Must Read , This is Fascinating!! Must Read

[SavageAmusement]

How To Hide An Airplane Factory

During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from a Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting and trompe l’oeil to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.
[FONT=Trebuchet MS][Excerpt][/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]In February 1942, a Japanese submarine skulked just outside San Francisco Bay. A few nights later another Japanese submarine surfaced off Santa Barbara and fired a few shells at an oil storage facility. One shell exploded on an ocean pier.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]War had come to California.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]In the atmosphere of panic and worry (with stories of Japanese secret agents behind every bush and tree), the War Department ordered Lt Gen John L De Witt, head of Western Defense Command, to protect vital installations along the Pacific Coast - to disguise California.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Colonel John F Ohmer was stationed at March Field, 60 miles east of Los Angeles. He was a pioneer in camouflage techniques. In Britain in 1940, carefully-made and positioned camouflage caused the Luftwaffe to waste thousands of tons of bombs on empty fields. Months prior to Pearl Harbor, Colonel Ohmer campaigned for protective cover of Wheeler Field, a major air base near Pearl Harbor. His plan was rejected for being too costly, $56,210.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Weeks later Wheeler and its aircraft were destroyed,[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]On 7 December 1940, Goodyear Tire and Rubber agreed to manufacture rubber decoy aircraft similar to those used by the British for $1,000 a copy. But the War Department again turned down Ohmer's plans. He had hoped to scatter the dummy planes around the American air bases in Hawaii. But now, Ohmer was charged with disguising California.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Movie studios in Hollywood, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal Pictures and others accepted the challenge and offered scenic designers, painters, art directors, landscape artists, animators, carpenters, lighting experts and prop men. While not experienced in military affairs, this legion of experts from the movies would make Colonel Ohmer's assignment considerably easier and entirely possible



[/FONT]Before:

After:

For more details, and pictures, visit these links




http://thinkorthwim.com/2007/08/19/1034/

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/fl...california.htm

[mk1]

I used to live fairly nearby to this location. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Cool bit of trivia/history!