[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Lang

I know this is mainly an historical paperwork exercise on colours, patterns and dates but the real-life application is far beyond any colour scheme.

Any discussion past the paperwork must recognise the object is to disguise the vehicles and that the paint scheme is only a tiny bit of the camouflage puzzle. As I mentioned above most armies did not think it was effective enough to be worth the effort on their main transport fleets.

The academic exercise is a useful and interesting bit of history and I am enjoying the to and fro tremendously. I get the feeling many people do not understand the basics of even considering the effort of applying disruptive patterns and the relatively small part they play in the camouflage story.

Here are the basics of camouflage that make paint schemes merely a minor player:

Camouflage Key Words

S

Stillness – All camouflage is useless once there is movement.

Shade Does the colour stand out from its surroundings? No pattern or other precaution can fully disguise an incongruous colour.

Shape Does the shape stand out from its surroundings. Can it be identified from its shape? Disruptive paint patterns try to hide shape as do nets.

Shadow Shadow is a give-away despite other disguise (particularly in aerial observation)

Spacing Nothing in nature is regular. Orderly spacing is a give-away. In a city situation irregular spacing may be a give-away

Shine Reflections cause attention

Silhouette An object on a skyline or against a solid background stands out. Disruptive paint patterns are useless in a silhouette situation.

Silence In many situations perfect camouflage will be instantly negated by sound eg vehicle or generator noise, a voice or equipment rattle.

Smell Perfectly camouflaged positions can be given away by cooking, exhaust and latrine smells.

Surface A regular surface on a rough background, even of identical colour eg a tent wall against trees or a rough surface on a smooth background eg nets on desert sand will be seen.

Secondary No matter how well an object is camouflaged secondary give-aways will negate it eg smoke from exhaust, guns or fires, dust, ripples on water and lights.

Signs No matter how well camouflaged, give-aways include signs such as tracks into gun positions, earthworks, vehicles or people coming and going, unusual activity etc.

Size In a regular background an object either larger or smaller than surrounding objects attracts attention.

Ya, but they had to paint them anyway so they didn't rust.