Warbird Information Exchange

Ok, for my brief add to this. I called my Photo friend from the 3rd for his comments. He recalls it looking like a natural steel color with some type of preservative coating. Now, in my opinion, you sure wouldn't want a slick painted surface for an aircraft to take off and land on, hence it does make sense to just coat as a temporary means of rust prevention while shipping overseas.Once installed, the preservative would wear away and you would end up with the rusted appearance we've seen in photos.

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Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.

I read that the gray color was spec hot-dipped galvanized....

Do you know the date of the hot-dipped spec?
I could see that spec as possibly coming after WWII as I don't know if they would have committed to using that much zinc for PSP during the war. That is probably why the stuff rusted so fast as it was not hot-dipped.
There is also the question of the steel they used. Hot rolled with the mill scale on it would make a mess of what was probably a pretty impressive press line. I can say that mill scale is a PITA on progressive die lines. The flakes and dust from the scale sticks to every surface due to the cutting and lube oil and will accelerate tooling wear. I would use HRPO or hot rolled pickled and oiled so there would be no mill scale to deal with. Coil fed, you could crank the PSP out at a good rate. It would come off the line clean but oily and the oil may last long enough to protect it to it's destination.

That's my .02 worth, your mileage may vary.

Les

The pallet of NOS matting we have at Fagen Fighters has some rust but it's clearly an OD green more in line with ground equipment. Even though runways were huge you still want them hidden from a distance.

The problem here is that it begs the question; what's the date of that NOS batch? Is it WW2-made or made after the war?
That was the root of my original problem is that a lot of is appears to have been made after the war or possibly re-finished in bulk at some point.

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Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

How about just a parkerized finish from the factory? Is it possible they parkerized them, oiled them for shipping, and then left them to the elements. That may be why they look dark, and turned rusty so quickly. Just a thought.

I'll throw in my pennies. I've seen pics of them welding the sections together. This and other photo evidence leads me to believe they left the factory unpainted. I don't see them painting them then having to remove paint in spots prior to welding. Having said that I don't think they were always welded after assembly. Interesting thread. Also in use any paint would tend to get removed by the a/c tires so painting them seems like a waste of time and effort.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

Looks rust color to me ...


PBY-5A Catalina of Patrol Squadron (VP) 6, a Coast Guard squadron, pictured on Marston matting at Narsarssuak, Greenland, during World War II

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More 'matting madness' for those still 'mumbling' about marston matting ...


The 36th NCB personnel repairing the Piva bomber trip with Marston matting after a severe shelling on Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 8 March 1944


Seabees laying Marston Matting on Henderson Field, Guadalcanal


Here's an example of your OD finish ... if that's really what it is.


And the 'unfinished' finish


Twice

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