Amelia Earhart should have flown a Vindicator instead ...

[Mark Allen M]

Vought SB2U-2 Vindicator (BuNo. 1352) VB-2, in experimental McClelland Barclay camouflage design No. 5, 22 Aug. 1940 (NAS) North Island.

[RobC]

I think even Gillespee could find that one!

[Jim MacDonald]

And here I was thinking the opposite. If she had that camouflage, they'd never find her.

Mac

[JohnB]

Looks somewhat like the experimental splinter camouflage aviation artist Keith Ferris designed and was tested in a few F-15s back in the 80s.

[Mark Sampson]

One has to wonder what colors those were.

[L-188]

Looks somewhat like the experimental splinter camouflage aviation artist Keith Ferris designed and was tested in a few F-15s back in the 80s.

I remember those but I can't remember what they looked like. Do you suppose that was intentional?

[L-188]

One has to wonder if the enemy, upon sighting these, spend time wondering "what the fudge is that?"
Giving the vindicator time to use its speed to vacate the area.

[Clifford Bossie]

Looks somewhat like the experimental splinter camouflage aviation artist Keith Ferris designed and was tested in a few F-15s back in the 80s.

It is called the Barclay scheme and I imagine Keith Ferris got his inspiration from it.

[Tee]

It is called the Barclay scheme and I imagine Keith Ferris got his inspiration from it.

I remember at one of the aviation art forums he went through the process of his "Ferris Scheme". The Barclay scheme and others were discussed but it didn't factor into his thinking. One take away I remember was he was trying to break up the outline longitudinally, not chop it up like a sausage. Also looking at the Vindicator I realize how similar it looks like a Kate.

[Stephan Wilkinson]

I was talking to Ferris awhile ago about camouflage, and as I remember, he said he'd developed the device of painting a canopy on the belly of the aircraft.

[Mark Allen M]

Kate


SB2U


Tora Tora Tora AT-6/BT-13

[Mark Allen M]

I'm not quite convinced these are the colors.

[Clifford Bossie]

I'm not quite convinced these are the colors.

There has been a good amount of discussion about the colors used. Apparently some were green(ish), some blue, some gray. The schemes (and presumably colors) varied by aircraft type.

BT-1

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96152.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96149.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96153.html

F2A

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96143.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96146.html

TBD

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96165.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 96161.html

And probably other types. There were drawings for B-18s and a really stylized twin engine type. Barclay had helped develop dazzle schemes for ships in WWI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McClelland_Barclay

[Chris Brame]

I thought the Kate was a fairly large aircraft compared to the Vindicator; I was half right. Turns out the length was very close (B5N: 33' 10" vs SB2U: 34') but it had a larger wingspan (B5N: 50' 11" vs SB2U: 42').

[Dan Jones]

Any airplane painted as ugly as those SB2U's ought to be shot down.