> Do you mean Marston mats? I don't know that they were painted at all.
> They just looked like a dull steel grey and probably blackened by
> oxidation.
on 11/14/2007 5:07 AM Pat Flannery said the following:
>> Do you mean Marston mats? I don't know that they were painted at all.
>> They just looked like a dull steel grey and probably blackened by
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Pat
I don't know, but any coating would be worn off pretty quickly by
aircraft tires. These were just for temporary runways, and weren't
expected to last more than a few years, so I don't think that they would
go to any extra expense for long term use.

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Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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Pat Flannery - 14 Nov 2007 20:19 GMT
> I don't know, but any coating would be worn off pretty quickly by
> aircraft tires. These were just for temporary runways, and weren't
> expected to last more than a few years, so I don't think that they
> would go to any extra expense for long term use.
Like most government contracted stuff, they seem to have been way
overbuilt, considering there still appears to be huge numbers of the
plates being used for odds and ends across the Pacific.
I could see simply dipping them in zinc chromate paint for corrioson
protection, or zinc anodizing them in the later version like shown in
the surplus items sale that only has a few of the holes going through
the plate (that's apparently later Vietnam-era PSP)
Some more goodies on it here:
http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38645&highlight=
Including this:
"Mats, airplane, landing...geez we bought a lot of this stuff in three forms
Aluminum alloy, pierced plank 17,819,000 square feet.
Steel, pierced plank 702,398,000 square feet
Welded wire fabric type 123,131,000 square feet."
and this:
"Quite a bit of the matting we pulled up from Gurney was in as new
condition with little or no rust. The metal was actually still shiny.
Unfortunately both my camera and video recorder buggered up form the
humidity and moisture there and I never got any pics of it. I have never
seen rain as heavy as it rained in Alotau."
That makes it sound unpainted, though possibly anodized against rust.
Pat