On April 18th, 1985, the US Navy put out MIL-STD-2161(AS) which ordered the use of low visibility gray, and low visibility markings on its aircraft.
Per US Navy History and Heritage:
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/naval-aviation-history/aircraft-markings.html
Here is a summary of the May 1993 Revision A of the standard, and you can download the whole thing:
http://everyspec.com/MIL-STD/MIL-STD-2000-2999/MIL-STD-2161A_24653/#:~:text=01%20MAY%201993
Just because this order came out on that date does not mean everyone instantly ran out to the flightline and painted every plane to the new specs. The change came gradually, as aircraft went in for standard servicing. Likely within about a year of the date, a majority of the Navy's planes had switched. The "CAG bird"...the aircraft assigned to the airwing commander aboard a carrier, is still traditionally painted in the old high vis markings. Some squadrons also paint their squadron commander's plane in high vis still, also.
I do not know about the italic modex numbers. I have seen photos of what you are talking about, but not enough dated ones to pin down when the switch would have happened.
Hello,
It's all about us navy plane's decals:
I have two questions: when do I have to use low-vis decals and when do I have to use high vis decals? Does the low-vis appears at a precise time and the high-vis then disapears?
When do I have to use straight modex numbers and when do I have to use italic modex numbers?
Thank yu for your answers. Philippe
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