When I was in the Air Force (SAC) 1953-1957 I never saw a M38 or M38A1 on any Air
Force Base I was assigned in the US (Sampson AFB, Lowry AFB, MacDill AFB and
Pinecastle AFB) . If they were there they were well hid.
The vehicles we had were civilian models of Chevy pickups, International (Bread)
Trucks, Ford Ranch Wagons (To carry aircrew to planes) Chevy Shuttle buses and
Buick staff cars for the Commanders. They were all painted Strata Blue with
yellow lettering. Trucks all had beefed up electrical system to handle General
Electric radios that were used for communications. They were all civilian radio
equipment not military.
Overseas I was assigned to RAF Station Lakenheath, RAF Brize Norton and Sidi
Slimani French Morocco. At Lakenheath we had M37s assigned to us and the were
brown with black lettering. Sorry I don't know the technical name for the brown
paint but it was a dull finish. At Brize I had an M211 assigned and it was dull
brown. At Sidi we had an M38 and M38A1 assigned to us and they also were painted
dull brown with black lettering. Incidentally the M38A1 we had in Sidi was the
first one I had ever seen and fell in love with it. I now own two, a 52 and
53.
DDoyle9570@aol.com wrote:
> Sorry you didn't get my response last week...
>
> The marking of USAF vehicles is covered by T.O. 36-1-3, "Painting and Marking
> of USAF Vehicles." The copy I have (from Portrayal Press) is dated 15
> September 1958.
>
> It says "All Air Force vehicles will be painted with full gloss, blue, color
> 516, except as specified below"....
>
> It goes on to say, "Engines, engine accessories, and components requiring
> repainting will be painted with full gloss, gray, color number 1610."
>
> Further, in Section III, paragraph 1f it says "Markings will be accomplished
> by using locally purchased, reverse silk-screened reflectorized tape,
> conforming with specification MIL-R-13689.......Blue background with yellow
> letters for blue and white surfaces."
> Continuing to paragraph 1g, "Letters and numerals used for the marking of
> vehicles will be of heavy Gothic type. Unless otherwise specified, the size
> selected will be the largest size practicable in the available space
> consistent with good appearance and visibility."
> Paragraph 3a species 1 inch lettering for M38A1.
> Paragraph 5d says "The national symbol (star) will NOT be used on vehicles
> operated in the continental United States."
>
> Other paragraphs cover "Official use only", TP, and other markings.
> As far as the time frame goes, I have a 1952 Studebaker built M35 that was
> originally painted Strata blue, apparently at the factory. I also on an
> ex-Air Force M45WLF fire truck. Its last rebuild was in the 80's, and it
> appears to have been painted and marked consistent with T.O. 36-1-3 at that
> time (although I am sure there are more recent versions).
>
> Consistent throughout the manual was the lack of shade information on the
> yellow markings, it just says, "yellow".
>
> Hope this helps,
> David Doyle
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 05 2001 - 07:13:47 PST