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Description of  US Navy Aircraft Camouflage & Markings 1940-1945 (Squadron/Signal Publications 6087)

CAMOUFLAGE - The method or result of concealing people or things from the enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings. {American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New College Edition.) Camouflage most likely reaches as far back as the beginning of human history. Grass, twigs, bushes, animal furs - these items were surely used as concealment devices whether hunting animals or hunting one's enemy. The evolution of camouflage for concealment of United States Navy (USN) aircraft began shortly after the Navy started flying aircraft in 1911. In the beginning, fabric surfaces were not protected from the ele­ments. Wood surfaces were most often given a coat of Clear varnish. The earliest mention of color during these years appeared in Brockett's "Bibliography of Aeronautics 1909-1916." In Construction and Repair (C&R) Letter Number 1808-A-438, a request was made of the Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard to send "A board painted with the standard slate color…Formula No. I S.C." to the Curtiss factory at Hammondsport, New York and to Goodyear's Aeronautic Supplies Department. The early suppliers of Navy aircraft were not without a sense of humor. Lt Patrick N.L. Bellinger - at the time the Commanding Officer of the submarine USS C-4 (SS-15) - recorded in his memoirs that in October of 1913. a Curtiss C-2 flying boat was delivered to the Naval Aviation Camp at Annapolis. Maryland painted Chinese Red as a gag. Bellinger switched from submarines to aircraft and became Naval Aviator #8 on I June 1914.