jcroach1 Posted January 26, 2011 Share #1 Posted January 26, 2011 My dad was part of SCARWAF and served in Korea as a printer from 9/53 to 9/54. He was assigned to Kunsan Air Base, home of the 474th Fighter-Bomber Group, as part of the Army's 420th Engineer Aviation Topographic Detachment. I know he printed maps, calenders and newspapers for the base. I'm sure he printed other types of documents. I'd love to find copies of some of the items that he might have printed. Anyone ever come across anything like this that would be dated to a specific year or Air Force Base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcroach1 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share #2 Posted February 7, 2011 I'm going to give this one bump. Love to hear about your experiences looking for or finding these types of documents. Especially maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted February 14, 2011 Share #3 Posted February 14, 2011 Jcroach, Having served in Army topographic units most of my career I'd recommend you also look for documents that have the 420th name on them, not just by date range. We were required to put our unit ID (and our logo) on all the maps we printed so someone may have these items cataloged by unit, not date. The 420th existed to print or update aeronautical charts, so I'd be looking for things like air navigation charts, approach plates, airfield maps and layout plans, etc. They probably also become involved in printing maps and reproducing aerial photos for target (bombing) packages. There is a good chance the 420th also provided overflow printing support for regular Army Engineer topographic units that needed extra press capacity to print up maps for ground forces. Other types of products like calendars and newspapers also probably had the 420th logo or at least name ("Printed by the ...") on them, but since we were barred by regulation from printing non-topographic items I can't say for sure. Good luck! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted February 15, 2011 Share #4 Posted February 15, 2011 I wish you had written this a couple of months ago.... I let go of a 1980's vintage military map of Korea. The backside had various installation maps in detail. I realize that is not your Father's era, but many of the base locations have not changed much since the 1950's. I might have a second one. I'll look around but it may be gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfields Posted February 15, 2011 Share #5 Posted February 15, 2011 Not sure if these were printed in Korea or not as they are not maker marked nor is the artwork attributed but they are cool none the less. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcroach1 Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted June 9, 2011 Jcroach, Having served in Army topographic units most of my career I'd recommend you also look for documents that have the 420th name on them, not just by date range. We were required to put our unit ID (and our logo) on all the maps we printed so someone may have these items cataloged by unit, not date. The 420th existed to print or update aeronautical charts, so I'd be looking for things like air navigation charts, approach plates, airfield maps and layout plans, etc. They probably also become involved in printing maps and reproducing aerial photos for target (bombing) packages. There is a good chance the 420th also provided overflow printing support for regular Army Engineer topographic units that needed extra press capacity to print up maps for ground forces. Other types of products like calendars and newspapers also probably had the 420th logo or at least name ("Printed by the ...") on them, but since we were barred by regulation from printing non-topographic items I can't say for sure. Good luck! Brian I haven't checked this thread in a while. Thank you very much for the information, Brian. Do you know anything else about the 420th? Maybe a image showing their DUI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkdriver Posted June 9, 2011 Share #7 Posted June 9, 2011 I picked up a handful of Korean War era topo maps that were all printed in 1951 to 53 with road overlays. I just searched topographic map on eBay and found them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcroach1 Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share #8 Posted June 10, 2011 I picked up a handful of Korean War era topo maps that were all printed in 1951 to 53 with road overlays. I just searched topographic map on eBay and found them. Would you mind posting a couple of pictures of what you found? Do they indicate who printed them? Are they official US military maps? Army or Air Force? Would you be willing to part with a couple of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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