Nathan Gilliatt wrote:

I initially was going to say "these days," but WW2
airplanes were sky blue on the bottom sometimes, weren't they?

Paint jobs were an art form during that period. The Germans actually came up
with a paint that was durable but could be wiped off easily if the aircraft was
transferred to an area that required a different paint job. Flat black or dark
brown was used for night fighters. The British used a glaring medium blue for
high altitude aircraft; it was startlingly vivid at low altitudes but the planes
disappeared at 40,000' or more.

Allied aircraft used in the desert were painted a pinkish color that blended in
with the North African sand. There is or was recently a P-40 on the warbird
circuit painted this way. It caused quite a stir. The Germans used a very light
tan for the same reason, usually with a grey underside and splotches of brown on
the top surfaces. I once saw a photo of Joachim Marseille flying a 109 over
Tunisia taken from above. You could see two crosses and barely make out the
cockpit; the rest disappeared in the scrub.

You are likely thinking of the standard U.S. Navy paint job, which at one time
used sky blue for the underside of the planes.

I don't recall the details, but I think I saw someone actually trying
the active camouflage that Dale Brown (Day of the Cheetah?) put it a
book years ago. The aircraft essentially shows you a picture of what's
on the other side, making it disappear.

National Geographic had a recent article that stated that suits for ground
forces are being tested that accomplish this. They're basically made of fiber
optic threads. The ends of the threads are carefully placed to conduct light
from one side of the suit to the other, making the soldier nearly disappear.
They aren't good enough for issue yet, it seems.

George Patterson
To a pilot, altitude is like money - it is possible that having too much
could prove embarassing, but having too little is always fatal.