What year did Grumman American offer factory-camouflaged AA-1 Yankees?
I remember an ‘American camouflage’ that had a ‘Flying Tigers’ shark’s mouth on the nose, and I remember on in ‘RAF camouflage’. ISTR there was another design, but I can’t remember what it was. Anyone know?
I believe that those paint jobs came after Grumman bought American in 1971. I saw something that suggested it was to play up Grumman’s military heritage. I think the other paint scheme you’re thinking of was a Hellcats-style Navy blue.
Fun fact: I did not know, or at least did not remember, the Jim Bede designed the Yankee, originally as a homebuilt kit.
The timeframe seems right. I was a kid when I saw them. Interesting marketing thing if your recollection is correct. I can’t bring the ‘Hellcat Blue’ one to my mind at all. (Wait… Did it have the red dot in the star?)
I did know that. 
(But then, dad was building a BD-5A.)
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OT: There’s a Grumman Wildcat on eBay. A ‘barn find’, it needs a little work.
I found some pics.
RAF camouflage. Registration says it was manufactured in 1977.
Here’s another 1977.
Flying Tigers camouflage. This one was made in 1971. The page the image was found on said the paint is new.
So I found two images of 1977 Yamkees (strange they’re so hard to find. My google-fu is not mighty) in RAF camouflage, and one 1971 in Flying Tigers camouflage. But the ’71 is a re-paint. Pork Rind recalls the schemes were used in 1971 and that’s about the time period I recall. But two out of three images I found are ‘77s, and the scheme looks exactly like I recall.
Conclusions: Either the camouflage scheme was used for the 1977 aircraft and the 1971 was repainted to look like a ’77; or the ’71 was either repainted to its original scheme or to look like a camouflaged model made in that year, and the two ‘77s were painted in the exact scheme of one of the ’71 models. I’m leaning toward the former conclusion because it’s more likely (IMO) that the two aircraft wear original paint than it is that two people copied the exact scheme. But I’m only guessing.
No luck finding the Navy scheme.
I contacted American Yankee Association, and this is the answer I received [link added]:
I was certain there was a Flying Tigers one as well, but the AYA guy said there were just the two. in any case, it seems the definitive answer is that the schemes were offered from 1976 to 1978.
As an aside, the first two pictures in the Wikipedia article show one in Canadian Armed Forces markings (spurious, as it was never flown by the CAF).
Yep. It’s somewhat common for people to paint their planes in fanciful schemes. Grumman American did it at the factory with some AA1Bs and AA1Cs, but people do it on their own. When I lived in the desert there was a guy who painted his Cessna 150 in tactical grey, complete with USAF markings and nomenclature. (He also wore an HUG-26/P when he flew it.) Recently on eBay I saw a Cessna 172 for sale that was painted like a T-41 Mescalero. (The T-41 was a Cessna 172 with a 210-hp engine instead of the 145-hp one that was available at the time, and was used for primary training by the USAF, Army, and foreign air forces.) This Focke-Wulf FW-P149D is painted up like a WWII FW-190, but with modern Luftwaffe insignia. (Here is the proper paint scheme.)
Given that Grumman American offered (at least) two ‘personal fighter’ paint schemes, it’s not surprising that a Canadian owner would paint his AA1 in RCAF livery.
What’s the general legal situation for painting military markings on a civilian-owned a/c? Do the laws differ significantly from country to country or is there some sort of international aviation standard covering this? Are paint schemes using historical markings no longer in use treated differently from current markings? Is it anything goes as long as the civilian registration appears somewhere? I’ve seen the civil reg replacing the military serial on some WW2 schemes, for example.
The Canadian regulationsappear to be OK with any form of authentic military markings on historical or replica a/c as long as the civil registration appears somewhere and the desired location and format has been approved by the ministry in advance.
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