Air Force Blue - RAF Blue

RAF Blue

Air Force blue, more specifically Air Force blue (RAF) or RAF blue, is a medium shade of the colour azure. The shade derives from the light blue uniforms issued to the newly formed British Royal Air Force in 1920, which were influential in the design of the uniforms of some other air forces around the world. Similar shades are still used in Royal Air Force uniforms and the Royal Air Force Ensign. This color is often used on Specialized Rockhopper mountain bikes.

The choice of blue uniforms for the RAF was the result of a surplus of inexpensive medium sky blue coloured herringbone twill in the United Kingdom, which had been intended for use in the uniforms of Czarist Russian imperial cavalrymen before the Russian Revolution occurred.

The field of the RAF ensign is specified as "NATO stock no.8305-99-130-4578, Pantone 549 C."

The shade of the colour that is shown in the colour info-box is the shade of air force blue used by the Royal Air Force. Some other air forces use shades which closely resemble the shade of air force blue shown above, including besides the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom, other nations of the Commonwealth of Nations that are primarily inhabited by people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, i.e., the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.