USAF Strata Blue Question

[k8icu]

When the zoomies got a new M37 and they repainted it strata blue did they take them appart to just about every little piece?

I ask because as I'm taking my M37 apart I'm finding things like the top of the glovebox is painted blue. There is no way to do that except by taking the glovebox out and painting it. The bottom of the glovebox door hinge is painted blue. I'm finding many parts like that and I'm wondering if that was SOP or is this truck is differnet. If the truck didn't have OD under the blue I would make a strong case that it came from the factory AF SB. I have also found where two pieces bolted together when the one piece is taken off there is blue on the back side of the part and blue where the part sat. Even on the frame!

I have edited this post. When I poseted originially I had no idea that our friend Lifer was ill or had passed. I feel it is disrespectful to keep this thread in it's original title. I hope everyone will understand. Thank you Joe 7/14/11

[cuz]

The early M37's came to the USAF thru the Army Ordnance procurement system OD. If the truck was assigned to a rapid deployment type unit (like a Red Horse or COM MOB unit) or to an overseas location it was usually left OD. If it went to a regular stateside unit it eventually got painted blue. I spent 22 years in the Air Force and the blue ones were scratch and shoot jobs. Now when the B1's were built the USAF was doing it's own contracting and some of those probably came blue from Dodge.

I would suspect some civvy owner before you restored the truck and repainted it blue.

[powerwagontim]

Hi Cuz,
That is interesting. My 52 was Strata Blue under OD, but the blue is definately the first layer. After the OD was really ugly light blue and then John Deere Green!
I guess we know to never say never!
Tim

[cuz]

Perhaps your M37 is 54 or newer with 52 plates? Does your responsible agency plate indicate Army Ordnance or USAF? 53/54 the USAF started ordering it's own M38A1's and they came in blue. The light blue was probably CAP.

[afvet6670]

Our 53 (deliver date 12/53 with Army Ordnance on tag) was originally SB but was painted OD at sometime later...

[powerwagontim]

Hi Cuz,
The data plate says 52, and the Responsible Agency was USAF.
You are probably right about the light blue being CAP.
Thanks,
Tim

[k8icu]

Huh...Well mine is a 53 and in an early thread (like 2 years ago) we established that the trucks would be taken in by the air force and dismantled and then repainted which is why you end up with the data plate on my cab not matching the frame SN....They put the wrong cab on the wrong frame. I can understand that happening espically if it were GIs doing the work. This is why I am wondering as to what level of dismantal did they AF go through. Also did the AF do the repainting or where the trucks sent to a depot some place like Letterkenny (which is an Army depot) to get transformed or where they sent to the base and the motorpool crew slung the blue on?

I'm not restoring my truck back to original, I'm just wondering as I discover things. By sanding the paint my truck was built in Army green. Then made AF Blue, then it went to a local FD where it was painted fire engine red and then white and then bubba painteded brown.

[themoose74]

For what it is worth, my data plates are original to my truck. The DoD is 5/21/53. The procurement agency is United States Air Force and the depot maintenance is the same. I've got United State Air Force stamped everywhere on the one plate!

For the last year I have spent most of my time removing several paint layers off of it. From what I can tell, 98% of the truck has the Strata Blue for its original color. Every now and then I find a bolt on part that was OD...the gear cluster plate being the largest and then I think one or two of the marker lights.

Above the SB, the truck was painted red and I found USAF marking in white on the red paint along the rear cross member. What was interesting was that the red ONLY showed up on the exterior pieces of the truck. Nothing underneath it (fenders and such were still blue) or the interior of the cab had been painted red; only the parts that were seen on the top and sides that could be seen from outside of the truck. Unfortunately, the previous civilian owners painted over the SB in the cab so I wasn't able to preserve any of the blue.

Below the SB paint, it looks like the primer paint is a dark, dark blue...almost a royal blue. I was a bit surprised to find it. I had just assumed it would have been a red oxide coat.

[cuz]

Many of the original M series mil spec paints were self priming and in your case the first coat was simply a flattened coating of the standard mil spec Strata Blue followed by a standard un-flattened semi-gloss coat. Willys did the same thing with the M38 and M38A1.

[Joe]

Hi Cuz,
The data plate says 52, and the Responsible Agency was USAF.
You are probably right about the light blue being CAP.
Thanks,
Tim

I spent a butt load of years in the CAP starting in the mid 1960s and even helped recover an x-navy M-38A1from Cecil Field and restore it and repaint it in CAP colors. CAP used standard USAF blue for everything and did not use light blue. At least every unit that I have contact with did. I'm not saying that no units used light blue but it certainly would have been abnormal. If it was was painted light blue and used for any kind of official or semi-official role then I would suspect that it was used by NATO.

[neverfinished]

I've completely stripped my 53. The base color everywhere is Strata Blue. In hard to reach areas -like up under the cowl-blue was the only color present. It had been repainted SG olive and then fire dept. yellow before I bought it from local FD. No data plates unfortunately.
Ted

[powerwagontim]

Hi Joe,
Thanks for the CAP info. I had actually figured the light blue and the John Deere green were applied by Bubba at some point after it left Govt service. ICAP had never crossed my mind until Cuz suggested it.
Tim