"Argentine A-4s in the Falklands War" Topic

My paltry research is coming up with three paint schemes for the Argentine A-4s in use during the Falklands War. (1) Standard USN gull grey over white used by the navy, (2) olive and off white camo over medium grey, and (3) flat earth and olive/dark green camo over light grey – 2 and 3 used by the air force. Is this correct?

a footbal war- that's a bit sad.

It's the offciers that ran away that get on my nerves not the airforce.

Yes – the brown and green camo (3) was Grupo 5, while the olive and grey* (2) was Grupo 4 – they had different camo schemes due to the differing predominant terrain in their "home" areas.

Dom.

* As a PS, the grey and green remains controversial – they were previously a very pale sand and brown, and nobody seems to be quite certain if the switch to the grey and green happened before, during or after the war…. I'm inclined to think the sand and brown is actually correct, not the grey and green, based on photos which appear to be wartime shots, such as on here:

link

That said, this photo, to me at least, looks like grey and olive on the left A-4, and sand and brown on the right hand one, suggesting both in use simultaneously. The blue tail stripes and wing panels indicate it's probably a wartime shot, as these appear to have been painted out quite rapidly after hostilities ended:

The same photo's near the bottom of the thread I've linked to, rather larger.

Wow – that's a tough call, Dom. Some of the pics on the link look grey and green, but at least one looks sand and green. And I have to agree that the two planes do look like differing colors in that particular photo. Thanks! I might just have to get four more A-4s and do another color scheme!

Yeah, it's a surprisingly big can of worms for such a recent and well-photographed conflict….

If you go to the Hyperscale pages there's some pretty good A-4 models there made by Argentinians that also have pretty good references as to colours and sources:

hyperscale.com/index_air_a.htm

A-4C and A-4P:
link

Thanks for the link, BB. Very nice models.

Yeah, it's a surprisingly big can of worms for such a recent and well-photographed conflict….

And yet that won't stop some folks from arguing about how your Westphalian Fusiliers or Punic spearmen are the "wrong" color. ;)

Dredging up an old thread, but is there any more definitive info on this paint color issue?

Does anyone know how the Pucaras were painted, since I imagine that might help nail things down too?

I seem to recall light gray for them – a rather warmish toned, light gray (like a cement color, in some cases).

Looks to me like they used the same paint colors for those as well. Interesting to note the Pucara in camo striping also, since I don't recall seeing that, but it's been a number of years since I've researched those, from back in the day.

In the last pic of the Skyhawks, it's hard for me to tell what colors they are, given the lighting, my monitor, etc.

I can see where they might be the same color (and go either way, e.g. sand/brown, or gray/olive drab, and the Skyhawk that is side on, in the foreground might just look different, due to the clouds/lighting of the photograph.

Since the other Skyhawk is angled away a bit, it might look like a different color, due to the way the light is reflecting off of it.

If pressed to choose only one scheme, I'd have to say it looks to me like they are all light gray/olive drab (or brown), and that the color of the surrounding countryside, and perhaps warm lighting from the sun are making them look a bit more sand-colored – note the shadows underneath the aircraft, which appears to show the sun shining down from above.

The top pic looks light gray, obviously, on what appears to be a cloudy, overcast, or foggy day – note the dampness of the runway, in the foreground too, where a piece of equipment has been recently moved, showing a dry area, and the general lack of aircraft shadows.