What color was Lieutenant Kobayashi's Val at the Battle of Midway. He was flying off the Hiryu. I've seen the gray-green and green. Which one is correct. The gray-green is called for on a Val from the Pearl Harbor raid.

Hi Subhunter,

EDITHere is my only reply from J-Aircraft to date (6 SEPT.,'06):

Fred;

Green for Hiryu and Soryu for sure. Per extant photos, they had been that way since February anyway. But regardless, that's what the VF-3 boys that shot them down saw!

Mark

I'll see if I can find more info but just a WAG, probably grey-green. IIRC, the Kates at Pearl were camouflaged green so as to blend better with their low altitude ingress, also with the water when viewed from above. Otherwise IJNAF planes were the grey-green sky color, so my guess is that includes Midway Vals. IIRC, Vals and Zeros were not given green topsides until they became land based, then the dark topsides were retained because IJNAF found it still gave them protection when viewed from above over water.

The color of X plane at Y battle is still contentious, but more and more info is opening up. Exciting times!

Hi Gator,

Long time but here is some new info that might help your quest for an answer:

Akagi Val Colors during Battle of Midway

AKAGI VAL COLORS: Documentation & Facts!

Thanks a ton Fred. This is awesome.

Kenny