Military aircraft come in all shapes and sizes, but these days nearly all of them have one thing in common: they are painted grey. Boring, monotonous grey. But military aviation has a colorful history: from the invasion stripes and red tails of World War II to the bare metal of Korea and the camo schemes of Vietnam.

So what happened? Turns out science, art and logistics all play a role in how the U.S. military paints its aircraft for battle.

Aircraft camouflage kicked off during World War I, when aircraft proved great tools for scouting enemy positions, which in turn led to the development of anti-aircraft guns and air-to-air combat.

Concealing aircraft on the ground and in the air is a game of trade-offs. You can paint a plane blue to blend in with the sky, but it’ll stick out against

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