In late December, 1940 shipboard aircraft were ordered painted Nonspecular Light Gray. This color would later become Light Gray ANA 602 and under the FS595B standards, Light Gull Gray 36440. There was some variation to the national emblem, but not as much as would come with the Blue Gray over Light Gray scheme that replaced the overall gray scheme. Some aircraft carried a small insignia forward of the tail planes, while others had a larger one slightly forward of that position. With this change the national insignia was reduced to four positions: Both sides of the fuselage, the top left and bottom right wings. The alpha-numeric codes were to remain for some time.
In the summer of 1941 Blue Gray was painted over the upper surfaces, leaving the lower surfaces in Light Gray. Blue Gray had no ANA number and seemed to vary in shade. In most cases painting was done aboard ship resulting in some inconsitancies. A good example would be the F4F-3 Wildcats delivered to VMF-211 on Wake Island. Those aircraft were painted while aboard the USS Enterprise while she and the Saratoga were delivering them to Wake. The Blue Gray was brought up short of the cowl ring, leaving the Light Gray all the way to the top. They also retained the four position national emblems.
