Chemical/Gas detection paint

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[Tony Smith]

The Aust carriers had a small patch painted on the upright panel in front of the Driver. In the attached scan from the Carrier Instruction Manual, you can see it behind the steering wheel, and it appears to be a distinct colour from the Khaki Green No 3 of the rest of the carrier:

[Tony Smith]

Now I just happen to have a tin of "Detector Paint, Gas, Khaki No 2" made in Aust in 1944. Shall we open it?

[Tony Smith]

After stirring for around 5 minutes, it looked like this. The paint does have a green tinge to it, but I'd say it's more brown than green. But maybe it's already been exposed to Gas? (Pardon!):

[Tony Smith]

So, despite being 61 year old paint, the composition has gone off, and the vagaries of different light reflecting off wet paint and the reproduction of colours on Monitors, now you know exactly what it looks like!

maybe you should paint it on a piece of clean steel in the natural sunlite to get the best colour.

[Dave Page]

Hi Guys,
my tuppence worth here, gas paint was applied to many vehicles, on a flat panel where it could be easily seen, truck bonnets being a nice flat area. However, it was found that the heat of the engine caused this reactive paint to change colour as if exposed to gas. No doubt the desert heat may have had it's effect as well. Apparently, there were so many false-positives that the practice was discontinued altogether. So, one can expect that even a tin of paint may have changed colour if exposed to heat.
Cheers,
Dave

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by BIG MIKE
maybe you should paint it on a piece of clean steel in the natural sunlite to get the best colour.

While I was stirring the pot (of paint!), the stuff on the lid was starting to dry. Looking a the range of shades there, I think you could paint any shade of Tan/Dark Yellow/Mustard/Light Brown/Chocolate/Khaki on your carrier and tell the unwashed that it's exactly right.

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Brad Mills
So would this have been used post Normandy?

Brad, this paint was manufactured May '44, so it was still a requirement at that stage in the war for us, but we kept stocks of WMD to use against the Japs. I don't think there was an expectation that we would encounter the Japs using Chlorine or Mustard Gas, but rather the chance that our stuff would blow back on us. In fact, in all theatres in '39-'45, the only Aust Army casualties from chemical weapons occured in training on the Australian Mainland! Mustard and Chlorine Gas munitions were stored for the RAAF at 3 separate locations not 10km from where I live, in fact some was acidentally dug up in the 90's, causing a bit of a local stir. Two of these locations have been cleaned up and are open to authorised access, one of which is a regular stop on MV club trips in the area:

[Jordan Baker]

While reading through the RHLI War Diaries today I came across a small entry from late 1941- early 42 about Gas paint being applied to vehicles.

It stated that Gas detector paint #1 was being phased out and would not be replaced once stalks were exhausted. The interesting part was that it gave the colours used to diffrentiate between #1 and #2. #1 paint was a yellow/greenish colour whereas #2 was kahki.

Just thought some would be interested in this bit of info.

[Philliphastings]

Hello Tony,

I grew up not very far from you and in the late 70's as a youth I stumbled onto a huge pile of empty Mustard Gas shells behind a certain petrol station on a main road and choking up a small creek ! This also caused a bit of a stir at the time and I believe the authorities had to clean up quick smart.

Not sure if it made it into the media but the locals were 'in the know'

Cheers

Phill

[Tony Smith]

I think I know the location you're talking about, Phil. The Garage owner was a bit of a Steptoe and there was all sort of stuff down the creekbank behind his place, even reputed to be a DUKW in the blackberry bushes.

[Phil Waterman]

Always thought that it would be interesting to use temperature sensitive paint in the correct color range for a display substitute for Gas Detector Paint. After all real Gas Detector paint is going to do one of two things: Not change color or if you are in an urban pollution area tell you not to breath the air.

But if you used a temperature sensitive or light sensitive paint for the warning patch of paint would be changing all the time, making for a much lively vehicle display particularly if you are diving for your gas mask every time it changes color.