Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:51 am Post subject: STAR ON HOOD
Hi its great to be here...
i want to ask what is the right size and orientation of star on hood of m38. ive seen in photo gallery of this site that some stars are pointing to the wind shield but some are opposite side and some doesnt have.
which one is correct? is it optional? are there particular m38 production with star?
The national star was not put on the jeep at the factory. They are field installed at the discretion of the commander of that theater of operations. Since their purpose is to aid in ID from the air they were normally not used if we had complete control of the air space and were seldom used stateside but if a unit's vehicles returned from a location where they were used they would sometimes be removed right away and other times left untill the need to repaint arose. Sometimes they were left on stateside vehicles that were subject to rapid short notice deployments.
The phrase "field installed " immediately should alert you to the FACT there were variations in size, style, color and location.
Originally the Army used the regulation system to direct their installation. 1945 thru 1954 would have been Army AR850-5 Feb 1945 with changes thru C6 (dated Jan 4 which directed the use of a 15" star with it's point facing the dash and the tip of that point being 1 1/2" from the dash. Regulations are directive in nature and are expected to be followed exactly. If command levels below the level of Headquarters US Army wished to deviate they would request approval of a supplement to the AR850-5 from HQ Army.
The Army then switched the information to the technical bulletin format in TB 746-93-1 dared October 1964 the point of the star was reversed and faced the grill and the star is shown on 1/4 tons close to the forward edge of the hood. The TB's are still directive in nature but don't demand quite the same high level of strict compliance the AR's do.
This makes it obvious that to determine a correct marking arrangement for a specific vehicle in a specific unit at a specific time period /date one would need access to all the supplemental directives in use at that time by that unit. This is why generally in judging situations the judges will accept dated photo evidence of a like vehicle in that unit's markings as acceptable proof of your accuracy.
Copies of these pubs are available on several web sites and can be purchased from Portrayal Press. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
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which directed the use of a 15" star with it's point facing the dash and the tip of that point being 1 1/2" from the dash. Regulations are directive in nature and are expected to be followed exactly. If command levels below the level of Headquarters US Army wished to deviate they would request approval of a supplement to the AR850-5 from HQ Army.
