Understanding Station Codes and Variable Methods
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 3:06 pm
The Comptroller General approves purchases by the Federal Government. In order to standardize everything, the Comptroller developed standard forms to be used by all agencies for purchases. Part of that was standardized "Station Codes." Let's take one:
W-669-qm-13045
W is for War Department.
669 is Philadelphia.
QM is the activity.
13045 is the contract number from that activity.
There was also an Ordnance Department activity in Philadelphia. They would be:
W-669-ord-1415.
Any activity doing purchasing had a Station Code. Right down to individual Navy ships.
At the end of Fiscal Year 1943, they completely changed the Station Codes; there were simply too many new places. Everybody received a new code.
W-36-030-qm-11232.
A contract from the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, post-June 1943.
The Quartermaster tended to do their contracts from the depots. The Ordnance Department tended to do them from both the Ordnance Department Districts and the individual Armory/Arsenals. Thus:
W-852-ORD-342 and W-19-058-ORD-456 and
W-478-ORD-213 and W-19-059-ORD-1212
are all Ordnance Department contracts originating in Springfield Massachusetts. The difference is W-852/W-19-058 was the Armory while W-478/W-19-059 was the Ordnance District. Pre-July 1943 and post-June 1943 codes.
Still with me? W-36-034-ORD, W-36-030-QM, and W-36-039-SC are all contracts out of Philadelphia post-June 1943. Ordnance, QM, and Signals.
While the QM tended to contracts from Depots, and Ordnance using both Districts and Armory/Arsenals, the USAAF tended to do the vast bulk of their contracting out of Dayton Ohio. W-535-AC, W-33-038-AC after the change, appears on the vast majority of USAAF contracts; everything from jackets to aircraft.
The Navy was something of a hybrid of the two above. It was centralized, like the USAAF, but broken out by various Navy bits. NOm were USMC contracts. NXs was the Bureau of Yards & Docks.
An example of a one-piece working suit. Made to the Army Q.M. P.Q.D. Specification, but purchased by the Navy.
The USAAF and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics worked more closely together than other bits of the Army and Navy. Which makes sense as the P-47 used a Pratt & Whitney R2800 engine, as did the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. All of them used the same .50 cal. machine guns. Thus the "AN" Specifications. The AN-M2 machine gun. AN for Army-Navy.
In 1944, the Secretary of War and the Chief of Naval Operations agreed that more cooperation along those lines should occur. This cooperation resulted in the "Joint Army Navy (JAN)" Specifications. The stainless steel meat can was an early example.
With the increased cooperation in mind, the Army Q.M. textile contracting, formerly done at P.Q.D., moved to an office in New York City. This located it closer to the main suppliers and, more importantly from the "work together" perspective, close to the Brooklyn Navy Yard; where the Navy textile contracting was done.
W-30-280-qm contracts resulted. These started after June 1945.
After the reorganization of the military to the Department of Defense, the "W" for War Department became "DA" for Department of the Army.
Then it kept morphing.
The major activities tracked for uniforms, footwear, etc., thus have at least 2 Station Codes; from before the end of FY 1943 and after. Footwear? W-155-qm and W-19-074-qm. Boston Q.M. Depot. W-431-qm and W-12-036-qm? Jeffersonville Indiana. Field gear.
W-669-qm-13045
W is for War Department.
669 is Philadelphia.
QM is the activity.
13045 is the contract number from that activity.
There was also an Ordnance Department activity in Philadelphia. They would be:
W-669-ord-1415.
Any activity doing purchasing had a Station Code. Right down to individual Navy ships.
At the end of Fiscal Year 1943, they completely changed the Station Codes; there were simply too many new places. Everybody received a new code.
W-36-030-qm-11232.
A contract from the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, post-June 1943.
The Quartermaster tended to do their contracts from the depots. The Ordnance Department tended to do them from both the Ordnance Department Districts and the individual Armory/Arsenals. Thus:
W-852-ORD-342 and W-19-058-ORD-456 and
W-478-ORD-213 and W-19-059-ORD-1212
are all Ordnance Department contracts originating in Springfield Massachusetts. The difference is W-852/W-19-058 was the Armory while W-478/W-19-059 was the Ordnance District. Pre-July 1943 and post-June 1943 codes.
Still with me? W-36-034-ORD, W-36-030-QM, and W-36-039-SC are all contracts out of Philadelphia post-June 1943. Ordnance, QM, and Signals.
While the QM tended to contracts from Depots, and Ordnance using both Districts and Armory/Arsenals, the USAAF tended to do the vast bulk of their contracting out of Dayton Ohio. W-535-AC, W-33-038-AC after the change, appears on the vast majority of USAAF contracts; everything from jackets to aircraft.
The Navy was something of a hybrid of the two above. It was centralized, like the USAAF, but broken out by various Navy bits. NOm were USMC contracts. NXs was the Bureau of Yards & Docks.
- navy.jpg (17.65 KiB) Viewed 1202 times
An example of a one-piece working suit. Made to the Army Q.M. P.Q.D. Specification, but purchased by the Navy.
The USAAF and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics worked more closely together than other bits of the Army and Navy. Which makes sense as the P-47 used a Pratt & Whitney R2800 engine, as did the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. All of them used the same .50 cal. machine guns. Thus the "AN" Specifications. The AN-M2 machine gun. AN for Army-Navy.
In 1944, the Secretary of War and the Chief of Naval Operations agreed that more cooperation along those lines should occur. This cooperation resulted in the "Joint Army Navy (JAN)" Specifications. The stainless steel meat can was an early example.
With the increased cooperation in mind, the Army Q.M. textile contracting, formerly done at P.Q.D., moved to an office in New York City. This located it closer to the main suppliers and, more importantly from the "work together" perspective, close to the Brooklyn Navy Yard; where the Navy textile contracting was done.
W-30-280-qm contracts resulted. These started after June 1945.
After the reorganization of the military to the Department of Defense, the "W" for War Department became "DA" for Department of the Army.
Then it kept morphing.
The major activities tracked for uniforms, footwear, etc., thus have at least 2 Station Codes; from before the end of FY 1943 and after. Footwear? W-155-qm and W-19-074-qm. Boston Q.M. Depot. W-431-qm and W-12-036-qm? Jeffersonville Indiana. Field gear.