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Issue 205
189

Desert Rats
On the LRDG’s
trail in Egypt’s
Western RESTORATION
Desert
Australian Ford
Armoure
and CheapdJeCear
ps

£4.60
June 2018

Flying Motorcycle Scottish Tracks Interlude in Salonika

The Folding Airborne Welbike Military Cuthbertson Conversions WWI lorries in remote Greece
Catawiki.indd 1 01/12/2017 16:46
www.cmvmag.co.uk June 2018 Frontlines

1943: The Fall of Tunis

In May 1943 - 75 years ago - Tunis, the
capital city of Tunisia in North Africa
was captured by the British while the
Americans captured nearby Bizerte. This
brought to an end the Allied campaign
- which also included Indian, New
Zealand, French and Greek personnel - in
North Africa just six days later. It was
a setback for the Italian and German
Axis forces and, in many ways, was the
beginning of the liberation of Western
Europe, even though VE Day was still
two years away, as it paved the way for
the amphibious landings in Italy and then
D-Day in France.
From the Allied landings in Algeria
and Morocco to the fall of Tunisia, the
campaign wasn’t a piece of cake and
the Allies suffered setbacks notably at
Kasserine and Medjez el Bab. The Fall
Tunis fell to the British First Army on May 7, 1943. Ken Jellicoe from Neston, Wirral, seen here sitting in a
of Tunis signified the end of the Desert Jeep, was one of the many British and Allied soldiers involved in the fighting
War that had raged backwards and
forwards on the coast of Egypt and One such photo is on this page and Later he, and they, faced the terrible
Libya since 1940 yet doesn’t seem to shows one of my uncles, Gunner Jellicoe slog from the Anzio beachhead north
be marked the way other notable World of 35 Battery, 2nd Field Regiment, Royal towards Italy’s mountains.
War Two events are. Therefore, in this Artillery, just one of the many ordinary
issue, we have chosen to remember it blokes who fought in Tunisia at places
EDITOR JOHN CARROLL
with archive photos and book reviews. like Banana Ridge and Longstop Hill. john.carroll@keypublishing.com

Editor: John Carroll
john.carroll@keypublishing.com
Editorial Assistant: Vicky Turner
Chief Designer: Steve Donovan
Design: Dave Robinson
and Andy O’Neil
Contributors: Jason Belgrave, Ian Clegg,
Nigel Hay, Tim Gosling, Louise Limb
Duncan Glen,
Advertising Manager: Tom Lunn
Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131
tom.lunn@keypublishing.com
Advertising Production: Kay Townsin
kay.townsin@keypublishing.com
www.cmvmag.co.uk
Group Editor: Roger Mortimer
Production Manager: Janet Watkins
Group Marketing Manager: Martin Steele
Marketing Manager: Shaun Binnington
Commercial Director: Ann Saundry
Group CEO & Publisher: Adrian Cox
www.cmvmag.co.uk
Subscriptions. Please refer to the main advertisement within
this magazine. CMV Subscriptions Department, Key Publishing
Ltd, PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1NA, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1780 480404. Fax: +44 (0)1780 757812.
Email: Subs: subs@keypublishing.com.
Mail Order: orders@keypublishing.com.
Order subscriptions at www.keypublishing.com/shop
Readers in the USA can place subscription orders by visiting
www.imsnews.com or by calling toll free 800-676-4049
or by writing to CMV, IMS News, 3330 Pacific Ave, Ste 500,
Virginia Beach, VA23451-9828.
Classic Military Vehicle (ISSN 1473-7779) is published monthly
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Int., 1637 Stelton Road, B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
Postmaster: Send address corrections to Classic Military
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Copies of Classic Military Vehicle can be obtained each month
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Small Print: The Editor is happy to receive contributions to Clas-
sic Military Vehicle magazine. All items submitted are subject to
our terms and conditions, which are regularly updated without
prior notice and are freely available from Key Publishing Ltd or
downloadable from www.keypublishing.com.
We are unable to guarantee the bonafides of any of our advertisers.
Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions
before parting with any information or item of value, including, but
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The entire contents of Classic Military Vehicle is © Copyright 2018.
No part of it can be reproduced in any form or stored on any form of
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Distributed by Seymour To find a stockist near you,
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www.keypublishing.com/shop

John Carroll Vicky Turner Tom Lunn Steve Donovan

Editor John is a long-standing
military vehicle enthusiast who has
owned a variety of green machines
from a Scammell Explorer to a
Harley 45 via Jeeps and Land Rovers
Editorial Assistant Vicky is crucial to
the organisation of the CMV team
and the production of the magazine.
She’s a history buff and the owner of
a classic 1960s Land Rover
Tom is the perfect member of Chief Designer Steve has worked
the team with his experience with designer Dave Robinson
on other magazines before in redesigning the magazine
coming to CMV to produce CMV’s continuing
evolution in 2018

3
www.cmvmag.co.uk

Features
6 Welbike
Vicky Turner meets Ben Brown with ‘Wendy’ his
restored 1942 Welbike
words Louise Limb pictures Louise Limb, Andy Teare

