Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:43 pm
I am throwing out a SWAG, but I bet the original run of aluminum tanks that PST did for the Navy didn't have all the specs on it as per the MILSPEC. When you submit stuff for the Navy to review (we have done this at my company), then you typically submit a product or sample of a large run of a product that is "pre-systems acquisition." I would bet that these early run tanks, like the two that Mike has, are pre critical design review (or what Navy did in the 60's), hence their early date, lack of a nonmag marking, lack of a contract number stamp, and lack of US Governent property stamp. I would guess these were early tanks made by PST to have Navy demo during a request for proposal or somethig similar. The MILSPEC was probably formalized later in the acquisition process. If the tanks as a whole were rare (I am guessing), then the pre-initial operational capability ones would be quite a bit more rare. This is all in accordance with how government procurement works now, so I am not sure if it was markedly different in the 60s. Bear in mind that I am not an expert in how the Navy procured defense materials in the 60s.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC