As I'm about to embark on a floatplane build for in the 'Midway 75th' group, I was really interested in comments by Tom Cleaver - as ever a mine of info - on Louis Gardner's excellent Rufe build:

1/48 Hasegawa Nakajima built A6M2-N “Rufe” Type 2 float plane

I have been reading around IJN paints and painting and it is often as clear as mud. There is a massive and conflicting amount of info. I have read that the chipping often related to whether primer had been used at all (in early aluminium airframes if often hadn't and some artist impressions of bi-colour camo are probably a mistaken interpretation of extensive chipping!); whether alclad coating had been applied (Japanese importation of Alclad slowed dramatically quite early in the war however - last import of Alclad mid-1940) - which slowed corrosion but possibly not 'chipping'; and whether the type of corrosion had started between the paint and the airframe or at exposed metal surfaces - there are several types of corrosion possible. It is highly likely that many planes were inspected daily and cleaned and treated as appropriate (Tom's point I think). Aluminium alloys corrode faster in salt air, relatively pure aluminium (as with alclad coating) may be much more stable - in such cases structural weakening can be relatively slow to develop, so treatments can be different and might include paint stripping and polishing with abrasives (which, I am guessing could also look like chipping?). Did any alclad make it onto prototypes or mass built Rufes? Very difficult to know definitively. So, there are a wide number of variables in play here. Not least that planes painted green 'in the field' (perhaps like this one) were much more likely to chip/peel than glossy grey versions. What would be seen underneath the peeling/chipping (and what can be gleaned from B/W photos - a science in itself) is also relatively tough call with ever more variables (the primer was also a red-brown colour, rust-like). Salt crust can also be washed off to some extent - so the amount of rain experienced is yet another factor. Constant freshwater on a plane would again change the weathering. Then there is the age of the paint, 'Chalking' and thermal effects to take into account. Other corrosion coatings were also used. I commented earlier that Louis' build looks great and the techniques are wonderfully well executed. I totally stick by that. I'm not currently convinced that there is a definitive answer as to whether more 'chipping' (peeling) would occur or whether a more corroded look would be appropriate in all cases. A blend of both is plausible, and it is probably quite safe to say that there is a significant difference between green and grey painted aircraft? I have added some Rufe pictures, which are not Midway related, to stimulate the discussion!

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I'm no expert by any stretch, but my observations for the carrier aircraft involved in the operations around Midway Island would be that the weathering on Japanese aircraft would be very slight. The aircraft aboard the American carriers is a more mixed bag. For the Hornet and Enterprise the Wildcats and SBD's would be virtually new aircraft, their TBD's however would be showing 6 months hard if well cared for use, e.g. paint starting to fade etc. For the Yorktown, it's a whole different can of worms. When the Yorktown reached Pearl Harbor, Air Group 5, less Bombing 5, was put ashore and replaced with Saratoga's Air Group 3 less Scouting 3. Air Group 3 had been preforming patrol duties around Hawaii after Saratoga returned to the States to have torpedo damage repaired. Bombing 5 was re-designated Scouting 5 and, as I understand it, brought up to strength with aircraft from the original Scouting 5. The photos that have survived of Yorktown SBD's show fairly worn and faded paint. I'm pretty confident that Bombing 3 already had "new-ish" SBD-3's drawn out of Hawaiian Depot stocks and would be showing some weathering, call it in between Scouting 5's hard used planes and VB-6's showroom finishes, Torpedo 3's TBD's I don't believe would be as weathered as VT-6 & VT-8's aircraft, since they had been shore based for most of 1942. As for Fighting 3's F4F-4's I'm going to go with my best guess that they would have a mix of lightly used and new aircraft, lightly used because the F4F-4 was just reaching the Fleet and VF-3 being at Pearl Harbor would get them early on and new aircraft because just before Midway Carrier fighter squadrons were increased from 18 to 27 aircraft. So all of this and .50¢ won't buy you a bottle of paint but I've read everything thing I could get my hands on about Midway, concentrating mostly on the USS Yorktown and the SBD's. So I put this out in the spirit of discussion and sharing "knowledge" and I hope those who may know more or have more accurate information will chime in as well.

