Modeling Airfield Camouflage

norwichpaul;71153 wrote:

At long last i have managed to find the offending plan, the colours are black no.4, local roof colour, local wall colour and dark green. It applies to austerity dispersed airfields c.1941, the idea being not to hide the building but to make it look like another inocent building.

Pair of Laing huts, one with the Scheme L "Old Cottages or Small Farm etc." camouflage pattern applied:



All the best,
PB

I've got some stuff on cammo to share:







and my favorite, why dispersed sites were laid out in that seemingly haphazard fashion (as opposed to the Army preference of tidy rows)

Fantasic I will print those on some good quality card and put safely , thanks for sharing

P.B. did you find your CD colours colour swatch Cards please ???

TED

Milan
Just the thing i have been after for years,
Not yet able to save and print off, (Not got internet at the new house)

Will incorporate somewhere on my dio perhaps but suspect that by late 1943 the ground colour camouflage would have faded considerably.

many thanks for posting.
Ian

ted wrote:

P.B. did you find your CD colours colour swatch Cards please ???

Afraid not Ted, I guess I just haven't got to the right box yet.

PB

Found this and may answer a few questions . . .

patrickbaty.co.uk/2011/10/05/wartime-camouflage-colours/

Ian

There is a section on camoflaging pbs.in 'Pillboxes' (publ.1985)by the late Henry Wills;the wonderful man who 'fathered' the now huge interest in defence works. In it there is a statement that when using disruptive patterns, that '...the darker tones must be utilised to include the loopholes...'. This would also have to include other buildings and also vehicles, as any loophole or window will show up as an easily identifiable dark shape at even a short distance. In Norwichpaul's book on airfield defences, the pb illustrated gives a good example of this with a horizontal dark wavey stripe over all the loopholes. However, if anyone looks at many wartime camoflaged buildings and also modern military vehicles, the 'dark tone rule' appears to have been completely forgotten - !

I think info we were taught in Germany goes some way to answer this: pillboxes, sangars etc always dark loopholes, this was to cause near to middle distance confusion especially once the enemy latch on it was a defensive position there would still be an element of doubt as to the loopholes- which of course are the attackers aiming point/ Vehicles and buildings the same was to give doubt to an enemy but from middle to far distance- i.e a bomber could be somewhat confused about his target on approach, the idea being the paint pattern should change the perceived shape. Whith modern vehicles the paint job was intended to confuse when parked against a building or hedgeline- but when stationary for any length of time hessian & nets were to be quickly applied. I have not explained this too well but I hope you get what I mean
TEd

Understand what you are getting at regarding vehicles ted angus, as obviously a scrim net ( as we called them ) would be slung & pegged over any parked up vehicle in order to make horizontal and aerial observation more difficult, although the 'dark across windows' for camoflage painting rule still applied for the actual vehicle.