The blue we chose for our logo is a medium tone azure —half way between blue and green on the color wheel. It's referred to as Royal Air Force blue...the color of the sky on a clear, cloudless day.
The RAF was formed in 1918 at the very start of aviation. The RAF wanted a distinct, non-Army uniform, so they approached U.K. clothmakers, Hainsworth, from Leeds. The fabric makers and the air force were in luck—Hainsworth had a warehouse of blue-grey material that had been woven for the Tsar of Russia for his Cossack trousers. War had disrupted those plans, and the RAF swooped in to make RAF blue its signature color.
Getting that shade of blue, green and grey is a secret.
RAF Blue was employed for many years for the majority of their vehicles and equipment up until 1956.
NATO stock no.8305-99-130-4578 or Pantone 549 C.
The rich and colorful history of Pantone dates back to 1963, when the young Lawrence Herbert created the Pantone Matching System(PMS) after buying out a small commercial printing company in New Jersey, USA. By assigning a number to each color, anyone could achieve accurate and consistently repeatable color results, and this system catapulted Pantone into becoming the standard language for color communication for color-critical industries. While its roots are in the graphic arts community, Pantone expanded its system concept across a variety of industries and proved that ‘color’ can indeed become a brand.