Chief, Mat. Div., directs immediate effect of Mil. Req. Policy No. 15, November 23, 1943

The Chief of Mat. Div. (Wash.) in a letter dated November 23,1943, to the Chief of Staff, Mat, Com. WF, directed that Mil. Req. Pol. No. 15, issued November 19,1943 (see entry above) would be placed in immediate effect. All aircraft would be produced in accordance with the policy, with the exception of those allotted to China and the Soviet Union. Those aircraft were to be delivered with the standard Army aircraft camouflage.

Eighth Air Service Command requests information on gloss black enamel, November 25,1943.

The Eighth Air Force Service Command in England requested all available information on a new gloss black enamel for night bombers. This was reputed to render aircraft invisible for 80% of the time at 13,000 feet while in searchlight beams. Mat. Com.(WF) replied on November 25,1943, giving them detailed instructions for removing old camouflage paint and applying the new gloss black paint.

New Army-Navy Aeronautical Bulletin No. 166 lists the standard colors for gloss finishes, December 4,1943.

The second color standard to be issued as a result of the J AC meetings was the new Army-Navy ANA Bulletin No. 166, dated December 4, 1943. This listed the following names and numerical designations for glossy finishes:

Under paragraph 2, it was stated that the sets of porcelain enamel panels entitled Army-Navy Aircraft Color Standards were to be used as standard for the colors listed herein. The title of these standards was now changed to read: Army-Navy Aircraft Color Standards (Glossy).

This actually meant that there was no change in any of the colors, but new sets of color chips eventually replaced the original porcelain plates (issued in September, 1938), which were getting very scarce. Note that the Olive Drab did not change its shade, unlike the camouflage color called out in ANA Bulletin No. 157 (described earlier; see Chapter 7 for full details).