The ultimate camouflage, constructing a village/town on top of a factory roof. In this case, Boeing's Plant 2 at their Seattle factory.
Twenty six acres of factory roof 'decorated' with 53 houses made from canvas with painted windows. 24 garages, a corner service station, three greenhouses and a store. Numerous automobiles and even a cow grazing. It was a real cow, eating real grass. Trees up to 12 feet tall, shrubs and grass, were created from a million and a half feet of chicken wire covered with feathers and spun glass. They were coloured whatever hue was necessary to lend an aspect of reality. Roads and streets were shaped with more canvas, covered with burlap. Where 'roads' crossed Boeing Field, which was directly across the street from factories, they were made of dirt soaked in oil.
Two of the buildings were real however. They housed anti-aircraft guns with crews. Those who flew over the area in Army transports recall that the camouflage was perfect, even at low levels, though it did seem weird to land on a country road. Occasionally, a pilot new to the area became confused, and had to be led down by another plane.
The entire village was treated with fire-retardant chemical as a precaution. There were, in addition, 67 sprinklers and 100 fire hydrants. One million board feet of timber had gone into the construction of the village, an invitation to disaster by fire.
The village on the of Plant 2 as photographed in 1945, after aerial photographs of the site were permitted. The 'roads' across Boeing Field, still visible in this photograph, were allowed to deteriorate later in the war as air attack became less likely
You can just make out the 'trees' on top of Plant 2 at far right.
Twenty six acres of factory roof 'decorated' with 53 houses made from canvas with painted windows. 24 garages, a corner service station, three greenhouses and a store. Numerous automobiles and even a cow grazing. It was a real cow, eating real grass. Trees up to 12 feet tall, shrubs and grass, were created from a million and a half feet of chicken wire covered with feathers and spun glass. They were coloured whatever hue was necessary to lend an aspect of reality. Roads and streets were shaped with more canvas, covered with burlap. Where 'roads' crossed Boeing Field, which was directly across the street from factories, they were made of dirt soaked in oil.
Two of the buildings were real however. They housed anti-aircraft guns with crews. Those who flew over the area in Army transports recall that the camouflage was perfect, even at low levels, though it did seem weird to land on a country road. Occasionally, a pilot new to the area became confused, and had to be led down by another plane.
The entire village was treated with fire-retardant chemical as a precaution. There were, in addition, 67 sprinklers and 100 fire hydrants. One million board feet of timber had gone into the construction of the village, an invitation to disaster by fire.
The village on the of Plant 2 as photographed in 1945, after aerial photographs of the site were permitted. The 'roads' across Boeing Field, still visible in this photograph, were allowed to deteriorate later in the war as air attack became less likely
You can just make out the 'trees' on top of Plant 2 at far right.
