Staghound Restoration

[Russ Gregg]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I have seen pale blue US Army markings on a few wartime vehicles but it does not seem to have been a common practice. This is the first time as well that I can recall ever seeing a US Army number on a vehicle using the decimal point system of numbering. It would be interesting to know when and why US vehicles used pale blue markings and when the decimal numbering system was in use.

It was my understanding that the blue markings on US vehicles were painted pre-war. Once the war started they went to white.

[tankbarrell]

Blue lettering was for tactical purposes and lasted well into the war. All US vehicles built to US Govt. contracts had a USA serial applied.

My Sherman, built in Sept. 42, had its number written in blue as follows:-

U.S.A. W-3.057.081

It also had its WD number, T-146309 in blue.

[Russ Gregg]

Thanks for the clarification Adrian. Was there something to delineate blue numbering from white (date, purpose, origin etc) or was it a change that was rolled out on an as needed basis? Maybe original number in blue and later field revisions in white?

[Dirk Thielens]

Thank you all for the information.
Is there a way to "calculate" the Commonwealth Registration number (F number) from the USA Registration number? Or is there no relation between the two?

[lssah2025]

On HMVF..

Staghound NOS Original Head gasket

http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread...al-Head-gasket

[Mike Cecil]

Dirk,

Each Commonwealth country used their own registration system. In Australia, the registration number of Staghounds supplied under lend-lease arrangements was the original USA registration number less the 'USA', ie just the numerals. These were not unique in that regard: many imported AFVs such as M3 Medium and Matilda were identified for Australian registration purposes by the number assigned in their country of origin, less any national identification such as 'USA'.

David: I'm not aware of any US military use of the T17E1 - as far as I know, they were designed and built to a Brit specification and supplied under Lend Lease to the British Purchasing Commission (BPC) for distribution.

Mike

[Dirk Thielens]

Thanks for the information.
We think our Staghound was used by the Canadians during ww2. We guess that because on the rear armour we found L-shaped attachement points for what we think was a deep wading kit. (pictures are on our facebook page)
Also the support brackets for the external fuel tanks were removed. We have been told that these were typical Canadian modifications.

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by Dirk Thielens

Thank you all for the information.
Is there a way to "calculate" the Commonwealth Registration number (F number) from the USA Registration number? Or is there no relation between the two?

Generally no. UK and Canadian census numbers were issued in blocks and have no correlation to the USA number.

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by Russ Gregg

Thanks for the clarification Adrian. Was there something to delineate blue numbering from white (date, purpose, origin etc) or was it a change that was rolled out on an as needed basis? Maybe original number in blue and later field revisions in white?

I suspect that was the case but I feel sure later production were in white at the factory.