Trucks on
Tracks
Cuthbertson were famous in the early 1960s
for their tracked conversion kits for
Land Rovers. Louise Limb finds one on
an 88in Series One in the REME Museum
Reserve Collection

T
ucked away in the breathtaking vehicle
reserve collection at the recently relocat-
ed museum of the Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers (REME), Lyneham, is a
well-used Series One Land Rover sitting on top
of a set of Cuthbertson tracks. Though some
details of its exact history remain a mystery,
this audacious little vehicle symbolises and
highlights both the unique pragmatism and
ingenuity of REME’s technicians and the clever
design of engineering expert James A Cuth-
bertson; it is completely fitting that the Series
One now resides at Lyneham.
As well as its symbolic connotations, this Se-
ries One 88in Land Rover also brings together
two interesting strands of military vehicle histo-
ry. Not only does the vehicle showcase a set of
extremely rare Cuthbertson tracks but it is also
an equally scarce variant of the MK 5 military
Land Rover, a 24-volt version.
With the Land Rover body sitting high over
its rubber tracks, the Cuthbertson is an
odd-looking and quite radical Solihull variant,
standing over eight feet in height and taken to
its theoretical top speed of 30mph, would be
challenging to drive, though with its very low
ground pressure is reassuringly capable over
boggy ground.
The exceptional ground clearance is a huge
advantage but also a drawback for stability with
the high narrow vehicle profile. This is offset by
the weight of the kit and the Cuthbertson was
relatively safe to 30 degrees just like any other
Land Rover. It was only ever intended for use at
low speeds on soft ground. Of an approximate
total of 22 Cuthbertson kits fitted to Series II,
IIA and Lightweights it is estimated around 13
remain. However as recently as 2011, CMV
editor John Carroll acquired and recovered a
set of spare tracks from Lix Toll in Scotland so
there may possibly be more out there.
Estimates vary but of around 22 Cuth-
Most of the complete vehicle conversions
bertson conversions only approxi-
discovered in recent years have been care- mately 13 remain and it is unknown
fully restored as found or the tracks fitted to how many are of military origin
different Land Rovers, making any chance

34 35

34 Trucks on Tracks
Cuthbertson were famous in the early 1960s for
their tracked conversions for Land Rovers. This
88in Series One is in the REME Museum

44 Gardening in Salonika
The thousands of troops stationed in Salonika
during World War One took to growing their own
food to supplement their rations

50 Coquet Safari 2018 –

The Swansong?
The secret to a happy ending is in knowing when
to call it a day

56 Two of a Kind
Jason Belgrave of the Australian Armour and
Artillery Museum, reports on the restoration of a
very rare Ford Scout Car S1

66 Jeep on the Cheap

World War Two Jeeps used to be cheap and
plentiful but they are no longer cheap. John Carroll
looks at a few budget alternatives

Ice Cold in Alex

words and pictures John Carroll

In April 2012, John Carroll and friends followed the tyre tracks of the Long
Range Desert Group through Egypt’s western desert

I
n 1940, Britain and its empire stood alone
against the Nazis and the war wasn’t going
Britain’s way. Giving up without a fight was
out of the question and, with an urgency borne
of necessity by the Italian threat to Egypt, the
first Long Range Patrols left Cairo and slipped
into the desert in September of that year. Their
mission was, famously, to ‘engage in piracy on
the high desert’. The Long Range Desert Group
(LRDG) - originally called the Long Range Patrol
- had been founded in June 1940 but had its
roots in the 1920s as Europeans searched for
the legendary lost oasis of Zerzura. Foremost
among the group was Ralph Bagnold, a Cam-
bridge graduate and officer in the Royal Corps
of Signals.
Bagnold had been posted to Egypt in 1926,
bought a Model T Ford and, impressed by its
ability to travel on unsurfaced tracks, began to
explore the vast and roadless desert regions.
Using sun compasses, he and his team learned
how to navigate in the vast expanses of desert
and mastered the art of driving their vehicles
over huge sand dunes without overturning or
getting stuck.
Each trip was more ambitious than the previ-
ous and by 1929, in both Model A and Model T
pick-ups, Bagnold and his companions drove
into the Great Sand Sea, a place that was gen-
erally considered to be impenetrable by car.
During 1930, the group drove to Jebel Uweinat,
close to where the borders of Egypt, Libya and
Sudan intersect. In the November after this trip,
the noted Zerzura Club was founded by Bagnold
and his companions. If anything, the mythical
status of the oasis encouraged, rather than
dissuaded, members and the club grew. The
outbreak of war had brought this halcyon period
to an end and Bagnold, along with most of his
companions, ended up in the British Army.
Seven decades after the LRDG’s exploits be-
came the very stuff of Boy’s Own adventures, a
diverse group of eight experienced desert trav-
ellers, military vehicle enthusiasts, historians
and classic 4x4 fans from Egypt, England,

72 73

72 Ice Cold in Alex

John Carroll and friends followed the tyre tracks
of the Long Range Desert Group through Egypt’s
western desert

www.facebook.com/cmvmag

4
Classic Military Vehicle Issue 205 June 2018 Contents

Regulars
12 News
A round-up of news and interesting items about
military vehicles that caught our eye this month

19 Military Vehicle Market

Tips on how to sell

21 Museum of the Month

Keith Harman visits The Estrella Warbird Museum
in Paso Robles, California.

