My understanding early aircraft were plain ole doped linen
and that exposure to the sun broke down the fibers in the
cloth or something like that. Sound right? So they tried
colored dopes and paint to protect the cloth. The first
colors that the Brits used was "khaki" but was really sort
of a brown-red color. The lozenge pattern was a newish thing
that killed two birds with one stone: it provided some
camouflage (yeah right) and by printing the fabric, it was
lighter than covering with dope.
So.. the purpose of the stuff: Was it completely for
camouflage, or was it for fabric protection, both, or what?
Now, as I said at the top, I don't know a lot about it. This
is stuff that I have read. I saw a lot about it in the
Monogram book. See you later; gotta go work.
---Stephen Tontoni