night colors in US Navy aircraft cockpits in WWII

[michaelvader]

Hallo friends,

can some one tell me which was the colors in aircraft cockpits of the USN?
I mean which colors had the instruments when light was on, and which was the flood light for the cockpit?
I'm in the finishing phase for the F7F-1 panel and believe that the original reddish color would not match reality, perhaps I'm
wrong.
Thank you in advance
Yours
Papi

 

[Mick]

Hi Papi,

When the WW2 generation of aircraft was developed it wasn't expected that they'd be used for night operations, or even flown after dark except in rare circumstances. Panel lighting would be mostly meant for use in dimly lit daytime conditions or around dawn and dusk. Once night operations were considered and special models of aircraft were developed for the purpose, some changes were made to the cockpit lighting. I don't have any general information, but I found something specific to the F4U-2 Corsair night fighter that might apply to other types as well.

In the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society (Spring 1973), in an article about the development of the F4U-2, Richard Abrams wrote, "Panel illumination was changed from white to red lighting since red would not affect the pilot's dark adaptation. A reflector panel with cutouts for the various instruments covered the instrument panel, and for illumination, small red 28-volt lamps were installed in the instrument panel. Thus the red light was concentrated around the periphery of the instruments by beveling the cutouts around the instruments."

"The location and markings of instruments were changed ... and a number of markings visible on the instruments was was reduced to cut down on the 'clutter' at night. This was accomplished by painting non-essential markings green, since green is effectively black when illuminated with red light and therefore invisible to the eye at night."

There is no mention of cockpit flood lighting. I would guess that there must have been some sort of light for reading maps and so forth, but I'm not certain. If there was any kind of flood lighting it must have also been red, since any other color would ruin the pilot's night vision.

This is specific to the F4U-2 and I have no information as to whether this became standard on other aircraft meant for night operations, but it seems very likely that it did.

Abrams mentions nothing about interior surface colors, and they were probably not changed. If memory serves me correctly, the interior colors of naval aircraft during WW2 were zinc chromate green or interior green below the canopy rails, with black above the canopy rails and on the instrument panel and consoles. This standard would seem very suitable for night operations so I don't suppose it was changed.

I hope this helps.

 

[michaelvader]

Hallo friends,

thank you Mick for your complete and instructive answer.
With that Ibelieve to have a very nice outcome on my next panels.
Yours
Papi

 

[stansdds]

Before the introduction of the reflector panel and red lighting for night fighters, most instrument illumination was UV flood lights and instruments painted with radium paint. Based on the pilot's manuals, it does look like the F7F used the reflector panel system.

 

[Mick]

Before the introduction of the reflector panel and red lighting for night fighters, most instrument illumination was UV flood lights and instruments painted with radium paint. Based on the pilot's manuals, it does look like the F7F used the reflector panel system.

I think you must be right, since the F4U-2 was an early wartime project, and the F7F came along much later. I would think that what was developed for the F4U-2 was probably also used on the F6F and F7F night fighters, and on night attack versions of the TBM and SB2C, but I don't have documentation to prove it.

 

[michaelvader]

Hallo friends,

for the moment my night colors for the F7F-1 panel are so that the gauges have light green shine , like phosphor. And in the cockpit there is a very light red shine.
I believe that this could be right for the F-1, for the the F-3, the later model especially the nightfighter also the instruments should have a red shine.
Do you think that I'm right?
If not, please tell me. I hope to be able to release the panel for the F-1 next week end.
Yours
Papi

 

[Mick]

Hallo friends,

for the moment my night colors for the F7F-1 panel are so that the gauges have light green shine , like phosphor. And in the cockpit there is a very light red shine.
I believe that this could be right for the F-1, for the the F-3, the later model especially the nightfighter also the instruments should have a red shine.
Do you think that I'm right?
If not, please tell me. I hope to be able to release the panel for the F-1 next week end.
Yours
Papi

Hi Papi,

According to the reference material, the instruments should look rather different in the daytime and at night. To simplify the appearance of the panel at night, non-essential markings on the instruments were painted green so that they would be invisible at night in red light. They certainly weren't phosphor or anything else that would glow - that would ruin the purpose of making them invisible at night!

The essential markings would be left white, which would be visible at night, but would look red in the red light.

In the daytime, the essential markings would look white and the non-essential markings would look green. At night, with the red instrument lighting, the essential markings would look red and the non-essential ones would be completely invisible.

The question I can not answer is which markings were considered essential and non-essential. I'm sure that the needles were essential, and probably the labels ("ASI," "Altitude," and so forth.) I would expect that key values such as stall speed, VNE speed, approach speed on the ASI were probably considered essential. Perhaps on the the VSI, the zero mark would be considered essential, and maybe a few key values like + or - 500 FPM, but I'm guessing here.

I have no idea whether the day fighter versions had the same panels as the night fighters. The day fighters weren't expected to fly night missions, but they surely must have been expected to launch before dawn or land after dark on occasion. Maybe they had the same panel features, maybe not.

I think the only way to discover that sort of detail would be to ask someone who flew Tigercat night fighters. I wonder if anyone here knows any Tigercat night fighter veterans?

Addendum:

The Squadron/Signal F7F In Action book has a photo of an F7F-3N panel. It's black & white, but all the instrument markings look the same, and the look like they're all probably white. So maybe there were no green markings on F7F night fighter panels. That would simplify your task! But even if all the markings were white, they would still look white by day and red by night.

Thanks to Mr Google, I found a copy of that photo on line:

 

[TARPSBird]

You'll notice on that F7F-3N panel the gauges are recessed behind a shield and edge-lighted by small lamps. I'm willing to bet it's all red illumination, at least on the 3N.

 

[Mick]

You'll notice on that F7F-3N panel the gauges are recessed behind a shield and edge-lighted by small lamps. I'm willing to bet it's all red illumination, at least on the 3N.

Yes, I'm sure that's exactly right. It would be the same basic set-up as they developed for the F4U-2, but without the complication of making some of the less essential markings green to make them disappear at night.

I suppose they determined with experience that pilots could cope with having all the markings visible all the time. I can say that in my limited experience as a RW pilot, I never found it confusing to have all the instrument markings visible at night, so I'm sure that the Navy's far better trained and far more experienced pilots could handle it. Gotta wonder why anyone thought it would be a problem to begin with. Probably some engineer who wasn't a pilot.

I don't even know how to make them white in the daytime and red at night, but I seem to recall panels that worked that way, so I guess there's a way. It's beyond my understanding though.