23 On the Shelf
Four new military history and military vehicle
books reviewed

25 Collectable Road to Tunisian

Collectable Books On the Shelf

Books Tunis Battle

Collectable books old and
Author A David Divine
Publisher Collins
Year 1944
ISBN n/a to-day grind of the First
Language Army and was, by the au-au

new, reviewed. This time

English thor’s own admission, “written
Binding in haste between two campaigns”
Hardback which permitted its publication in
Pages 256 September 1943, just four months
Size after the campaign ended. He also
147x205mm Author John admits that he “dwells on the exploits

they mark the fall of Tunis in

(5.75x8in) D’Arcy-Dawson of the 78th Division, Guards Brigade
Price £6+ Publisher and the 6th Armoured Division”.
www.abebooks.co.uk Macdonald Like the Road to Tunis, it contains
wards Year 1943 black and white maps of the cam cam-
In a 1942 speech after the British Tunisia in the same ISBN n/a paign and additionally has a good

1943 – 75 years ago

Army had defeated Rommel’s Afrika
Korps at El Alamein, Winston Churchill,
perceiving a change in the tide of war,
said: “Now this is not the end. It is not
even the beginning of the end. But it is,
perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Another step towards the end would
be the final defeat of Axis forces in
North Africa and this would come six
months later in May 1943. To mark
month. Another portion of
the battalion reached North Africa in
December and took part in actions in
Tunisia, including El Guettar, Faid Pass,
Sidi Bou Zid, Sbeitla, Hill 609, and Ma-
teur. This book follows the fortunes of
the 701st from Oran to Kasserine and
ends with a short account of the taking
of Tunis and Bizerta and the surrender
at Cape Bon.
Language English section of black and white Ministry
Binding Hardback of Information photographs.
Pages 252 My copies of both these books
Size 147x220mm (5.75x8.75in) bought in secondhand bookshops
Price £6+ have lost their dust jackets so, at
www.abebooks.co.uk a glance, they appear uninspiring.
Proof of the saying that ‘you should
never judge a book by its cover’

27 Event
the 75th anniversary of the end of this
campaign, this month’s ‘collectable’
books are emi-
The author, Arthur Durham ‘David’
Divine CBE, OBE, DSM (1905-1987),
was born in Cape Town,
South Africa and was
employed as a journalist
on the Cape Times.
During the evacuation of
the British Expeditionary
Force from Dunkirk in

Calendar
nently readable accounts about it.
The Road to Tunis does not attempt
to cover the whole Tunisian campaign
1940, Divine crossed the
English Channel three
times in a 35ft boat to
rescue trapped British
soldiers and was
wounded: for his ef-
forts he was award-
ed the Distinguished
Service Medal (DSM).
Later Divine would write the screenplay This is another
for the 1958 film Dunkirk. In 1946 he war correspondent’s well-regarded
received the Order of the British Empire account of the British First Army and comes from that fact.
(OBE) in recognition of his service their American comrades in Tunisia The detail and information in these

Month by month events

but is a war correspondent’s account
of his own experiences, mainly with
the US 701st Tank Destroyer Battalion
(to whom the book is dedicated). This
unit had been activated in December,
1941 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It arrived
during the war.
After the war became the defence
correspondent of the British Sunday
Times, a post he held until 1975 and is
remembered for controversial books
on defence issues.
from the Battle of Tebourba, through
the capture of Tunis until the last
shots six days later. John D’Ar-
cy-Dawson was the war correspond-
ent for Kemsley Newspapers and
also a veteran of World War One so
books makes them well worth read-
ing to discover details about one of
the less well known allied campaigns
of World War Two. English editions of
both are plentiful from online sellers.
I also came across a Belgian edition

to visit or be involved in
in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 11,
1942 and, subsequently, participated in
the Operation Torch landings near Oran,
Algeria in November. It advanced to-
He was awarded the rank of Com- knew what he was writing about. It is of Tunisian Battle; La campagne de
mander of the Order of the British Em- a personal account of the triumphs Tunisie, Editions Universitaires, Les
pire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours and difficulties which were the day- Presses de Belgique (1945). JC
List of 1976.

and where to find more

25

information

31 Event Words Vicky Turner Pictures Matt Stevens

Event AA Commemorative Run
- Sevenoaks to Hastings

Reviews
York MVT Crank Up and the
Chris Martin‘s Scammell Pioneer. Regulars on the Mark Hart’s Harley-Davidson WLA This World War One vintage Model T Ford pick-up

Eye
Hastings
run, he and his partner always dress the part is owned by Tony George

S
unday April 22, 2018, saw the Automobile Society who support the event. All the proceeds

