Camouflaged Aircraft Plant, 1940s
Edited by David Barth 12 April 2013.
Hidden in Plain View
During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant and other aircraft manufacturing facilities to protect them from possible Japanese air attacks. They covered them with camouflage netting with fake bushes, houses, and roads to make them appear to be a rural subdivision as seen from the air.
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
Before the Army Corps of Engineers applied the camouflage cover over this plant, it was obviously an aircraft factory with the huge building beside a runway.
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
After the camouflage cover was installed, the aircraft factory was hidden from possible Japanese bombers. It appears that the runway was painted to hide it.
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
This shows a bus at a stop on a real road at the edge of the camouflage cover.
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
The cover was artfully designed and was strong enough to walk on and support fake bushes and lightweight structures.
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
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| Camouflaged Aircraft Factory during World War II. |
A parking lot full of cars would give away the plant location, so it, too, was covered.
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| Camouflaged parking lot during World War II. |
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| Camouflaged airplane hangar during World War II. |
As aircraft were completed, they would taxi out from beneath the cover to the runway that had been artistically painted to hide its function.