Air Force jeeps (again!)

[evanso1975]

Latest offerings from the web. Mainly MB's; not certain on the first one, but the other three were taken at K13 air base in Suwon, Korea:




_________________
Owen

1951 US Air Force M38
1944 F-1 1/2-ton Airdrome Trailer
1940 C15 Chevrolet CMP 11-cab
1939 DKW KS200 Motorcycle
MVT # 19406

[Scrapyard]

I did win this auction only yesterday. Another flightline Jeep in Korea. Other pictures from the same group of pictures were showing Lt.Gen. O´Barcus, who became the CO of the Fifth Air Force in Korea in June 1952.
So most likely this picture was indeed taken during the Korean war.

[Foxmike]

Thanks for posting these pictures. I had often wondered if any USAF M38A1s were green. Looks like the answer is yes. I'd like to switch the markings on mine to Air Force since mine is driven on the local base. Can't justify a repaint to strata blue just yet.

[evanso1975]

Note that the M38A1 has the 209##### serial number, so I guess all the air force did to that jeep was add an "F" after the "USA". If the guy didn't have his arm in the way, we'd be able to tell (grrr ). The third photo I posted show that style of serial number too.

P.S. Scrapyard - that's a nice clear photo. Good find!
_________________
Owen

1951 US Air Force M38
1944 F-1 1/2-ton Airdrome Trailer
1940 C15 Chevrolet CMP 11-cab
1939 DKW KS200 Motorcycle
MVT # 19406

[Scrapyard]

From Critical Past

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675061742_Lockheed-U-2_Project-Hasp_plane-takes-off_plane-in-flight_Laughlin-Air-Force-Base

United States Air Force Lockheed U-2 aircraft on high altitude sampling missions code named Crow Flight during Project Hasp at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, United States. Date: 1960, March 14

Another picture from another video


from: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675061743_Lockheed-U-2_Project-Hasp_plane-taxiing-on-runway_plane-takes-off_Laughlin-Air-Force-Base

[wesk]

If you haven't already noticed the appearance of USAF vehicles in the 1948 thru 1960 period is extremely varied based on location, unit and also the transition from USAAC to USAF. The Army was named the responsible procurement agency for all wheeled tactical vehicles for all branches under the control of the brand new Dept. of Defense in 1948. When the USAF received their jeeps with Army registration numbers they simply added the F to USA_. As the USAF developed it's own registration numbering system they started applying it to their vehicles in addition to the old Army numbers and then later in place of the old Army numbers. During this same period the Willys factory records show that the Army started passing on USAF registration numbers to Willys for USAF destined jeeps. This seems to occur in the 51/52 time frame. By 1954 the USAF and the Navy were procuring their own wheeled tactical vehicles.

Even if you are fortunate enough to have a copy of the very early USAF vehicle registration regulations you must be sure to understand that every USAF regulation would have many individual command (IE 2nd AF, 8th AF, SAC, TAC, MAC) supplements published to them and those basic regs and supp's would get additional supplements from the Wing level. So that basic USAF reg you have can only be considered a very basic guide to some methods of USAF markings. For making period correct choices on markings the best source are period photos of the units and time periods you want your jeep to represent.

Don't use the photo of the M38A1 with "Base Operations" on the windshield as a guide for marking a flightline jeep. A vehicle used primarily on the flightline will have complied with regs other than the basic and supplemented USAF vehicle registration and marking reg. Several different pubs addressed the use of vehicle's on the flightline, their appearance and equipment. The Master Sgt. is wearing 505's, a class B uniform that would not normally have been worn in a combat area so it's safe to assume this photo was taken around mid to late 1953. Normally combat area enlisted personnel subject to enemy action would be wearing fatigues. The jeep is only temporarily equipped for limited flightline use with the tied on checkered flag. The base ops guys would occasionally have to deliver paperwork such as flight orders and weather maps to the air crews or relay changes in mission data in hurry when the crews were already at their aircraft. Again there's hard fast info here since this varied a lot based on the physical size of the unit. Also there were many things often done differently in combat areas and theater and tactical commanders had and still have a great deal of latitude left to them for changing or supplementing published regulations and procedures.
_________________
Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100

Mjeeps photo album: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules.php?set_albumName=Wes-Knettle&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[BullRun]

My dad was a WWII and Korean War veteran who swore during the Korean War to never having seen anything other than WWII jeeps there and 6x6's. In fact when he went over on a transport ship to Inchon all the equipment was new including brand new WWII jeeps.

For those interested the way you got your military vehicle drivers license in Korea during the war for his group was to drive a jeep to the top of a large pile of dirt... turn around the jeep and drive back down. If you could do that you got your license.