AA’s commemorative military

Association’s (AA) 10th Commemorative from the day went to the charity Combat Stress.
Military Road Run taking place from Sev- The road run is open to all soft-skin vehicles
enoaks to Hastings. The first event took place in and motorcycles in use by the British forces bebe-
2009, the centenary of when members of the AA tween 1909 to the present day as well as veteran
took soldiers from London to Hastings by car and vintage cars and motorcycles up to 1945;

vehicle run to Hastings

- an exercise organised by the AA and the no armour is allowed, as it didn’t form part of the
War Office to test the viability of moving original exercise.
troops in this manner. In 1909 more than Blessed by glorious sunshine and unseason-
unseason
100 AA members’ cars and London taxis ably warm temperatures this event was very
carried troops, weapons, ammunition well attended with an interesting assortment of

Opener
and equipment and it provided valuable 59 vehicles in the cavalcade. The 40-mile route
lessons in logistical planning for mass, rapid was lined with well-wishers enjoying the weather
mobilisation. as well as the spectacle this convoy made. It
This event continues to be organised by the stopped on Hastings beachfront where it drew
AA, whose yellow vans glowed amid the drab much attention from the crowds.

42
greens and desert sands of vehicles belonging
to members of the Invicta Military Vehicle

Centrespread
A desert sand-coloured Canadian CMP
Ford F8 Pick Up, owned by Steve Good

The Sevenoaks to Hastings Commemorative Road

Run, sponsored by the AA, has been held every
spring since 2009, this year in aid of Combat Stress

75 years ago the capture of

the port of Tunis in May 1943 Alex Scott’s beau-
tiful 1939 Humber
Snipe Heavy Utility,
which was captured

brought to an end the entire

by the Germans
in 1940 when it
This Model T ford Ambulance is the pride and joy got left behind at
of Mick Davis Dunkirk

North African Campaign

33

82 Echoes of War
1943 - The Fall of Tunisia as seen by Yank
Magazine; the approach to Tunis in Jeeps, trucks
and tanks was along narrow waterswept roads.

Subscribe
and Save
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Vehicle today.
Attracting much interest from the locals a freshly See pages 64-65 for this
landed Holt 75 gun tractor is towing a large artil- month’s special offers
lery piece through the streets of Salonika ARCHIVE

www.twitter.com/cmvmag

5
words and pictures Vicky Turner and archive, Wikimedia Commons

The paratroopers’
scooter
Vicky Turner takes a look at the Welbike -
the smallest motorcycle ever used
in service by British armed forces

‘With a simple design it

was relatively easy and
quick to manufacture’

6
T
he Excelsior Welbike, or Parascooter as
they are sometimes referred to, came
about when the British decided they
needed a mechanised means of transport that
would enable airborne troops to advance more
quickly than on foot. At that time, the British
had no aeroplane capable of airlifting Jeeps or
other vehicles so motorcycles were identified
as a sensible solution. What was needed now
was a readily transportable version - one that
could fit into a standard parachute container
1300mm (51in) long by 38cm (15in) high and
30cm (12in) wide. The intention was to either
parachute them in alongside paratroopers
or land them by glider. By now, the Allies had
witnessed the Germans using air-portable
motorcycles during the Cretan Campaign,
so they knew that it was within the realms of
possibility.
Under an initiative driven by the Special
Operations Executive (SOE) based at Station IX
near Welwyn in Hertfordshire, Harry Lester, an
SOE employee and motorcycle enthusiast, and
designer Lt Col John Dolphin devised a proto-
7
type that fitted the bill. This was then sent on to
Excelsior Ltd, never a big motorcycle manufac-
turer (and at this point only taking on contract
engineering jobs), to be put into full production.
Between 1942-1943 across a number of
different contracts, nearly 4,000 units were
made of three different versions. The Mk1
was very much like a production version of
the first prototype, the Mk2 had a number of
modifications, including the addition of a rear
mud guard and then finally, the Mk2 Series 2,
which had a revised fuel tank layout and an
WEL-DESIGNED
The prototype Welbike was designed at the Special
Operations Executive’s (SOE) ‘Inter-Services Research
Bureau’, military research centre at ‘Station IX’ based
at Welwyn in Hertfordshire - hence the name; Wel-bike.
Engineers at Station X also designed the Welrod silenced
pistol and the Welman submersible canoe
This example is a MK1
version, produced in
around August 1942. As
such it was one of the
first 400 made. It was
later returned to the
factory and upgraded to
Mk2 status
SPECIFICATIONS
Make Excelsior
Model Welbike
Nationality British
RIGHT: The manufactur-
Year 1942 er claims a top speed
Production Run 1942-1943 of 30mph but off road,
Production 3,641 (all Mks) or on tracks this isn’t
Engine Villiers actually achievable
FAR RIGHT: The blue
Type Junior, single smoke much in evi-
Fuel Petrol, oil two-stroke dence and typical of a
Displacement 98cc (6cu/in) two-stroke engine
Transmission Single-speed
Type Chain drive to rear wheel
Gears One

‘The designers simply

Speed 30mph
Range 90km
Fuel Capacity
One gallon modified standard
Suspension None
Brakes Pedal motorbike components
Wheels Two
Tyres Dunlop Carrier to be collapsible’
12.5x2.25in
Crew/seats One

