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Old 11-07-19, 02:18
Rod Cairns Rod Cairns is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Australia
Posts: 5
Default Re 1ATF Markings

Quote:
Originally Posted by Owen Genat View Post
Rod, many thanks for this information. I did wonder if it was a troop sign, but I am not an expert in these matters. Do you know if the vehicle would have originally displayed the 1ATF (red kangaroo on yellow shield with thin red border) formation sign? Was this common practice on the AU Centurions? That model is absolutely stunning BTW.
Kind regards, Owen.
G'day Again Owen,

Thanks for the model comment, it's by no means an award winner! From Shane's book: "Instructions introducing a formation sign for vehicles operated by AFV (Army Component) were promulgated on 20 October 1969. The sign consisted of a red bounding kangaroo facing left on a yellow shield edged in dark green. The sign, produced as a pressure-sensitive sticker, came in two sizes, one eight inches square and a smaller version five inches square. Centurions and other armoured vehicles were to display the larger sign on the front and rear of the tank. Display of the formation sign is quite rare on Centurion medium tanks, though why remains unknown. It was more commonly applied to ARVs, again for an unknown reason."

This is largely borne out by period photos, I don't think I've ever seen a Gun Tank, Dozer or Bridgelayer wearing one (but I'm certainly no expert!) - just ARVs. One interesting marking that did catch my eye on an AWM film (F04233) was a gun tank with Detachment Forward Delivery Troop's (Mike, please confirm?) VUS. This was the red/yellow Armoured Corps sign with the pattern flipped horizontally, i.e. with the dividing line running from top left to bottom right. It has 106 on the sign, but 41 was actually allocated to them apparently.

Noting the Military Briefs book is proving difficult to find, may I also highly recommend Mike's book "Mud & Dust" (ISBN 9781741107678) from the AWM if you can track it down. A brilliant resource for Australian Army vehicles and artillery in SVN.

Last edited by Rod Cairns; 11-07-19 at 02:31.
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