Question: Why do so many biplanes used in World War II have gold wings? I thought the whole idea of military paint jobs is for them to be camouflaged, and the gold sticks out.
Answer: The biplanes you mention—Stearmans, Kaydets, and Navy SNJs—were mostly likey trainers.
They were yellow because if they went down on a training mission—as they often did—they were easier to spot from the air.
Often the trainees made unscheduled off-airport landings in hayfields, swamps, forests, and the desert. Having an aircraft painted to look like terrain would have made it more difficult to find them.
