_GOTOBOTTOM
Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
Hosted by Darren Baker
I am seeing (US Army) Stars !
ianclasper
Visit this Community
Washington, United States
Joined: September 02, 2009
KitMaker: 227 posts
Armorama: 141 posts
Posted: Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 03:53 PM UTC
I am seeing (US Army) Stars !

I have been looking at Archer Transfers' products and noticed that they do a whole series of 5 point stars for US Army equipment.

We have:
Plain Stars in White and Yellow
White Stars on a Blue Circle with a Red dot in the center (not done by Archer)
White Stars on a Blue Circle
White Stars inside a Yellow Circle
White Stars inside a White Circle
Yellow Stars inside a Yellow Circle

What does each mean and what periods do they apply to.

Thanks
Ian
highway70
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: November 27, 2004
KitMaker: 322 posts
Armorama: 267 posts
Posted: Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 06:08 PM UTC
From Military Vehicle Markings Part 2 by Terence Wise , Bellona 1973

Five variations most often seen:

1) White star on blue circle with red circle in center - pre war apparently based onaircraft markings of the period.

2) White star on blue circle - North Africa, Operation Toarch 1942

3) White star and horizontal white stripe - on turret of tanks while training in England and Ireland and some tanks in North Africa.

4) White star standardised by 1944 for allied forces, used as early as `1942 in both Europe and the Pacific.

5) White star inside white circle - late 1943 on, aerial recognition but also appeared on front rear and sides of vehicles. US Vehicles often had mix of 4 and 5. Broken star is variation probably due to use of stencil

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have seen photos of star in circle with a very pale yellowish color inside the circle instead of OD, on the hood of trucks and jeeps, due to poison gas detection paint.
GeraldOwens
Visit this Community
Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
KitMaker: 3,736 posts
Armorama: 3,697 posts
Posted: Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 08:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

From Military Vehicle Markings Part 2 by Terence Wise , Bellona 1973

Five variations most often seen:

1) White star on blue circle with red circle in center - pre war apparently based onaircraft markings of the period.


Since Wise's book was published, it's been found that the prewar tank force's marking reversed the colors used by the Air Corps, with a red outer circle and blue center dot (the few color photos from this period color photos confirm this). The use of orthochromatic black and white film, which reverses the apparent darkness of red and blue (and turns yellow nearly black), further confuses the issue. Panchromatic black and white film, which is equally sensitive to all colors, only started to become common in the late 1930's.
Removed by original poster on 09/15/09 - 00:30:03 (GMT).
ianclasper
Visit this Community
Washington, United States
Joined: September 02, 2009
KitMaker: 227 posts
Armorama: 141 posts
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2009 - 03:25 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

From Military Vehicle Markings Part 2 by Terence Wise , Bellona 1973

Five variations most often seen:

1) White star on blue circle with red circle in center - pre war apparently based onaircraft markings of the period.


Since Wise's book was published, it's been found that the prewar tank force's marking reversed the colors used by the Air Corps, with a red outer circle and blue center dot (the few color photos from this period color photos confirm this). The use of orthochromatic black and white film, which reverses the apparent darkness of red and blue (and turns yellow nearly black), further confuses the issue. Panchromatic black and white film, which is equally sensitive to all colors, only started to become common in the late 1930's.


Thanks for the insight on the Red White and Blue star, I guess I will have to make my own decals for that version !

Anyone got any info on the yellow versions of the Star ?

Thanks

Ian
NormSon
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: December 17, 2006
KitMaker: 181 posts
Armorama: 141 posts
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2009 - 04:37 PM UTC
The yellow stars were first introduced in Africa, as it was felt that they would not be as conspicuous in the bright sunlight. When they invaded Sicily and Italy, the circles were added to the outside to make the stars less easy to confuse with the German crosses. As the Allies moved on north into Italy, and as new vehicles were added to units, yellow surrounds were sometimes applied to white stars already on new vehicles. Also, as time went on, white surrounds were added to yellow stars as the yellow went out of favor and all white markings became the standard again. If you look at various pics from the different Med theatres at different times, the different combinations become very apparent, especially on M7 Priests, M4 Shermans, and M2 & M3 halftracks. There are lots of variations in sizes of stars and the circles and their locations; it appears that there was a lot of artistic license used in their applications, and not a lot of hard and fast rules used.
Norm Samuelson
CDK
Visit this Community
Massachusetts, United States
Joined: September 24, 2006
KitMaker: 358 posts
Armorama: 339 posts
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2009 - 04:55 PM UTC

Quoted Text



Anyone got any info on the yellow versions of the Star ?

Thanks

Ian


Ian,

the yellow star, yellow circle and star and yellow circle white star would be seen in the invasion of Sicily and probably still be in use in Italy.





Even in this BW photo you can see the different color between the white star and the yellow circle



There are some photos of yellow stars and yellow stars in yellow circles in many publications but without scanning them, I obviously can't post them. I Think I have even seen yellow used in Tunisia on M3 tanks and stuff but I could be wrong, just trying to recall all this without looking too deeply.

HTH

 _GOTOTOP