he spirit and camaraderie of our great nation - our citizens and our military during World War II - is more than a footnote to most of our generation. Some of us became sailors during that time and others of us were born into it. I'm in the latter group. I was just a little kid back then and was only two when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but I can remember my dad, who was a veteran of World War I (yes, he was too old for WW II), was a block captain in our neighborhood and had his own personal win-the-war project. Like thousands of other block captains across the country, he went door to door every night to make sure anyone who had their lights on after dark turned them off, or had their windows "painted" so that lights didn't show on the street. The object was to prevent any Japanese or German bombers from having a clear target. Europe was being bombed into oblivion by the Germans. Why not America next?

Our ship, AD31, as did several other Navy ships, made her appearance during the waining years of World War II. Tidewater plank owners and the citizens of our birth city, Charleston SC, remember the American spirit that built our ship and slid it down the ramp into the water for the first time. There were so many sailors, soldiers, and citizens united in win-the-war projects all over the country. And the Tidewater was Charleston's win-the-war project.

A unique and interesting win-the-war project took place on the Pacific Coast, and was another lesson on preventing enemy aerial attacks. I found some photos of it on the net - they are public domain now, and I thought you'd like to see them all together. They tell an amazing story.

During the same years that brought the Tidewater into existence, we were building lots of Bombers and Navy Fighters at the Lockheed Plant in Burbank, CA. The Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Plant to protect it from possible Japanese air attacks. So they covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air. The photos below illustrate how clever they were with Before and After shots of the masterpiece they created.

BEFORE

The photo above shows what the Lockheed Plant looked like before camouflaging took place. Notice the runway. The photos below show what it looked like afterwards, from inside, outside and underneath the camouflaging. Click on the photos and they will enlarge.

AFTER PHOTOS
SAME SCENE AS ABOVE "BEFORE" PHOTO

A FAKE RESIDENCE - THE TAXIWAY IS BELOW

THE TAXIWAY BELOW THE CAMOUFLAGE

THE EMPLOYEE PARKING LOT BELOW THE CAMOUFLAGING

MORE FAKE RESIDENCES (A FRIENDLY LITTLE AMERICAN TOWN)

MORE EMPLOYEE PARKING

FAKE SUBURBIA - NOTE THE GARDENERS

And so that's the real story of how we avoided getting caught with our plants down.

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