Unlike other countries, the Netherlands had real centralized paint system such as the German RLM or the American ANA. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any unity between different aircraft types. It does however make it impractical to create a table with all the paints used. Therefore each individual scheme has it’s own little table with the paints used.
Disclaimer: As with all pages of this type, the colours shown are an approximation. Monitors can change the colour displayed and don’t account for shading and glossiness. In reality these colours would also fade over time, and different batches could deviate quite a bit from the ‘official’ colour.
Land based aircraft
During the 2nd world war the Dutch had two armies, each with their own air force; the LVA, which fought in The Netherlands themselves and the ML-KNIL, which fought in the Dutch Indies. Each had their own camouflage scheme.
LVA pre 1938 scheme
Before early 1938, aircraft of the LVA were painted in a camouflage consisting of a khaki topside and blue bottom side.
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| LVA Khaki | Khaki | FS-14064* RAL 6014 |
HTK-A193 | |||
| Upper surface camouflage of early aircraft select training and reconnaissance aircraft |
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| LVA Blauw | sky blue | FS-15189* RAL 5018 |
HTK-A332 | |||
| Lower surface camouflage or early aircraft Overall colour of training aircraft |
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| Used | ||
| Koolhoven FK-31 | Koolhoven FK-46 | Koolhoven Fk-49 |
| Koolhoven Fk-51 | Koolhoven Fk-56 | Focke Wulf Fw-58 |
| Fokker D.XVII | Fokker D.XVI | Bücker Bu-131 |
| Fokker G.1 (prototype) | Fokker T.IX (prototype, khaki overall) |
LVA Bruin-Beige-Groen
This Brown-Beige-Green camouflage is probably the most iconic Dutch camouflage. It was used by the Luchtvaartafdeling der Koninklijke Landmacht (LVA), the army air force. The switch to this new camouflage occured with the introduction of the Fokker T.V, early 1938. Planes introduced before weren’t repainted.
It is not completely clear why the underside of the planes were painted brown. Theories exist, such as it is because the LVA believed the colour to be less visible when caught in searchlights. Quite the odd choice to paint all aircraft in a night camouflage, when none where optimized for night operations.
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| Camouflage Bruin | Dark Brown | FS-10059 | H-047 C-041 |
70.985 | HTK-A087 | |
| Upper and Lower surface camouflage | ||||||
| Camouflage Beige | Sandy Brown | FS-16360 | H-336 C-336 |
70.979 | HTK-A074 | |
| Upper surface camouflage | ||||||
| Camouflage Groen | Dark Green | FS-14077 | H-330 C-330 |
HTK-A246 | ||
| Upper surface camouflage | ||||||
| Grijs Anodiseergrijs |
gray | FS-16320 RAL 7001 |
H-307 C-307 |
HTK-A201 | ||
| Cockpit and fuselage interiors | ||||||
| Used | Planned | Possible |
|---|---|---|
| Fokker D.XXI | Dornier Do-215 (order of 24 machines) | Schelde S.21 (prototype under construction) |
| Fokker D.XXIII | Koolhoven Fk.58 (36 machines ordered) | Fokker G.2 (prototype under construction) |
| Fokker G.I | Fokker T.IX (interst shown in prototype) | |
| Fokker T.V | ||
| Douglas DB-8A-3N |
ML-KNIL Jong blad / oud blad
The Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger (ML-KNIL), the Military Airforce of the Royal Dutch Indian Army, used it’s own colour scheme. It consisted of a green and olive drab upper side with a matt aluminium underside. With the Marin 139 and the Curtiss Hawk, only the underside of the wings, excluding the leading edges and tips, were painted aluminium. These colours were of American origin, and were often painted in the factory.
