John Whitlock Codner (June 1913 – August 2008) was a British painter and wartime camouflage officer.
[4] He sailed to Egypt on the RMS Samaria, in a contingent of artists turned camoufleurs that included: Steven Sykes (a stained glass artist) Edward Bainbridge Copnall (a sculptor), Jasper Maskelyne (a stage magician) and Peter Proud (a film art director).
[1] This group, serving under the Director of Camouflage, Geoffrey Barkas, GHQ.ME G(Cam), became renowned for the techniques they employed as part of the war of deception.
Codner worked on camouflage and deception with Peter Proud during the Siege of Tobruk, 1941,[5] and under Steven Sykes on Operation Crusader.
[4] After the war Codner studied in London, at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art.