(11-23-2021 01:03 PM)billymac Wrote:  

(11-23-2021 11:29 AM)Tribe1693 Wrote:  I also love the "WILLIAMSBURG" on top of the dorm.

Yeah, an interesting story revolves around that.

Under a WPA program, the same one that built Cary Field, a state was divided into sections of 20 square miles. Where possible, a marker with the name of the nearest town was painted on the roof of the most prominent building at each 15-mile interval.

At the time that the program was established, few pilots were flying on established airways or had the benefit of radios. With the aid of those roof markers, even the most inexperienced pilots could determine where they were.

After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government determined that marked airports along the east and west coast were obvious targets for enemy identification and attack. Consequently, the workers, who had set about the work of marking some 13,000 sites, went about the work of blacking out those very markings they had diligently created.

The program started in 1933, so, as the picture date would suggest, the paint is probably still fresh.

Thanks for sharing. As someone who has spent his entire career in aviation, this is fascinating to learn.