Hi Paul,

My take on the appearance of the Japanese carrier aircraft is admittedly conjecture based on several things, the high quality of paint and level of finish on IJN aircraft at that point in the war, the high quality of the maintenance personnel aboard, and the high level of esprit de corps in the Kido Butai. The IJN carrier fleet had been in frequent hard fighting from the first day of the Pacific War, but the Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, & Soryu were the 1st & 2nd Carrier Divisions and were the "Cream of the cream" of Japanese Naval Aviation, and at the risk of "stereotyping" if there was ever an outfit where perfection was the minimum standard it would have been the "Killing Sword" of the Imperial Fleet in 1942.

Bernard, you're right about the "victory disease" blinkering their thinking about the quality of the U.S. Navy. I don't remember where I read it but after Coral Sea, the scuttlebutt in the ready rooms was that if "the sons of concubines", the aircrews of CarDiv 5, could sink one fleet carrier just think what "legitimate sons" will do. Ignored and possibly deliberately suppressed was the fact that the "hapless Americans" had sunk one carrier, put another in the repair yard for months and decimated the air group of a third. It was "Shattered Sword" that finally resolved for me the question of why the Shōkaku's air group wasn't embarked on Zuikaku to get her back in the fight, just as Saratoga's air group was sent aboard Yorktown. Turned out that all those years that we assumed that the IJN carriers operated much the same as the USN, we couldn't have been more wrong. Unlike US Carriers were the air groups were complete units with pilots, crew, maintenance, & support staff which where effectively "super cargo" aboard whatever ship they were on, in the IJN the air group was part of ship's company just like engineering or gunnery, and couldn't just be sent lock stock and barrel to another ship. To my mind it would have been simply a matter of transferring aircraft and aircrew and possibly some support personnel to replace any casualties, maybe 3-400 people total. As air minded as ADM Yamamoto was one would have thought he would have seen this as a way to get a fifth fleet carrier into the fight, but fortunately the need wasn't perceived, or if it was, the inertia that was becoming apparent in the IJN command & staff could not be overcome.

Bernard, I think with your mention of "face" that you've touched on the intangibles that make this such a fascinating battle. New information especially from newly translated Japanese sources, that have changed completely our understanding of the conduct of the battle, to some extent why things happened as they did. Likewise critical analysis of the actions of some of the American Commanders during and after the battle leaves little doubt that some careers that should have been ended were allowed to continue or advanced even in the face of continuing mediocrity. No Names, No Pack Drill

the ansswer to the weathering is, "it depends." On Enterprise, the SBD-3s of VB-6 wre brand new two months out of the factory when they arrived on Ford Island. Dick Best told me "they were the cleanest airplanes I ever flew in the Navy." VS-6's SBD-3s on the other hand had been operational since the January raids, and would have been sunfaded, though the maintenance crews would have been sure to keep paint on any aluminum dings. Same for VT-6's TBD-1s they'd been using for a year. VF-6's F4F-4s had arrived in the squadron just before the Tokyo raid and would have been almost as clean as the SBD-3s in VB-6.

Yorktown's scratch air group would have been airplanes that had "been around."

Hornet's air group was still pretty much "peacetime clean," they hadn't seen a lot of use on the Doolittle Raid.

The airplanes of Kido Butai would have been very well maintained. the paint used at that time was very resistant to salt-air corrosion, the Zekes and Vals and Kates would have still been mostly satin-glossy and no dings.

The airplanes in the photo above are all 1945, and are all post 1943 (at the oldest) and would have been as poorly maintained as they look. They look nothing like what the Midway airplanes would have looked like.

HTH

That's a very accurate analysis above, Rick (it helps it's similar to mine 🙂 )

One other thought - the Marine airplanes were clapped out. the F2As had been there since December 20 1941, baking away in the sun and the salt air. Same for the Vindicators (their fabric was coming loose, they hadn't been in great shape when they arrived). The SBD-2s were all VB-6's cast-offs from Enteprise's early actions and would have "been around." Same for the F4F-3s.