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I recently had a 1942 WLA restored and am just now getting to put the military markings on it. I was talking to my builder and he suggested that I put the invasion star on the tank instead of the normal 6in star. He pointed to a little star that was stamped on the engine casing near the VIN. He said the star meant that the engine was in service over seas in the war theater and I could "legally" use the invasion star.
The guy who is doing the painting for me said he never heard of that when we were discussing what markings to do. I have been searching Google for the past couple of days and I can't find any information as to what the star that is stamped on the engine casing actually means.
I've been to that site. A lot of good information and pictures.
I decided to go ahead with the invasion star on the tank with the broken circle.
Just wish I could find out what the star that is stamped next to the VIN on the engine casing means.
From what my builder told me it goes like this:
There were a lot of WLA engines and bikes made for the war effort. Some went to the Lend-Lease program so those would not have the star stamped on the casing. There were a lot of spare engines and parts that were still left in crates when the war ended so engine casings that were still crated would not have been stamped. The ones that were stamped were used in the war theater in Europe.
Nathan, I cant recall seeing that marking on the crankcase before. I had a quick look through my collection of serial number photos but Ill have a more thorough look over the next couple of days and let you know if I find anything.
I checked more thoroughly my collection of photos for pre-1920 through 1969 but found no examples of that marking. And Ill send you a PM on the CAI forum. Eric
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