Dimensions(overall)
Length 1.34m (4ft 3in)
Folded Width (12in)
Folded Height (15in)
Weight 32kg (75lbs)

8
improvement in the way that they were filled;
previous versions had necessitated the removal
of the pressurisation pump which was fiddly
and took time.
The Welbike’s design is beautifully simple.
Taking on board the limitations of the standard
airborne packing container, the designers sim-
ply modified standard motorbike components
to be collapsible; the handlebars could fold
down and up, locked into position with a
spring loaded pin, the telescopic
seat could be pushed all
the way down and
the pedals
folded up
against the body of the bike.
In order to reduce weight, other efforts were
made to miniaturise everything - this meant tak-
ing out all but the bare essentials - for example
it had no suspension or gears, no lights and
only a single rear brake. The fuel tanks were
kept small; they also had to be positioned low,
near the wheels, to meet the constraints of the
airborne canisters. With an outlet lower than
the carburettor, the fuel could not be gravity fed.
This meant that to get petrol going through the
engine, the system had to be pressurised by
a hand pump built into the tank - all ingenious
solutions which overcame the problem of how
to airlift potentially hundreds of motorbikes in
small boxes with a percussion head intended
to protect the contents within. The finished de-
sign did what it set out to do - it folded neatly at
an angle into the standard drop container, and it
weighed in at a very manageable 32kg.
With a simple design it was relatively easy
and quick to manufacture and by 1943 many
were in use with ground troops including Royal
Commando Units and RAF personnel who had
spotted its utility and had adopted it for trans-
port on airfields.
As for its intended use with airborne forces
though, it wasn’t perhaps as effective as had
been hoped. Although a trained paratrooper
could get a Welbike out of the packing

WENDY THE WELBIKE

Wendy the Welbike, as it is known,
is very original having only been
found disused in a barn in 2016
bearing chassis number C4658877
S/N 417. Its current custodian,
Ben Brown from Northampton, has
sympathetically and painstakingly
restored it to running order. He
doesn’t take much persuading to
fire it up and whiz it round the car
park. For all its impracticalities, as
a play-thing it really does raise a
smile and is a fascinating conver-
sation piece. It can often be found
at their second home, Sywell Avi-
ation Museum, where Ben spends
a lot of time both for fun and in his
role as secretary to the museum

Commandos of 48 RM Commando
coming ashore from landing craft
at St Aubin-sur-Mer on Juno
Beach, June 6, 1944

The theory was that a well-trained

paratrooper could remove the collapsed
Welbike from its drop container and
have it ready for use within 11 seconds

