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Talked to a guy from the base that says he was at Edwards in 1975 for 90 days to help with the testing of the A-10. He said they were trying several different colors because they couldn't decide what to use. He said there were 5 jets on the ramp and were painted Black, Purple/maroon, Primer green, and I don't remember the other two? He said it looked like a rainbow on the ramp!

My question is........
If this is true, does anyone have a picture of this?
I would love to see it?

Hmmm.. black hawgs goes back to something that an old commander told me years ago about a plan to assign A-10's to Spec Ops and with the hogs coming to Moody makes one wonder if it's finaly coming true.

capche-capche da - we go forward together

Faugh ah Ballaugh -Clear The Way-

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Faugh ah Ballaugh ~ Clear the Way

I've seen pics of the green, assuming it's the same green one, almost an OD. Is it possible the "black" was actually the gunship gray they used on the A-7's?

There is always hope-- only because it's the one thing no one has figured out how to kill... yet.

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Talked to a guy from the base that says he was at Edwards in 1975 for 90 days to help with the testing of the A-10. He said they were trying several different colors because they couldn't decide what to use. He said there were 5 jets on the ramp and were painted Black, Purple/maroon, Primer green, and I don't remember the other two? He said it looked like a rainbow on the ramp!
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I remember this too. All six of the DT&E airplanes had different paint schemes. And none of them looked like the major production scheme we called "European I". For a while, the prototypes were also at Edwards and those two also had different paint from each other. I had a flight line photo of 3 DT&E jets and the two prototypes at Edwards in 1975 but it is long lost. There is a black and white version of it on pg 18 in the book "The Great Book of Modern Warplanes" by Bill Sweetman et al. The #1 DT&E (tail number 31664) is in the picture as a single seater as it was not converted to two seats until years later. The other jets in the pic were 11369, 11370, 31666 and 31667. Other recollections are that the 664 jet had a uniform charcoal black paint job while 665 had several shades of light grey flat paint that really got dirty fast because it was the gun test ship. I think it was 31666 that had this precious light green color you interior decorator types would die for. At least one of them had a false canopy painted on the bottom of the fuselage. Other experiments were tried elsewhere like the leopard style I have only seen in "JAWS" war games videos. Like I said, none of these schemes were on production jets. We delivered most of them in "European I". The drawings for "European I" were done by a guy I knew personally, and to him it was just another grey scheme. He was red green color blind.

THE RAMPTOR ENGINEERING TEAM <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"

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????

Thanks for the info! you've confirmed the story. Now I need to find a color pic if one exists somewhere?

I have forwarded your question to one of the pilots who was there during the period...hopefully he will come back with the definitive answer....he was pictured in one of Dice's Fairchild-Republic newsletters on the Forum a month or so ago! Cheers

Col R. C. Lemon

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On God's wing, to Heaven i fly.

Thanks!!

I just won a copy of "A-10 color and markings" on Ebay which I should have in a week or so, maybe something in there.

Ugly But Well Hung

I'm pretty sure Don Logan shot all the variations as he was also based at Nellis in that time-frame and also shot the jets at Edwards, I'm guessing they were Nellis jets detached to Edwards. I think they are in his A-10 book.

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Talked to a guy from the base that says he was at Edwards in 1975 for 90 days to help with the testing of the A-10. He said they were trying several different colors because they couldn't decide what to use. He said there were 5 jets on the ramp and were painted Black, Purple/maroon, Primer green, and I don't remember the other two? He said it looked like a rainbow on the ramp!

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I looked through Don's book (thanks for the reminder Gunsmoke) and found a few pics that might explain a few of the "colors". I found one of 71-1370 painted in gunship gray with white outer-wings and vert. stabs. This one looks black because of the contrast between the two colors but I didn't find a "black" one. It was also painted gunship gray without the white and it also looks black in the photos.

Purple/marron and primer green I have not found. There were tests done with a number of different grays known as A-10 mask (from 40% to 80% "mask"). From Don's book it seems these schemes could look different colors, like green, depending on the lighting.

I'll see what's in my "colors and markings book when it arrives.

Ugly But Well Hung

I've got a question. After the offical switch to the current gray shades did the European I ever make a comeback? Were there any Hawgs say painted in European I for a short time and then painted back or was the switch done once unit by unit?

I thought they were done as they cycled through depot and their full PMB, that's why it took 6 years, or a little over, to get the CAF done. I know the last few Euro schemes were in Osan and I believe they didn't finnish until around 2002.

Ugly But Well Hung

I think they did the grey paint when the jets went through the LASTE mod in the early 90's.

Coach

Thx for the confirmation Dice. I thought my memory was faulty for seeing a green one flying in Kuwait in early 02.