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| Jong Blad | “young leaf” Dark green |
FS-34094 Medium Green No. 42 |
H-302 C-302 |
XF-26 | 71.124 70.895 |
HTK-*056 |
| upper side camouflage together with Oud Blad overall upper side camouflage of some Martin 139’s This colour was continued as ANA 612 and later FS-34092. These colours however are somewhat different, whith FS-34094 being a closer match. |
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| Oud Blad | “old leaf” Olive drab |
FS-33070 Dark Olive Drab No. 41 |
H-78 | XF-62 | 71.316 | HTK-*018 |
| faded heavily over time upper side camouflage together with Jong Blad overall upper side camouflage of Lockheed (2)12 Electra This colour was continued as ANA 613 and later FS-34088. These colours however are somewhat different, whith FS-33070 being a closer match. |
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| Mat Aluminium | Matt Aluminium | XF-16 | ||||
| Underside colour Martin 139 bombers had only the wings bare aluminium, with the fuselage underside also painted with the upper camouflage scheme |
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| aircraft | notes |
|---|---|
| Brewster B-339D Buffalo | |
| Lockheed (2)12 | Delivered in aluminium, later camouflaged with Oud Blad only |
| Curtiss CW-21B | upper rear section of the canopy was painted transparent orange |
| Curtiss CW-22 | |
| Fokker T.IX | Possible future, Prototype was initally developed for the ML-KNIL |
| Martin 139 | Jong Blad only on some planes. From sept. 1939 onward, previously painted yellow and blue/td> |
| Curtiss 75-A7 Hawk II |
Water planes
Water planes used by the Dutch armed forces often sported a gray camouflage opposed to the regular LVA or ML-KNIL scheme.
“The durable laquer for the conserving
of light metal land and waterplanes”
Ikarol A & B
‘Ikarol’ flieglack was a range of aviation varnishes developed by Warnecke and Bohm. In the Netherlands these were i.a. used in two schemes; First Ikarol A and from 1938 onward, Ikarol B. Ikarol A was first seen on the imported Do-24 and later on all other water planes as well. The Dorniers were later however repainted again to a scheme resembling that of the imported Catalina’s.
The paints themselves didn’t have standardized names, and were often known by different ones on different machines. They’re however most commonly know as Hollandgrijs or Hollandgrau.
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| Hollandgrijs (Donker) Ikarol 103/2 |
Holland Gray (dark) | RAL 7003 FS-14159 |
C-060 H-070 |
XF-2 | 71.314 70.886 |
|
| Ikarol A and Ikarol B upper side Do-24 interior |
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| Aluminium dope Ikarol 111/s |
Aluminium | FS-27178 | ||||
| Ikarol A lower side camouflage Side external floats (Fokker C.XIV-w, T.VIII-w) |
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| Hollandgrijs (Licht) Marinegrijs |
Holland Gray (light) | FS-26440 | FS-26440 | 70.986 | ||
| Ikarol B lower side camouflage | ||||||
| Zwart | Black | XF-1 | ||||
| Bottom side external floats (Fokker C.XIV-w, T.IV, T.VIII-w) | ||||||
| Ikarol A | Ikarol B | |
|---|---|---|
| Dornier Do-24K (delivery scheme first 18 machines) | Dornier Do-24K (1938 to 1940) | |
| Fokker T.IV (some machines) | Fokker C.XIV-w (from 1938 onward) | |
|
Post 1940
During 1940, the remaining Dornier Do-24’s were repainted with DuPont colours in a scheme similar to the ordered PBY-5 Catalina’s. This scheme is probably the most well known of the different Dornier liveries. The top was painted with DuPont 71-1945 and the bottom 71-021
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| Donkergrijs | Dark gray | FS-15042 Du Pont 71-19459 |
70.898 71.091 |
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| Upper side camouflage | ||||||
| Melkwit | Milk white | Du Pont 71-021 Fs-24583 |
71.103 | |||
| Lower side camouflage | ||||||
Other schemes
Fokker T.VIII-w delivery scheme
The Fokker T.VIII-w machines were delivered in two orders. The prototype and the first series of 4 machines, ordered 23-9-’38 were called the Fokker T.VIII-w/G-1. These five machines, registration R-1 to 5 were delivered between 25-04-’39 and 13-09-’39 and were painted in a two tone gray colour. The 2nd series consisting of machines R-6 to R-11 were delivered in the Ikarol B scheme.
| Colour | equivalents | Gunze | Tamiya | Vallejo | Hataka | |
| Grijze deklak | grey deck laquer | |||||
| Upper side of floats | ||||||
| Noordzeegrijs | north sea gray | FS-36231 | ||||
| overall fuselage upper side of the wings |
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| Zwart | Black | XF-1 | ||||
| Bottom side floats | ||||||
| Aluminium dope | Aluminium | FS-27178 | ||||
| Side of the floats Underside camouflage of the wings Overall Aircraft (R-1 prototype before delivery) |
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Sources:
- Gerdessen, F., Kalkman, K., Oosterveen, C., & Vredeling, W. (2011). Fokker G-1 ‘Le Faucheur’. Jachtkruiser. Deel 1. Emmen: Lanasta.
- https://kw.jonkerweb.net/index.php/nl/vliegtuigen-lijst