9
 Original brass and canvas twist grip handlebars and
clutch lever. The clutch plate itself is made from cork
The Excelsior Motor Company claim to have been
the first British maker of motorcycles for sale to the
general public, but were never a major manufacturer
As there is only a foot-operated rear brake and no
lights, these motorbikes are not road legal
The pressurised tanks hold just under a gallon of
petrol giving a maximum range of 90 miles
Showing the handlebars collapsed, when the steer-
ing column is extended the handle bars are fixed in
place with a knurled knob
ABOVE: Paratroopers retrieve a Welbike from an equip-
canister and erected ready for use in around 11 ment container on the drop-zone, during a large-scale
seconds, this was 11 seconds in which he was airborne forces exercise, April 22, 1944
not running for cover. The ground over which BELOW: Commandos coming ashore from landing craft
these bikes were intended to travel was the bro- at St Aubin-sur-Mer on Juno Beach, June 6, 1944
ken battlefield of Western Europe and the small
wheels and road tyres soon clogged with mud;
the minimal power in the 98cc engine meant
that they struggled to cope with the terrain.
Evidentially, the Welbike was well used in
training exercises but there is little to suggest
that it was widely used in active service. It is
known to have been in use on the beaches in
Normandy in June 1944 and during Operation
Market Garden in September of the same year
but most contemporary photographs of the
Welbike show paratroopers drill training the
unpacking of them and not riding them towards because of their impracticality for anything other
enemy lines. than being packed away in a parachute canister,
One factor that probably contributed to this but for those with an interest in military vehicle
piece of design engineering history not fulfilling design and development, the 200 or so survivors
its potential, was the RAF bringing online will always be a fascinating curiosity. Ultimately
the American DC-3 Dakota, a much bigger Welbikes symbolise a time in the 20th century
transport plane than had been available before, when any technical advantage could have
which, along with bigger cargo gliders, enabled proven to be the difference between winning or
the transportation of Jeeps and rendered obso- losing and demonstrate the innovative lengths
lete the short-ranged, single person Welbike. armies were prepared to go to in order to find
Very few of them remain now, probably that advantage.
As this is neither a UK road-legal scooter, nor a comfortable
ride, Ben straps it to the bumper of his Jeep to
transport it to shows
10
GrahamSykes_FP.indd 1 01/12/2017 16:47
News
N e w s B r iefs
Turkey Tenders
BMC, a Turkish-Qatari armoured vehicles
manufacturer, won a contract to develop and
produce the country’s main battle tank Altay.
No financial or production details have been
released. BMC competed with FNSS and
Koç Holding’s Otokar, the maker of Altay’s
prototypes when Turkey opened a tender to
mass produce 500 Altay tanks, of which 250
were optional. The tender will be finalised in
the coming days.
Covenanter Book Revised
British author and
researcher P M Knight
has released a new,
and massively updated,
version of this book on
the A13 ‘Covenanter’
Cruiser tank. This is
a significantly larger
edition than the pre-
vious one, coming in
at a substantial 220
pages. It is fair to say
that this is the most
comprehensive coverage of the
Covenanter tank ever published.
Railguns Planned
The US Army is pushing ahead with plans to
field railguns on the battlefield of the future.
Rapid progress in miniaturising railgun
technology has transformed the hypersonic
weapons from laboratory curiosities to
potential weapons that promises increase
in range and energy. Railguns can send
objects flying at speeds of up to Mach 6,
much faster than traditional guns that rely
on explosive force.
The army envisions using railguns in two
ways. The first way is as a means of lobbing
projectiles very long distances, beyond con-
ventional artillery such as the M777 towed
and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers.
This would enable the army to strike targets
deep behind enemy lines, while also staying
out of the range of enemy counter-fire.
The railgun’s second potential use is
much more sci-fi. They could be used as a
hyper-velocity gun on a main battle tank. A
tank-mounted railgun would likely dominate
the land battlefield of the future, smashing
through even the thickest of enemy armour
at impressive ranges.
vicky.turner@keypublishing.com www.cmvmag.co.uk
World War One
‘Dogfight’
BBMF Spitfire,
Lancaster and Hurricane
IMAGE CROWN COPYRIGHT
As the nation celebrates the 100th anniver-
sary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, the
skies above Bicester Heritage - the former RAF
Bicester and Britain’s best-preserved World
War Two bomber base - will come to life in the
most appropriate fashion over the weekend of
June 23-24 at The Classic & Sports Car Show
in association with Flywheel. The programme
will include daily air displays from the Royal Air
Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF)
Dakota, the Bremont Great War Display Team
and the magnificent trio that is the BBMF Spit-
fire, Hurricane and Lancaster.
The Bremont Great War Display will stage
a recreation of a World War One ‘dogfight’,
with aircraft such as Sopwith and Fokker Dr1
triplanes showing just how nimble these early
warbirds were.
Community Resource
Former Mokena mayor Joe Werner’s hobby
of collecting historic military vehicles has
turned into a philanthropic effort to restore
war artefacts throughout the south suburbs
of Illinois.
Whether it’s transforming rusted-out World
War Two artillery canons or restoring a Cold
War-era missile, Werner’s Veterans Garage
in Posen, Illinois has become a resource for
local communities.
“He turned a ramshackle, ugly war canon
into a beautiful piece of equipment. I’m in
complete awe,” said James
Hogan. Although not a vet-
eran himself, Werner said
he has a deep love, respect
and appreciation for the
service of veterans. Werner
also has created a venue for
veterans to work on historic
12
Great War Display Team
IMAGE CHRIS BYRNE
BBMF Spitfire
IMAGE CROWN
COPYRIGHT
BBMF Dakota
IMAGE CROWN COPYRIGHT
The BBMF Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster
air display will showcase the fighter and bomb-
er planes that helped seal victory for The Allies
in World War Two.
military equipment in Posen.
Werner started the not-for-profit Veterans
Garage in 2015 in Mokena, but moved it to Po-
sen two years later into a building adjacent to
the plumbing business he co-owns. The idea
for the garage started with Werner’s passion
for collecting and restoring military vehicles.
Through his hobby he found other like-minded
enthusiasts, especially after joining the Mili-
tary Vehicle Preservation Association.
Werner said he found some local veterans
who had military vehicles of their own they
wanted to restore but
didn’t have the equipment,
resources or manpower
necessary. His Veterans
Garage solved those issues
and has since become a
community of about 300
veterans and their families.
www.cmvmag.co.uk vicky.turner@keypublishing.com
Duxford Collection Dispersed
I recently attended an open evening at IWM
Duxford. After several years of rumours it was
confirmed that the Land Warfare Hall is to close
to make way for a new building - the plans have
just been submitted to South Cambridgeshire
District Council. According to the official line,
the vehicles will be ‘absorbed’ into the rest of
the museum.
As a military vehicle enthusiast I’ve seen what
has happened at other museums. The Beverley
Collection on the Humber had to close when
asbestos was found in the fabric of the building
and the collection was dispersed. Most of it has
disappeared from public view altogether.
When the Aberdeen Proving Ground Museum
in Maryland closed most to the collection was
distributed to other American museums, but
museums rarely have room for more exhibits
than they already have, so the Aberdeen exhib-
its were either sold to private collectors or put
into storage away from public view. (Correct
me if I’m wrong on this, as this information
came to me secondhand).
Much of the Duxford vehicle collection is on
loan from private owners so there is a great
danger that they will be returned and only be
seen in public if the owners choose to take
them to military vehicle rallies. Some exhibits
are on loan from the Tank Museum in Wiltshire
and might be returned there. The Tank Museum
also has space problems so it could be that
their vehicles get sold or put into storage.
The Duxford military vehicle collection is
unique in that it consists of many different
types of vehicles, not just tanks. We have
everything from a World War One narrow gauge
railway locomotive to captured Argentinian
vehicles from the Falklands. Even with the new
building it’s unlikely that the entire collec-
tion will be absorbed into the IWM displays.
Although it’s never been said publicly, this does
Military Zone Gears Up
Armed forces personnel will be out in force
at the Suffolk Show’s Military Discovery Zone,
which will feature everything from noughts
and crosses with a submerged military diver
to a parachute flight swing.
The zone, hosted by 6 Regiment Army Air
Corps, includes a host of free attractions
for visitors, including a climbing wall, an
Apache helicopter cockpit, military dogs, and
mud-moving machinery in the ‘Digger Land’
area hosted by the 23 Para Engineers.
Visitors can take a look at military vehicles
and machinery, as well as experience a ride in
a Red Arrow or Typhoon simulator, or battle
seem consistent with the rumour that IWM
Duxford is set to be an aviation museum only
and everything else will go, because ‘planes are
what bring the punters in’. I’d like to be proved
wrong in this belief but I think the writing’s on
the wall for the vehicle collection.
Perhaps it’s time to start a campaign to
ensure this collection is kept together and
preserved, either at Duxford or at some
other site where a dedicated military vehicle
collection can be established. Some of the
vehicles like Monty’s caravan are totally
unique and cannot be replaced. It’s worth
noting that originally, when Monty’s caravan
was obtained by the IWM, the display consist-
ed of three vehicles. Now there is only one.
What happened to the other two? Were they
disposed of? Did they go into storage? Is
that what’s going to happen to the rest of the
collection?
If you’d like to comment to the IWM on this
you can write to dxfuture@iwm.org.uk and
perhaps ask for positive assurance that the
vehicle collection will be preserved and remain
available to the public?
John Paulding
against friends and family in the popular
Laser Combat Zone. The RAF Regiment will
be hosting demonstrations, including snipers,
close combat weapons and armoured
fighting vehicles, while RAF Police will be
demonstrating their capabilities.
The event will be held at Trinity Park,
Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3
8UH on May 30-31. To find out more or for
discounted advance tickets go to
www.suffolkshow.co.uk or call the ticket
office on 01473 707117.
Advance adult tickets are £23, and children
under 15 go free
13
News
N e w s B r iefs
Megatron Baby
The Challenger 2 TES (nicknamed Meg-
atron) is the latest generation of British
Main Battle Tank (MBT) in the Challenger 2
family. The Challenger 2 TES Megatron is
very similar to the M1 Abrams TUSK (Tank
Urban Survival Kit) in terms of protection.
The TES system was developed to increase
protection of the tank against tandem war-
heads and IEDs. The Challenger 2 Megatron
was presented for the first time to the public
in June 2013 at the DVD defence event in
Millbrook. A new version of the Challenger
2 Megatron was unveiled in July 2016 at
the Tank Fest in Bovington fitted with a new
armour design. This latest version is fitted
with a combination of reactive, passive and
bar armour providing unique protection
against new threats of modern battlefield.
The Challenger 2 TES Megatron can be
fitted with variable armour depending on the
nature of the threats and the type of battle-
field where the tank must be deployed.
Battle Tank Parts
The Kalyani Group and JSC Research and Pro-
duction Corporation ‘Uralvagonzavod’ (UVZ)
of Russia have formed a strategic partnership
for delivery of components for assembly,
service and repair of a 125-mm smoothbore
gun to be used in the repair and modernisa-
tion programme of T-72 and T-90 tanks. Other
areas of collaboration include a 100mm ship
mounted artillery gun and the manufacture of
certain parts of T-72 and T-90 battle tanks
New Technology
Researchers have discovered that com-
posite metal foam offers greater protection
than traditional armour steel plate but at
a third of the weight. The discovery has
broad implications for armoured vehicles
and could result in stronger, lighter vehicles
better able to protect occupants from the
impact of kinetic weapons, explosive shock-
waves, and fires.
Scientists at North Carolina State University and
the US Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directo-
rate have invented what they call Composite Metal
Foam (CMF). CMF while metal, has holes and is
spongy allowing it to give slightly under impact,
soaking up some of the kinetic energy. CMF is also
heat resistant giving crews more time to escape.
News vicky.turner@keypublishing.com www.cmvmag.co.uk

