Polish Navy / Air Force TS-11 paint set

A trainer in the service of the navy

The Polish two-seat jet trainer served for decades and brought up several generations of pilots. It by no means stayed with training alone. Some of the machines received equipment for reconnaissance and others served with naval aviation in a role for which a special code name became established. It is exactly these service variants that govern the composition of the shades.

Two different guises

The darker of the two schemes rests on black to FS37038 in combination with a darker gray to FS36176 on the upper surfaces and a lighter gray to FS36375. The training-reconnaissance variant, by contrast, has the classic division: a dark green to FS34095 on the upper surfaces and a light blue to FS35466 on the underside. The interior of the cockpit of both versions is covered by a gray to FS36320.

• The black of the upper surfaces of the naval aviation machines
• The pair of grays that complete the dark scheme
• The dark green for the upper surfaces of the training-reconnaissance variant
• The light blue for its lower surfaces
• The gray shade of the standard cockpit interior of both versions

From the six shades two visibly different machines of the same type can be built, which with trainers is rather the exception. Most school machines carry one finish for their whole service, but here the assignment to individual units led to two quite different guises.

The gray for the cockpit is in the lineup because a model could not do without it: the two-seat cockpit is conspicuous on this type and through the large canopy there is a good view into it.