It never rains, it pours. MG 145182

[Huffy45]

@Jonesy - Congrats on your G-519. That thing is patina'd but really beautiful. It's appearance tells a story. Keep it rollin!

 

[Jonesy]

So a bit of light paint stripping and scraping has revealed this marking on the rear fender.

 

[Jonesy]

I'd say it's 3217

 

[Huffy45]

I'd say it's 3217

Nice work on revealing the fender markings!

Cursory research of '3217' leads to a tail number for "Georgia Rebel" B-17 Flying Fortress (MS-T, serial number 42-3217) of the 535th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group. The plane was damaged on mission and crash landed in Vännacka, Sweden in July of 1943 before it could reach base in England.

I am not saying these numbers are for sure a match to that, but it might be interesting to research. https://www.historynet.com/american-aircrew-sweden/

 

[Jonesy]

Considering the date of manufacture for the bike is July 43, the markings wouldn't be for that B-17. It might not correspond to an aircraft but some form of unit marking or Motor Pool.

 

[Huffy45]

Considering the date of manufacture for the bike is July 43, the markings wouldn't be for that B-17. It might not correspond to an aircraft but some form of unit marking or Motor Pool.

Ah, you are correct in that being too tight a window for that specific plane. A neat thought.

The reason I want to believe this bike could be tied to a plane is because of the 4 digits. I don't think I've ever seen 4 digits corresponding with any ground unit vehicles. The highest digit unit markings I've seen was on Jeeps tied to 999th Signal Service Company.

Seeing 4 digits in the 3k range stands out as not being a unit designator but a number.

I am no guru on WWII aviation but the three horizontal lines as a tac marking could match those used by the 11th bomb group?

Once again I am spitballing but with markings so clear it would be great to find the history of your bike!

Aaron

​

​

​

 

[pieboy]

I’m not sure if you made any progress with identifying the relevance of the number, but many support units had four digits. I did a quick search and found the 3217th Signal Service Battalion, which was stationed in England for a time.

The three bars certainly remind me of Preparation for Overseas Movement (P.O.M.) markings which were used to mark individual/unit equipment and vehicles to identify it during shipping. A groundbreaking new book was just published on this subject called “Destination: Victory” www.pomcodes.com and some cursory information can be found at www.questmasters.us/POM.html

-Paul

 

[DaGasMan]

I’m not sure if you made any progress with identifying the relevance of the number, but many support units had four digits. I did a quick search and found the 3217th Signal Service Battalion, which was stationed in England for a time.

The three bars certainly remind me of Preparation for Overseas Movement (P.O.M.) markings which were used to mark individual/unit equipment and vehicles to identify it during shipping. A groundbreaking new book was just published on this subject called “Destination: Victory” www.pomcodes.com and some cursory information can be found at www.questmasters.us/POM.html

-Paul

This is a fantastic link. It's like the secret shipping code right there in front of me, and I never even noticed.
Wonder how many pieces I had and sold without giving it a second thought.

 

[Jonesy]

Thanks all. I supplied a few photos to the author, Ben Major to use in the book.

3217th Signal Service Battalion is a good shout which I'll explore. Not much info out there though.

 

[johan willaert]

Personally I dont think the three bars are a POM code at all…
POM code for the 3217th Signal Sv Bataljon’s Companies were 35550-35552-35553-35551
POM code for the 3217th QM Sv Company was 47029

White bars indicate #9, but none of the above numbers end in 99

Plus, no sources confirm the above units were actually issued G519s