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Jerry Can Paint Type/Colour


Zero-Five-Two

Question

Just a quick and probably stupid question, that I feel I need to ask before breaking out the spray gun.

 

Having acquired 4 period jerry cans to go in the storage racks of my Militant Tanker, what colour should I paint them?

 

I intend to finish the tanker itself in Deep Bronze Green as it would have been when new in 1954, But I never saw a jerry can in DBG in all my time in the R.E. they were always matt green, wherever they were used.

 

So should the cans be done in matt or would they have been gloss back then, anyone old enough to remember?

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Rob, Regulations for the Equipment of the Army 1955, as amended in Equipment Regulations 1959 Pamphlet No.9.

 

Returnable POL containers (including jerricans)

Interior: Red oxide

Exterior: Spraying, Olive Drab

or Brushing, Light Stone

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I have just found this thread as I have 4 jerry cans to paint. 2 came with the Land Rover direct from Witham and they forgot to look in the stowage, this are what I mean matt green 2 I bought again direct from Witham are deep bronze green.

My question is were all jerry cans issued as DBG and painted in the unit?

Thanks in advance.

IMG_20200411_124221.jpg

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I don't remember units ever bothering to paint their jerricans.  They were in whatever colour they left the factory.  The colour would depend on their age - which is easy to tell as they all have a year of manufacture stamped on them.  Looking at your picture, though, is the left hand one actually a British military jerrican?  With that "20l" marking and the milky green paint, it looks more like a civilian one you'd pick up in Halfords.  I may be wrong, but check that it has the broad arrow on it.  But, some post-war British military jerricans were painted deep bronze green up until the 70s while more recent ones tended to be a matt olive drab.  If they're a bit scruffy then leave them that way as that reflects how they usually were in service - they led quite a hard life being bashed around and scraped against each other and the sides of vehicles.  Old BAOR hands may well remember seeing small numbers of them abandoned beside the E34 at Zeebrugge or Calais - can anyone remember, or guess, why?

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20 minutes ago, 10FM68 said:

I don't remember units ever bothering to paint their jerricans.  They were in whatever colour they left the factory.  The colour would depend on their age - which is easy to tell as they all have a year of manufacture stamped on them.  Looking at your picture, though, is the left hand one actually a British military jerrican?  With that "20l" marking and the milky green paint, it looks more like a civilian one you'd pick up in Halfords.  I may be wrong, but check that it has the broad arrow on it.  But, some post-war British military jerricans were painted deep bronze green up until the 70s while more recent ones tended to be a matt olive drab.  If they're a bit scruffy then leave them that way as that reflects how they usually were in service - they led quite a hard life being bashed around and scraped against each other and the sides of vehicles.  Old BAOR hands may well remember seeing small numbers of them abandoned beside the E34 at Zeebrugge or Calais - can anyone remember, or guess, why?

Thank you for the information, the matt ones do have the MoD arrow and the others which could say deep bronze green don't, the latter were sold as ex MoD in fact last time I checked Witham were still selling them, the matt green one's I want to paint as paint is coming off and some rust appearing so want to prevent it getting worse, going to paint the others as DBG

Edited by Surveyor
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I don't know about small numbers of abandoned cans!

There was a layby on the main road about 3 or 4 miles out from Zebrugge, with an embankment down from the road to the field below.  There was always a big pile of cans at the bottom. 

As I remember from my time in BAOR (1980's) Fuel, was purchased from local German garages using tokens obtained from the unit pay office. The price was much cheaper than the UK. It was the habit of many Squaddies to fill a can or two extra when returning to the UK, then stop just outside the ferry terminal to top the car up.  The empty can, probably nicked from the MT yard, was then discarded by chucking it down the bank. So I've been told :whistle:

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Yep!  Those were the days - fuel coupons tax-free from the pay office.  But redeemable only at certain garages - Esso and BP until the 90s as I remember and only for use in Germany.  So the last BP filling station on the autobahn home was at Wankum, close to the border at Venlo.  Fill up there, a couple of jerricans as well - refill the tanks before the ferry and ditch the can (borrowed, as you say, from the MT park) as the ferry operators objected to them (full or otherwise).  Of course, there was a bit of planning involved as the coupons were only sold in multiples of 10 litres - so you only filled your tank in multiples of 10 litres!  By contrast, the Americans sold their coupons in little books which contained a variety of coupons: some for 10l, some for 5 and a few for one litre.  Rather more convenient.

 

Enough reminiscing.  Happy Easter to one and all - keep safe.

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