Facts and Figures

US Aircraft Plumbing and Wiring Colour Codes

The plumbing and wiring of US WWII aircraft were colour coded for safety and ease of maintenance. Colour bands were usually 1" sections wrapped entirely around the pipe, hose, or cable. Where a single colour was used this was sometimes only applied to junctions. The colours were:

Anti-icing	red and white
Low pressure compressed air	light blue and light green
High pressure compressed air	yellow and light green
Exhaust Analyzer	light blue and brown
Fire extinguisher	brown
Fuel	red
Hydraulic	light blue, yellow, and light blue
Manifold pressure	white and light blue
Oil	yellow
Oxygen	light green
Pitot pressure	black
Coolant	white, black, and white
Static pressure	black and light green
Steam	light blue and black
Vacuum	white and light green
Vent	red and black
Water	white

Contemporary aircraft use a similar system which also includes geometric symbols and written labels. Only the colour codes are given below as the symbols and writing would be too small to be seen on a model.

Fuel	red
Rocket fuel	red and grey
Rocket oxidiser	green and grey
Water injection	red, gray, and red
Lubrication	yellow
Hydraulic	blue and yellow
Solvent	blue and brown
Pneumatic air	orange and blue
Instrument air	orange and grey
Coolant	blue
Breating oxygen	green
Air conditioning	brown and grey
Monopropellant	yellow and orange
Battery activator	yellow and grey

This article is copyright(C) Andy Slater and is used here with permission