G-55 interior colors

[SteveEagle]

Ok, I know this going to open a can of worms, but what is everone's best guess on the cockpit interior color for this aircraft? I know the Tavola 10 would seem to indicate that it should be Grigio Azzuro Chiaro, but does someone have some good info on the G-55. The rebuilt aircraft in de Terlizzi's book on the G-55 shows a yellow zinc chromate type shade, and the instructions would have you use antocorrosion green. I know this attempting to pin down information on a subject that could be lost in antiquity! Your help would be appreciated.

Steve

[lananda]

In my opinion the yellow color is improbable for the following reasons:
1-In any of the relics of shot down G-55 was found evidence of a yellow primer
2-the actual aircraft was rebuilt from a post-war G-59 and the traces of a yellow primer were found on this airframe;
3-the “Bollettino Tecnico informativo” dated October 1941 quotes 3 anticorrosive paints:
-yellow anticorrosive paint produced by CORTI
- grey anticorrosive paint produced by INVES
-green anticorrosive paint produced by Max-Meyer
4-while INVES was surely a FIAT paint supplier, I have no evidence (but I may be wrong) that CORTI and Max-Meyer were too;
Now the worms are running around…..
ciao

[Editor]

This is an excellent post. Agreed, Inves supplied paints to Fiat and lananda's post helps clear-up the use of GAC for Fiat interiors. If you can send me a scan of the “Bollettino Tecnico informativo” I'll add it to the color guide since this is an imprtant piece of information. It would be worth trying to identify the FS number of Inves anti-corrosion gray. Another question arises as to whom Corti was supplying paints; surely none of the main aircraft manufactures (not during WWII anyway) ? Possibly the smaller subsidiaries of Fiat and thus the origins of the post-war G.59 anit-corrosion yellow-chromate cockpits. Great post.

[lananda]

I must precise that my reply is based on an article of Pierluigi Moncalvo that i found in GMPAT website (http://www.gmpat.it/pierluigi moncalvo.html).
I am now triying to contact Moncalvo in order to find a scan of the "Bollettino".
ciao

[lananda]

I have just received an email from Pierluigi Moncalvo with some very interesting notes.
I'll try to translate the contents in my poor english...
New evidences have almost overturned the situation, in particulary the fragments of the aircraft flown by Serg. Biagini.
Digging out the wrecks of this aircraft was found a piece of the canopy with traces of yellow paint near the opening handle.
Mr. Walter De Paoli, who directly examinated some fragments, says that:
-the fuselage interior was unpainted;
-the rear gear strut was painted grey-green similar to the german RLM 02
-the main frames , longherons and the wheel hubs were pained grey
-cockpit was painted yellow similar to zinch cromate
-propeller: a pale green (near to white) come out under the black coat
-engine: gloss black
-engine mounts: natural metal (alluminium)
-other parts of the airframe covering but not precisely indentified were painted light grey
These notes were intended to be an update to the article written by Moncalvo that i mentioned some days ago but in fact were never published on GMPAT website.
In conclusion (even though the word conclusion is quite inappropriate when talking of italian ww2 colors) the only certain thing is that there is no trace of “Verde Anticorrosione”in the cockpit of the G-55.
I'm sending to the webmaster the copy of the “Bollettino”.
Ciao