Paint Scheme.

[Pat Murphy]

I noticed that at least two of the B52's have white underwings. Daft Q of the day, does anyone know when this started or why?

Pat

[Pat Murphy]

Might be self answering and also a bit of a face palm moment...Ice? Seemed very heavy and uniform if it is.

[Skywatcher]

Good afternoon Pat
Maybe wrong but entirely possible it’s effects of the weather (ice or similar) as coming from Minot it’s entirely likely rather cold over Canada /Nova Scotia ,he also said he was in a bit of weather (through clouds ) to Brize (at least one of them did ) I also noticed a couple had this to ,but that’s the only obvious explanation I can think of unless it’s a touch of new paint ?
I often see the mission U-2 return with the same kind of thing ice under the wings
Hope this helps a bit,sure someone else may know otherwise but that’s the best I can think of right now
All the best
Max
Two routed more directly over the top of Canada near Hudson Bay Area to AR62E and over the Atlantic,not sure the other two had the same kind of ice effects
Edit having looked at some photos here looks more like new paint ??

[slogen51]

That under wing icing is a very common sight on civil airliners even in Qatar or Dubai! I don't know why it happens , perhaps something to do with the fuel in the wings warming up and taking heat out of the fabric of the aircraft?

[tim_raper]

i think it's caused by the skin temperature being sub-zero due to the very cold temps once you get above even 10,000ft, passing through the relatively warmer air near the surface, forming frost.

[njjarvis]

I assumed they had new paint on the insides of the flap area. The flaps on the back of the wings extend out and down from the undersides of the wings and it looks to be pretty much the same colour as the wheels and insides of the gear bay (I forget the exact FS number but US very light grey)
It does look sort of frosty in some pictures in the air but If you look at the most recent shot of 0044 on here it definitely looks like paint and seems to be most of the underside of the wing

[tim_raper]

it really really does look like paint, but the pic of the same aircraft in the AR article at altitude seems to be an all over grey scheme. Time will tell as more pics emerge of them departing on sorties.

[Seahornet1]

Might be self answering and also a bit of a face palm moment...Ice? Seemed very heavy and uniform if it is.

Correct, it is ice caused by the constant sub-zero temperatures at altitude. The reason the edges are so well defined is that once at lower altitude (and particularly on the ground), it's only the fuel which remains sub-zero. The white surface is therefore exactly defined by the fuel tank positions.

If you pause Sonicbenj's (very nice!) video at about 3:22, you'll see that the leading edge of the ice is more uneven in flight, due to the airflow slightly warming that area. Once on the ground, the cold fuel re-chills the surface, and the white edge becomes a dead straight line.


https://youtu.be/MXLgdp74m-A

[Pat Murphy]

Trouble is I worked on aircraft and know all about tank icing, I was just surprised it was so defined and so heavy. Engine air bleed would keep the leading edges clear, but it looked heavy enough to me to be paint Doh!!