Anti-flash white is awhitecolour commonly seen onBritish,Soviet, andU.S.nuclearbombers.[1] The purpose of the colour is to reflect some of thethermal radiation from a nuclear explosion, protecting the aircraft and its occupants.[citation needed]
Some variants of theXian H-6 had the underside of the fuselage painted anti-flash white.[2]
Some nuclear bombers had the underside of the fuselage painted anti-flash white with the upper surfaces painted light silver-gray. This was true for the specially fitted, single SovietTu-95V bomber that test-deployed the most powerful bomb of any kind – the 50+ MT-ratingTsar Bomba on 30 October 1961 – as it had the anti-flash white on all its undersurfaces and sides.[3]
TheTupolev Tu-160 of the 1980s was the first series-built Soviet/Russian bomber aircraft to be painted anti-flash white all over, leading to itsBeliy Lebed ("White Swan") Russian nickname.[4]
Anti-flash white was used on theRoyal Air ForceV bombers force and theRoyal NavyBlackburn Buccaneer when used in the nuclear strike role. Nuclear bombers were given – though not at first, until the problem was considered – salmon pink and baby blueroundels andfin flash rather than the traditional dark red, white and blue.
Anti-flash white was applied to several prototype aircraft, including theBritish Aircraft Corporation TSR-2. Paint used on theAvro Vulcan was manufactured byCellon, and that on theHandley Page Victor byTitanine Ltd.[5]
| Anti-flash white | |
|---|---|
 Color coordinates | |
| Hex triplet | #F2F3F4 |
| sRGBB (r,g,b) | (242, 243, 244) |
| HSV (h,s,v) | (210°, 1%, 96%) |
| CIELChuv (L,C,h) | (96, 1, 236°) |
| Source | ColorHexa[6] |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) | |
ManyStrategic Air Command nuclear bombers carried anti-flash white without insignia on the underside of the fuselage with light silver-gray or natural metal (later light camouflage) on the upper surfaces.[7]
United States NavyE-6 Mercury remain painted in anti-flash white, as of October 2023.
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In addition to these military aircraft,Concorde was painted white to reduce the additional heating effect on the aluminium skin caused by the sun whilst the aircraft was flying at high altitudes, the skin temperature already being raised to over 90 °C (194 °F) at Mach 2 byaerodynamic heating.
Aircraft with at least part of the fuselage painted anti-flash white on nuclear delivery variants:
