Desert Hurricane with Polka Dot Camouflage

[Graham Boak]

The common suggestion that it was meant to be confused with Italian camouflage to benefit strafing attacks is rather defeated by the observation that Italian camouflage wrapped darker colours down around the leading edge not lighter colours up. I suspect that this became popular because the first published photos were of FR Hurricanes, and the scheme became associated with Hurricanes in ground attack roles. It was actually introduced when the Hurricane was the top British air-superiority fighter in the desert. The scheme was also seen on carrier-borne Fulmars, which further suggests that the scheme was originally intended to reduce head-on visibility in air-to-air engagements. Which in itself wouldn't hurt in air-to-ground operations, but the scheme is rarely seen on later Hurricanes, where air-ground was more common and better air superiority fighters were present.