e w s B r iefs
N

Troop Movement
The US Army’s airborne infantry brigades are

Model Armourfest
set to begin receiving a new airborne ground
mobility vehicle
Designed to move airborne troops out from
the drop zone in a hurry, these air-droppable
vehicles were originally procured for spe-
cial-forces but have found a new home.
The ground mobility vehicle is based on the
General Dynamics Flyer Advanced Light Strike The Norfolk Tank Museum recently held Model Armourfest next year - probably at the
Vehicle. The flyer, which has a roll-cage body, its first ever Model Armourfest organised beginning of May - watch this space for the
is designed as a high performance, four-wheel by Melvyn Johnson and the Norfolk Tank confirmed date. As well as model tanks there
drive vehicle for travelling across rough terrain. Museum. It had models being displayed by the were boats, planes, 4X4s and lorries of all
It has a top speed of 95mph, a range of 300 Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich and Gran- scales including a fabulous 1/6th scale Mk IV
miles, and is powered by a two-litre DOHC
tham model clubs. It was a roaring success female; plus a model village and a mock battle
bi-turbocharged, intercollected diesel engine
generating 195bhp.
and already it is decided there will be another each day.
The GMV can carry up to nine troops, includ-
ing a driver, meaning it can ferry an entire
airborne infantry squad. It has a curb weight
of 5,200lbs and can carry a 5,700lbs payload.
In turn, it is transportable inside a CH-47
Chinook helicopter and can be airdropped out
of a C-130 and larger air transports.

