NIVO

{{Short description|Type of aircraft finish}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}

{{infobox color

|title=NIVO

|caption=Approximation of NIVO

|spelling=colour

|hex=404735

|source=Federal Standard 595{{cite web |title=Federal Standard 595 Color FS 34096 |url=http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?fs=34096 |access-date=18 January 2022 |website=colorserver.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507145300/http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?fs=34096 |archive-date=2018-05-07}}

}}

NIVO, abbreviated from Night Invisible Varnish Orfordness (or "Night Varnish Orfordness"),{{cite book| last=Kinsey| first=Gordon| title=Boulton & Paul Aircraft| date=1992-03-01| page=172| publisher=Terence Dalton Limited| isbn=978-0861380855}} was a dark grey-green overall finish applied to British night bomber aircraft in the inter-war period (1918–1939).

File:Hendon 190913 Vickers Vimy 01.jpg serial F8614 at the RAF Museum London]]

Developed in 1918 by the experimental station at Orford Ness, as a low-visibility colouring for the Royal Air Force it had a sheen to match that of open water on a moonlit night.{{cite book| last=Richardson| first=Doug| title=Stealth Warplanes: Deception, Evasion, and Concealment in the Air| publisher=Zenith Press| date=2001-10-11|pages=15–16|isbn=0-7603-1051-3}}

It was applied to aircraft from 1918 and was used on the Vickers Virginia, Handley Page Hyderabad, Handley Page Hinaidi, Handley Page Heyfords and Fairey Hendon bombers.

By the mid-1930s, tests had determined that the varnish was too reflective when searchlights were shone on it. NIVO was phased out in the late 1930s, and had been discontinued by the time of the arrival of the new British medium bombers – the Vickers Wellington, Handley Page Hampden and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.

NIVO is covered by Federal Standard 595 colour FS:34096{{cite web|author= Urban Fredriksson & Martin Waligorski |title=Urban's Colour Reference Charts |date=September 2006 |url=http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_fs.htm |website=IPMSStockholm.org |publisher=IPMS Stockholm |access-date=18 January 2022}}{{cite web| url=http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/lists/britcols.html| title=British Military Colours 1940 to date| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023055931/http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/lists/britcols.html| archive-date=2013-10-23 |website=vicflintham.co.uk}}