Subdued Vehicle Markings

[Colin Britton]

In some of the pictures I've seen of late war CCKW,s on open cab's only not closed cab models; I've seen what appears to be subdued invasion stars on the hoods when compaired with the hood numbers and small cab side stars. It is had to tell the color in black and white pictures but the subdued markings "appear to be a light O.D. green. Is this correct and if so what shade of light o.d. green was used? Anyone know? And are there color pictures of these markings?
Also second question. What is the correct position for the suppressed "S" on the vehicle? After the serial number on the hood or on the cowl up by the windsheild? This being for a late war open cab model. Thanks.

[Bill_Wolf]

Doc,

I assume you are going to have this vehicle be an 82AB rig. Why would I think that? ETO or MTO?

Subdued markings would not be appropriate for ETO/MTO front line combat vehicles. (I believe they were used abundantly in the PTO).

I do not know positively about the "S" placement. My June 45 truck has it camped at the end of the USA number.

FYI

Typical Assignment to a Airborne Division was 95 CCKW's of all variants.

Breakdown is as follows.

HQ company 10
Artillery 27
PIR 16
GIR 10
Engineer 4
AAA 2
Ordnance 6
Medical 0

HIstorically, just be aware of this when you number your truck, in the type of assignment you are lettering for.

Is it going to be done and displayed at AAW Week?

Make sure you send in pictures!

Bill

[Matt]

Hi Doc,

With the placement of the S it is usually seen in WWII photos of vehicles in combat units immediately after the number,eg 12345-S but from the factory it was more often applied to the cowl.

As with many things the size,style and placement of the hood markings vary from unit to unit,or it can even depend on the individual who applied the markings! for instance some CCKW's can be seen with the USA before the number,some with it above and some with it after,eg 12345-S USA.

What I'd suggest is to try to find an original picture of an open cab 82nd CCKW and copy the style of markings from it.

Matt.

[Colin Britton]

Good guess on the 82nd markings Weasel-Nut, now if you can only predict the next powerball numbers so we all can have back yards full of CCKW's and Armor.
I plan on marking it as a A.co 307th Eng. truck. As the Division has changed to Unit's of Action, the 307th was broken up as a seperate battalion. With a company going to the four Brigade's in the Special Troops Battalions. Now looking in the records in the 82nd museum the CCKW's bumper numbers were in the 20's after all the jeeps and WC's assigned in each company. And I planed to number it A-25 which was the bumper number to my old multi fuel M series 2 1/2 ton dump that was in my squad back in the early/mid 80's. I really liked that truck.... It was the only truck in the company with a heater.
The problem with alot of the war time photos we have are that alot of the times if the bumper numbers were readable they dident make it past the sensor's pen and are blacked out with ink.
But one of the photos in the Ardennes is where I noticed the subdued invasion star on the hood of a cckw. And it is partially covered with snow but the star and the white snow are way off on the color chart. With the star looking like I said a light O.D. compaired to the white snow and the other markings.

[dr deuce]

I choose vehicle numbers that are easy to change because I make up cardboard stencils that I paint thru.

For example, the stencil A28 for one vehicle or trailer can easily be partially taped over to make A23

If you look at my water buffalo (when it has the Reg numbers on it) with it parked next to the GPW, you will notice it has the same number except the Jeep starts out 20nnnnn and the water buffalo is 0nnnnn. Same stencil with the 1st number taped over for painting....

Little tricks that save time and effort.

[Colin Britton]

Hey Dr.Deuce , I found one of Annie's sisters down here in N.C. A bantam crane CCKW, but she is stripped of everything except the crane body and some of the drive train. But it is a split axel timken and I plan on going back and getting the chassis serial number. I diden have my digital camera nor a pencil but I will take both next time. The same place has a M-211 model with a Bantam crane that looks complete. I havent taken a close look at that as of yet but will take some pictures of that also my next trip.

[armydriver]

The numbers and the star on Betty Boop were in black on a flight line yellow paint job. No combat markings on the Army Air Corps trucks at Kelly Field, Texas.