51HD Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Anyone out there know anything at all about USAF vehicle markings? I am busy restoring a 1967 M715 Kaiser Jeep at the moment. It had been previously marked up in US army markings and my intention was to keep it that way. However after rubbing down the surface paintwork on the doors I found original US Air Force stencilling underneath. Subsequently I have now decided to restore it back to how it would have been originally with its USAF markings. I have taken a tracing of the original markings so I can get the font and sizing right and be able to stencil them back in the correct places. Thats the easy bit, but the difficult bit for me is figuring out how to decipher what the markings actually mean. Underneath the black "US Air Force" stencilling there is a "72K 50" also in black. What on earth does that signify? Is it a census number for the vehicle? or could it refer to a certain airforce unit that may have used it? I have trawled through the internet and drawn a blank on this one. Any ideas out there? :coffee: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 the 72 bit is the year it was registered/built. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51HD Posted September 11, 2009 Author Share Posted September 11, 2009 Many thanks for the reply there, I was going to argue with your answer as the M715 was built in 67' and not in 72' as your theory suggested. But I did some more digging on google last night and found out that you were right enough. I found a reference to USAF markings on one site which stated that the first two digits referred to the year of issue (72) and the next letter (K) referred to the class of vehicle, the other numbers will just be issued in sequence I assume. Five years of difference in the build year and year of issue might suggest it had been in storage for a while. But I have another theory, I did find the remains of a National Guard sticker on the drivers door which you could just make out at one point during the sanding process. It may have been with the NG for some time before being passed on to the USAF and being given 1972 issue markings. Would that make sense? Regds, Al Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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