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Why black and white rockets?

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m62902 | 14:03 Wed 02nd Aug 2006 | Science
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A common design for the exterior paintwork of rockets was a chequered pattern of black and white.
It seems to have started with Werner Von Braun's V2 and then continued to the Apollo program... was it something to do with providing visual evidence of the rocket's spin?
I'm wondering why this was a popular choice for early rockets and why it's not used now?
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Avatar Image Catso
Don't they put a chequerboard pattern, or at least a cb target, on cars when they crash test them? It is probably something to do with getting a photographic record that can be accurately analysed afterwards.
15:41 Wed 02nd Aug 2006
Avatar Image heathfield
Catso's right, it was for photo records to allow measurement of lift speed (and possible rotation) by comparing individual movie film frames.
18:10 Wed 02nd Aug 2006

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