking was changed once again to what we are all familiar with today, the stars and bars; the addition was red stripes in the white strips on either side of the star. Even when the Korean War broke out in 1950, U.S. military aircraft remained uncamouflaged.

    When the Korean War ended, the threat of nuclear war loomed over the world. Air Force aircraft remained in natural metal; this served to reflect the flash and heat of a nuclear blast. Air Force nuclear bombers were painted with white undersides, for the same reason. Army aircraft were painted overall olive drab, and remain so to this day. Naval aircraft began to be painted gloss medium gray topsides and gloss white undersides, with large national insignia and brightly colored unit markings.

    When hostilities began to erupt in a small country called Viet Nam, it became evident again for the need to camouflage Air Force aircraft. As the conflict progressed, all Air Force fighter and attack aircraft received what became known as the SEA Scheme (SEA stood for South East Asia). This color scheme consisted of olive drab, medium green, and brown topsides, and light gray undersides, and remained in use until the 1980s. Naval aircraft remained in their gloss medium gray and gloss white schemes until the early to mid 1980s.

    From post-Viet-Nam to present day, camouflage schemes have changed dramatically. The SEA Scheme gave away to an overall camouflage scheme known as European One. This consisted of two tones of green and a dark charcoal gray applied in a random pattern over all the aircraft. This was seen on Air National Guard (ANG) F-4s, as well as active, ANG, and Air Force Reserve A/OA-10, C-130, C-141, and C-5 aircraft. This camouflage was very effective over Europe. This gave away to overall dark gray on all transport aircraft; Air Force fighter and attack aircraft are now sporting a two-tone gray color scheme that varies depending on the type of aircraft it is applied to. All nationality markings have been subdued.

    Naval aircraft camouflage has also undergone a radical transformation over the years. Gone are the days of brightly colored unit and personal markings. Naval aircraft nowadays are painted two to three different shades of gray (sometimes the colors are hard to distinguish), with very subdued nationality insignia and unit markings.