Firefly
Active member
I thought this was pretty cool!:thumbup:
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=51725
http://aviation-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/magic_makeover_lockheeds_wwii_vanishing_act
Cartoon characters traditionally adorned the nose and tail of vintage aircraft, but cartoonists played a more important and top-secret role in aviation history. From Mickey to Merlin, a touch of a wand makes things disappear and surprisingly reappear. And that is precisely what Lockheed needed to make 550 acres of its WWII aviation production facility seem to disappear early in 1941, allowing it and other U.S, aircraft manufacturers to meet wartime quotas undeterred.
Lockheed Planes Under Cover from Japanese Recon Flights
As Pearl Harbor fires still smoldered from the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack, Lockheed made a bold move to camouflage its Vega Aircraft plant in Burbank, California from aerial threat of Japanese reconnaissance missions and the bombers that would surely follow. It turned to a neighbor, Walt Disney Studios, for an artful solution.
Aircraft Operations Masked by Canvas and Chicken Feathers
Seven hundred soldiers moved onto the Disney facility to protect the nearby Lockheed plant. In exchange, Disney techs armed with a talent for realism instructed employees of the Lockheed – Vega plant and Burbank airport to stretch acres of canvas-covered chicken wire over 45 major buildings, including 17 hangars, the Burbank Airport terminal, parking lots and manufacturing plants.
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=51725
http://aviation-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/magic_makeover_lockheeds_wwii_vanishing_act
Cartoon characters traditionally adorned the nose and tail of vintage aircraft, but cartoonists played a more important and top-secret role in aviation history. From Mickey to Merlin, a touch of a wand makes things disappear and surprisingly reappear. And that is precisely what Lockheed needed to make 550 acres of its WWII aviation production facility seem to disappear early in 1941, allowing it and other U.S, aircraft manufacturers to meet wartime quotas undeterred.
Lockheed Planes Under Cover from Japanese Recon Flights
As Pearl Harbor fires still smoldered from the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack, Lockheed made a bold move to camouflage its Vega Aircraft plant in Burbank, California from aerial threat of Japanese reconnaissance missions and the bombers that would surely follow. It turned to a neighbor, Walt Disney Studios, for an artful solution.
Aircraft Operations Masked by Canvas and Chicken Feathers
Seven hundred soldiers moved onto the Disney facility to protect the nearby Lockheed plant. In exchange, Disney techs armed with a talent for realism instructed employees of the Lockheed – Vega plant and Burbank airport to stretch acres of canvas-covered chicken wire over 45 major buildings, including 17 hangars, the Burbank Airport terminal, parking lots and manufacturing plants.
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