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Old 18th Apr 2018, 15:22
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papajuliet
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: England
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I hope the following will be useful......they are brief extracts from the sources shown.
Initial camouflage of buildings was irregular patterns of black, green and brown. On 27 May 1942 the Inspector of Camouflage reported ( Nat. Archives AIR 2/3450 ) that, in the majority of cases, the painting of hangars, was a failure. He concluded that..
Disruptive painting was a fallacy.
Aerial photography would penetrate such schemes.
Enemy pilots would be briefed to attack after the study of aerial photographs.
In many cases the presence of disruptive camouflage advertised the presence of an important installation.
In Oct. 1941 the Air Ministry stated that large buildings were to be camouflaged by the use of rectangular shapes with smaller buildings in a single tone. Finally, at the end of 1941 the AM said that in future all schemes would fit into the scale of the local countryside and it's colours. No attempt was to be made to break up shapes.
Due to the exigencies of the times those buildings with disruptive camouflage were to be left as they were.
To sum that up it seems that any traces of disruptive camouflage are a remnant of the initial scheme and can be expected to be seen on airfields existing at the outbreak of war.
A 1954 photograph shows a Benson hangar with disruptive camouflage.
Source of the above info......an article in the Airfield Research Group magazine of Oct. 2003.
As to vehicle camouflage.........
Pre-war vehicles had the standard blue/grey finish. After the debacle in France in 1940 dark earth and dark green disruptive patters were applied but not until August 1941 was a standard camouflage scheme of overall khaki green No.3 with certain areas overpainted in Nobel's tarmac green No. 4 to give a disruptive pattern. After September 1943 there was a change in shades to paints specified as MT Brown Special and Matt Black. The black was patterned in large lobes giving rise to the so called "Mickey Mouse Ear Camouflage". The black soon weathered to a mid-grey ( relevant to modellers and artists !). In August 1944 instructions were given to finish vehicles in olive drab to replace the brown. By that time the many US vehicles in use were already in olive drab.
Source of the above......Wheels of the RAF by Bruce Robertson published in 1983.
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