Convoy plates

[Mike Cecil]

Gina,

And technically, even 'tac sign' (as in 'tactical sign') is not correct: they are a Unit sign holder (the formation sign was most often, at least during WW2, painted directly onto the vehicle. The Australian exception is 2nd AIF Middle East).

Tanks did not have unit sign holders: the formation and unit signs and associated tactical signs (like squadron markings) were painted directly onto the vehicle in positions as specified by higher headquarters. There are, as you can imagine, many exceptions and interpretations.

I gather you are wanting to mark your M3A1? Do you have any particular (and appropriate) unit/formation and period in mind? Do you have the tanks original US serial number?

Mike C

[Mrs Vampire]

Taa Mike

I will attach a photo later

It has what I was told was Mud and Blud on the rear. Its original but the colours not quite a spiffy as i would want.

a square with the lower left diagonal a kind of red and the upper right diagonal brown green colour. big white 53 in the middle

[Mrs Vampire]

I also want one for the Blitz but having them both with the same plate might be incorrect ??

[Mrs Vampire]

here are a couple of rear shots. I guess its easy to identify for those in the know .

[Mrs Vampire]

3 rd armoured division maybe ?? I have looked at the picture in wiki and mine definitely has a knight on horse and a boomerang underneath. I painted exactly over the original , which is still underneath my effort.

[Mike Cecil]

Gina,

The Formation sign is 3rd Aust Armoured Division, described as a Knight on horseback over a boomerang.

The Unit sign '53' within that division was carried by the 13th Aust Armoured Regiment, part of 2nd Aust Armoured Brigade, in June 1943. They were located at Manumbar, Qld, at that time. As the third Armd Regt within the Brigade, the background colour would be red (not red/brown diagonal). Diagonal red/brown is not a colour combination I am aware of in use within the Aust army, and diagonally divided plates in the Aust army are always lower left to upper right, ie a colour in the upper left half and the lower right half.

Your No.9 artillery tractor could also be marked to 3rd Aust Armoured Division if you so chose: both 21 and 22 Aust Field Regiments formed the field artillery components of the division. In June 1943, these were both based at Gympie, Qld. The unit signs were 76 on a red/blue horizontally divided unit sign for 21 Fd Regt, or 74 on red/blue horizontal for 21 Aust Fd Regt. The formation sign was that of 3rd Armd Div.

Mike C

[Mrs Vampire]

Marvellous ....Mike