Were tank tools and spares the same colour as the tank?

[43rdRecceReg]

It crossed my mind the other day, that if many tanks were sprayed at regimental depots- and they were needed urgently at the front- would maintenance crews strip off all the tools, spare tracks, and tow cables before applying camouflage paint?
In other words..were tank attachments the same colour as the tank?

[43rdRecceReg]

Just been trawling the net on this theme, and found a thread on Finescale Modeler on roughly the same theme..
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_su ... 69201.aspx

[jarndice]

In the beginning our Platoon Austin Champs were issued in the factory Olive Green, they were cleaned by the driver with paraffin, I don't recollect a time when they were repainted,
When they were withdrawn our Platoon Land Rovers would get a Matt Dark Green and Matt Black spray at least once a year But because we could get the word at any time they were painted with the bare minimum of preparation,
A spray over with Carbon Tetrachloride using an old pump action fire extinguisher to degrease them, then a rapid spray,
BUT the Platoon Sgt would eat anyone who did not remove all the loose and removable fixtures and fittings first.
So Tilt off, Spare wheel off, Seats out and all the tools off,
Then Clean and paint. then finish with dear old Pegasus front and rear and our Tac Number, And the very last job before refitting everything, some one with a steady hand painting the Tyre Pressure numbers on each wing.
I suggest that Platoon Sgts of every Army in the World would be just as persuasive as those in the British Army including German Armoured Companies of WW2.
Shaun.

[Estnische]

An excellent question Roy! I was afraid to ask...

[43rdRecceReg]

In the beginning our Platoon Austin Champs were issued in the factory Olive Green, they were cleaned by the driver with paraffin, I don't recollect a time when they were repainted,
When they were withdrawn our Platoon Land Rovers would get a Matt Dark Green and Matt Black spray at least once a year But because we could get the word at any time they were painted with the bare minimum of preparation,
A spray over with Carbon Tetrachloride using an old pump action fire extinguisher to degrease them, then a rapid spray,
BUT the Platoon Sgt would eat anyone who did not remove all the loose and removable fixtures and fittings first.
So Tilt off, Spare wheel off, Seats out and all the tools off,
Then Clean and paint. then finish with dear old Pegasus front and rear and our Tac Number, And the very last job before refitting everything, some one with a steady hand painting the Tyre Pressure numbers on each wing.
I suggest that Platoon Sgts of every Army in the World would be just as persuasive as those in the British Army including German Armoured Companies of WW2.
Shaun.

Thanks for the personal insight, Shaun. The thing is, though, I'm really thinking about vehicles in a WW2 setting..often in pressured situations, or in modern speak 'logistically challenged' let's say .
As an avid follower of your personal military anecdotes, and experiences, I'd guessed that your period service probably began in the early 1960s. Do pardon me if I'm, woefully wide of the mark. If this is the case, then,
apart from decreasing role played by Britain as a World military policeman, we weren't involved in any major conflicts like the Korean War (which I can just about remember.. ), or even the Suez debacle, and I think that peacetime maintenance requirements probably differed from those in Wartime. I imagine this caveat also applies to the other former major players in WW2, with the probable exception of the French, as they packed it in after only a few weeks...Vive la Vichy et Petain I could, of course be wrong

[43rdRecceReg]

Hmm., I forgot to include this useful link to British camouflage schemes in WW2, although it doesn't directly address the question I posed.
http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/starmer%20camo.htm

[RobW]

I'd expect the initial colour to be shared by the vehicle & any brackets etc but not removable items. In the field might depend on how much time they had, and who was in charge.

[jarndice]

Roy One of the reasons we were not committed by Mr Wilson to helping our American cousins in Vietnam was because Indonesian Armed Forces invaded Borneo and we as part of our treaty commitments in concert with Malaysian, Australian and New Zealand Forces after a lot of aggravation including my own suffering after a botched night jump the combined forces threw out the Indonesians,
It sure seemed like a major conflict to us at the time and yet when I talk of it to friends and family I get blank looks,

Almost nobody remembers it.

To complicate matters while all that was going on the UKs drawdown from Aden was going on,
I lost my best friend in the Radfan (Up Country Yemen) John Baulcomb,
And the Battalion was in RAF Argosy's and Beverly's shuttling between the two locations.
The last of us were lifted off from the Governors lawn by Fleet Air Arm Wessex to a Carrier,
And while all this was going on apart from helping the local forces in Belize against the bullyboy tactics of Guatamala,
The Communists were still coming across the Thai border murdering and kidnapping along the Northern Malaysian Border long after the rest of the world thought that they were finished.
That was where the RAF and Malaysian Air Forces Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer and British Army DHC 2s helped us to finally put the lid on that particular Pain.
Trust me it was a very busy time for an over committed British Army, Navy and Air force.
As to Vietnam I wish so much I could talk about it but the Official Secrets Act would have a number of friends in jail if I did.
Shaun.

[43rdRecceReg]

Roy One of the reasons we were not committed by Mr Wilson to helping our American cousins in Vietnam was because Indonesian Armed Forces invaded Borneo and we as part of our treaty commitments in concert with Malaysian, Australian and New Zealand Forces after a lot of aggravation including my own suffering after a botched night jump the combined forces threw out the Indonesians,
It sure seemed like a major conflict to us at the time and yet when I talk of it to friends and family I get blank looks,

Almost nobody remembers it.

To complicate matters while all that was going on the UKs drawdown from Aden was going on,
I lost my best friend in the Radfan (Up Country Yemen) John Baulcomb,
And the Battalion was in RAF Argosy's and Beverly's shuttling between the two locations.
The last of us were lifted off from the Governors lawn by Fleet Air Arm Wessex to a Carrier,
And while all this was going on apart from helping the local forces in Belize against the bullyboy tactics of Guatamala,
The Communists were still coming across the Thai border murdering and kidnapping along the Northern Malaysian Border long after the rest of the world thought that they were finished.
That was where the RAF and Malaysian Air Forces Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer and British Army DHC 2s helped us to finally put the lid on that particular Pain.
Trust me it was a very busy time for an over committed British Army, Navy and Air force.
As to Vietnam I wish so much I could talk about it but the Official Secrets Act would have a number of friends in jail if I did.
Shaun.

I had a cousin who served in Aden, and another "virgin Soldier' cousin (nothing like Hywell Bennett ) who got a dose of Malaria in the Malayan 'Emergency'. I guess 'Emergency' was a euphemism for 'War', and by being called an 'emergency' it operated by different rules. When you say that 'blank looks' accompanied any discussion of involvement in these conflicts; it doesn't surprise me one jot. Twas ever thus when soldiers returned home with 1000 yd stares, PTSD, wounds too gruesome to look at, and so on. The cousin who saw action in Indonesia, suffered so badly from malaria that he hanged himself from a lamppost in 1960. I guess, the blank looks were the final straw.
I recall wondering what these conflicts were all about at the time, as there were no obvious 'goodies and baddies' as in the Great War, and WW2. Luckily for me, I was the youngest son of the youngest son, and missed National Service by a few years. However, I got blank looks in later life by simply being me

[Max-U52]

Sounds to me like Malayan "Emergency" is kinda like Korean "Conflict". There's that common language again. Bet they both seemed a lot like "War" to the poor slobs in the mud.

If it's any consolation, Roy, even though you can't see them through the computer, you still get plenty of blank looks from me just for being you. I usually just scratch my head and say, "Hmmm. Highlanders."