Hi. I believe A is for the first half of the year and B for the second half. Take a look about 1/2 way down the page. This is from Terry Marsh's website. http://tgmarsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/lantern/coleusstovemid30ear50.html
One could almost make a discipline of collecting stoves of the 530 type. I have four accumulated over the years, some made of nickelled brass, some painted steel, one with feet is marked for Civilian Defense, some only have Coleman markings. The one thing they all share in common is that they all work perfectly. If someone needed a stove for an emergency or as we Colonials call it, "A Bug-Out Box", a 530 or 530 type would not be amiss. When I was in Scouts as a kid, the 530 was a popular and inexpensive stove, available in Army-Navy stores for a pittance. If only I'd had the princely sum of an actual pittance. I remember one of the Dads had one he had lugged from the Toe of Italy to Berlin during WWII while busily engaged dodging German bullets. He loved that stove and said it was destined to become a family heirloom. It was a 530 with no feet, so he usually buried the base a couple of inches and packed dirt solidly around it to make it a bit less unstable. On a few hikes into the mountains his 530 and two or three buddy burners belonging to sundry Scouts made the difference between hot edible food and very crunchy raw rice or macaroni of a rainy evening. We were sheltered under red and white striped lifeboat sails or army surplus ponchos and pup tents. I often wonder if British boys were as well equipped with war surplus GI equipment as American kids were. Gerry
No. My Dad was Royal Navy. They didn't get issued personal stoves. I don't recall any other kids, particularly at Scouts, having Army surplus stoves. I think the Brit Army went in more for stoves that would cater for a group, with the No.2 being the smallest issue stove of that era, although I guess Hexi burners might have been used? Happy to be educated otherwise on this, but per the Reference Library, there are accounts in there of Primus stoves and the like being used, but they were personal, rather than issued items. I think the No.7 might have been the earliest Brit Army personal stove (beyond hexi stuff of course), although I'm not sure of the relative dateline of the No.6 versus No.7? There are Brit manufactured 1.75/2 pinters for the MOD that date from that era as well, but I don't see them as being a practical personal issue stove, and you certainly don't see them around in the same volume as the American stoves to suggest that they were personal kit. Bryan Miller (kaw55red) did own a WWI unfired Primus 96 that was RAF personal issue - he assumed that was for downed pilots - see his entry in the SRG. I have a WWII emergency ration tin in my collection that came from my Father in Law This is of the self heating type contained in a tobacco tin sized can - very strict instructions advising only to be opened on direct orders of an officer. My Father-in Law also fought all the way through the Italian campaign - brought back a couple of souvenirs as well. A knee full of shrapnel that gave him a very distinctive gait for the rest of his life, and a Bride that he went back and claimed in 1946! Cheers, Graham.
