British Army Jeeps in World War Two

[Richard E]

Probably a very simple question for the armour experts amongst us.

Were jeeps operated by British forces in World War Two finished in US Olive Drab or British colours? If they were finished in British colours would Khaki Green be the correct colour?

[Test Graham]

Early ones would be painted in whatever colours were appropriate for the time of their arrival. I don't know whether Khaki Green would still be around then. The masses that came over before D-Day would probably have retained their Olive Drab, but some may have been repainted in British Olive Drab. Perhaps (undoubtedly) Mike Starmer will know more.

[Andrew Jones]

Simple choice for a green jeep, US olive drab or British SCC15, take your choice. Since both colours are virtually indistinguishable when new ,[ SCC15 tends to weather towards green and OD towards brown ] then use either and weather to your choice. SCC15 was introduced to reduce the need to repaint US equipment in British service and was intended to be visually the same, however, differences in formulation and the pigments availible at the time led to different properties when weathered in service.

[bobgpw]

I agree with the previous posters - you can really take your pick with British Jeeps.

The big thing you will see is if a vehicle has been delivered in O.D, the USA registration number will have been painted over by us Brits, and an M series number applied instead. As a result, there will be a "two tone" patch on the bonnet. The Allied "star" location also varied during production and painting. Indeed, within the star, US forces often applied gas detection paint which was a strange yellowy green colour.

With the exception of USMC jeeps (Forest Green) , all vehicles left the production line in O.D. Repainting was done in the field or at re-assembly depot. If you are doing a "bonnet" open Jeep, a Ford will have a lovely grey engine and gearbox.

British camo was also applied sometimes, usually the Mickey Mouse pattern with flat black countershading for NW Europe and Italy.

Ford or Willys???

Bob

1943 Ford GPW