M1 in MASSTER(?)

Dear all! I borrowed the picture from @Merki4

Has anyone any reference pictures of tank no. 2 in the picture? (Top, left column) Or pictures of similar paintwork on a M1? I would be very grateful!

Regards Freddy

MASSTER was only used from 1972 to 1978. Early Abrams were painted in MERDC, then switched to Forest Green.

Squadron Signal Publications # 26 M1 Abrams in action has two pics of the camo.
I guess it was a temporary attempt of camoflage.

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Thanks alot! I had my doubts on what to call it, hence the question mark in the heading. I´ll look for Squadron #26 on EBay then :slight_smile:

Something like this but done with MERDC colors

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Thats an interesting looking Abrams.

M1s were delivered in FS 34079 Forrest Green. Some were painted in MERDC and various schemes with MERDC colors at Ft. Hood on 2AD vehicles.

Well that scheme blends into to rolling Texas terrain and scrub brush better than the solid 34079.

Another.

Looks like 1CD got in on it too.

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The bottom photo just looks like they got a little “enthusiastic” when they painted the sand background for the bumper codes. The rest of the tank looks to be a more standard MERDC pattern.

Funny topic, this was a topic in the old forums too. A little quick history (from memory, so it may not be very precise), 2/5CAV, 1st CAV Div, was the original M1 unit at Ft. Hood for testing the (XM1) tank. Once the tank was officially accepted by US Army, the entire unit, people, equipment, and tanks packed up and moved across the base to 2nd Armored Div. This was in late 1981 to early 1982. I arrived in summer 82. Much of our equipment was still labelled 2/5 CAV. In the year I was there we were designated as 1/66 and then 2/67 Armor (or it may have been the other way around, the memory is a little foggy. In any case in just over a year the unit had 3 different designations under 2 different Divisions) when I left pieces of equipment had markings for 3 different units. Very confusing.
One of the missions the Battalion had was to experiment with different upgrades for the tank. Different companies tried out different camo patterns, mostly based on the MERDEC scheme (those were the only paint colors available). They were not MASSTER, but some may have been inspired by it. In the end, none of these were adopted, the Army decided to go with the 3 color NATO scheme. Other upgrades that were identified and experimented with included various versions of a bustle rack on the rear of the turret, and different cut-outs for the rearmost side skirt. There were 3 or 4 different versions of these tested while I was there, including the final versions adopted by the Army in the M1IP and M1A1.
Ken.

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