Empire & Allied Armoured Vehicle Census Numbers

[Tony Smith]

The Australian Army used 5 (!) numbering series for vehicles during WW2. Vehicles supplied from US and UK stocks often retained their original numbers from those systems, but did not sport both old and new numbers.
Vehicles ordered specifically for the Australian Imperial Forces (The AIF was the part of the Army that volunteered for overseas service) used the British system of vehicle classes, but prefixed with AIF (eg AIF T-14395). AIF numbers ranged from AIF 1 to AIF 25974 for all vehicle classes.
Vehicles ordered for the Permanent Military Forces and the Militia (the parts of the Army not for overseas service), as well as other commonwealth departments had the Commonwealth, or "C" system. This was later adopted by the AIF as well. C numbers run from C 00001 to C 105866 for all vehicle classes. When the number was issued on a number plate, it would take the form of C-01234, with the letter C in red and the numbers in black. When painted on vehicle the number would be shown as just 1234, with the numbers painted in either black or white depending on the background colour.
And finally, for Carriers only, they later adopted the Hull serial number as the vehicle identifier. Depending when they were produced and what system was in use, some carriers were numbered under just 1 system only, some under 2 systems, and some were under all 3 systems, AIF, C number, and Hull number!
Records of these numbering systems and the vehicles they were allocated to are still on hand in the Australian War Memorial archives.
Pictured is an Australian LP1 Carrier with the number AIF T-1855