OT wartime "Camo Class", Shorpy

Marty Feldman · Mar 27, 2020

Just looking at this Shorpy photograph labelled "Camo Class"...

...it was not at all clear why the "Class" label. Certainly not a "class" in the sense of a kids' schoolroom scene. Looked more like a wartime reconnaissance project. In a way, it turned out to be both. All is clear from the Shorpy description: "March 1943. Camouflage class in New York University -- students preparing for jobs in the Army or in industry".

-Marty-

Scottl · Mar 27, 2020

Marty Feldman said:
Just looking at this Shorpy photograph labelled "Camo Class"...

View attachment 282986

...it was not at all clear why the "Class" label. Certainly not a "class" in the sense of a kids' schoolroom scene. Looked more like a wartime reconnaissance project. In a way, it turned out to be both. All is clear from the Shorpy description: "March 1943. Camouflage class in New York University -- students preparing for jobs in the Army or in industry".

-Marty-

Might be related to the practice of disguising factories so they looked harmless from the air. I've seen photos of rooftops that looked like pastures, complete with fences and "trees".

Here are some examples from WWII.

Hiding Air Bases, Factories and Plants in WWII <<TwistedSifter

TheBigLebowski · Mar 27, 2020

I saw a documentary on this very subject. All of the people in this "class" were actually art students being recruited into the Ghost Army.

Jim Christie · Jul 21, 2022

This thread turned up when I went searching for another older one to post a link to this video that had turned up on my screen .

I seem to remember there was one or more posts about the Camouflaging of the Douglas Aircraft plant in Santa Monica but I couldn't seem to find it in the forum search so far.
I seemed to think it was posted by John Oder but I could be mistaken.
Perhaps it was the link posted above by Scott L .
On review many of the pictures in Scotts are quite similar if not the same as some of the ones shown in the video.
I couldn't get the Shorpy picture link in the original post to work for me but I found it and another one here .

Shorpy.com

Shorpy Vintage HD Photo Archive

www.shorpy.com

Jim

Jim

JST · Jul 21, 2022

They are looking at an aerial photo, one with a number of different types of terrain, so presumably are learning what the ordinary countryside looks like in a photo.

That would help a lot in terms of designing a camouflage pattern.

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OT wartime "Camo Class", Shorpy

Marty Feldman

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Scottl

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TheBigLebowski

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Jim Christie

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JST

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