Maintaining The CV90

The Estonian fleet of CV9035s (the second of

the export models of the CV90 (Combat Ve-
hicle 90) tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle will
be maintained jointly by the Patria’s subsidiary,
Milrem LCM and BAE Systems.
The agreement is part of the contract of
BAE Systems with the Estonian Govern-
ment for maintenance of the 44 surplus
Dutch CV9035 vehicles bought in 2014.
The first batch arrived in Estonia in October
2016, and a second batch was delivered
in December 2017. More than 1,280 CV90
IFVs in 15 variants are operated in Estonia,
the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland,
Sweden, and Switzerland.

Organisers of the Classic & Sports Car Show

Ticket Giveaway!
are giving Classic Military Vehicle Magazine
readers the chance to win one of two pairs of
tickets to the Oxfordshire event.
The show, taking place over the weekend of
June 23-24 at Bicester Heritage, combines clas-
sic vehicles of all types with air displays, militar-
ia, vintage fairgrounds, live music, shopping and
food stalls. There’s even a live action tank arena.
It’s a great weekend out and you can find full
details at www.classicandsportscarshow.com
All you need to do to be in with a chance of
winning a pair of tickets worth £56 is answer
one simple question.
Parts of the Bicester Heritage site have
been used as location filming for a number
of recent World War Two films. Which of the
following movies did NOT use Bicester?
A) The Imitation Game
B) Darkest Hour C) Dunkirk

14
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FJ18065 - Classic Military

FootmanJames.indd 1 Vehicle FP.indd 1 26/03/2018 16:12
29/03/2018 09:46
Tankfest.indd 1 03/05/2018 10:24
www.cmvmag.co.uk vicky.turner@keypublishing.com
40th Anniversary of
the Thames Traditional
Boat Festival
This summer sees the 40th anniversary of the
Thames Traditional Boat Festival, held each
year two weeks after Henley Royal Regatta.
This is the largest gathering of traditional river
craft in the world - from coracles to Edwardian
steam launches as well as about 30 Dunkirk
Little Ships and dozens of amphibious vehicles
Mini Moke
Mokes were out and about in the English
midlands to participate in the UK Classic Car
‘Drive It’ day, which this year coincided with
the 35th anniversary of the founding of the
Mini Moke Club in April 1983.
Many original members and Mokes were
present as the convoy processed from pub
to pub. Nothing has changed in 35 years!
Many a reminiscence was exchanged and
Making a Connection
I was surprised and delight-
ed to see 448 AAA on the
bumper of Mr Ingram’s Jeep,
recently featured in April’s
Classic Military Vehicle mag-
azine (pg68).
I too have the unit markings
of the 448th Anti Aircraft Ar-
tillery battalion on my Dodge
WC-62 and from my research
on the internet, the 448th
hardly features at all in any
histories so there can’t be many people around
who have chosen to commemorate it on their
vehicle - hence my delight.
I am half American but UK born and bred and
looking for some linkage for unit markings to
put on my truck’s bumper, the closest I could
which have a tendency to steal the show. Most
of the boats welcome visitors on-board as the
owners are proud of their craft.
There are always a few outstanding visiting
craft - often military - and this year Bluebird
K3 will be there having missed last year due
to a fire.
old stories told, but overall a feeling of ‘where
has all the time gone’ pervaded the occasion
as it was agreed that, when you’re in a Moke,
time is the least important thing on your
mind. May there be many more years Moking
to come.
Further details of The Mini Moke Club and
their events can be obtained from the club via
Richard.crowe@mokeclub.org
come was through the
husband of my godmother,
who I knew to have been
in England at some stage
during World War Two.
Shortly before he died, I
found out he had been in the
448th but I was unable to
speak to him to learn more.
He was a really good sort,
great company and I have his
battalion’s markings on my truck in his memory.
From my researches, I have concluded that
the 448th must have been raised during World
War Two and disbanded immediately after as
there is so little about it, other than that it was
attached to the 35th Infantry Division.
David Collard
17
News
Anthrax
Response
In response to J E Kirby’s letter regarding
gas and the ‘plate’ attached to the vehicle.
Artillery gas shells did not depend on some
miraculous chemical reaction occurring on
detonation.
The chemicals were loaded into gas shells in
their base liquid form and on detonation either
were dispersed in micro droplet form into
the air, or after that horrible ‘plop’ as the fuse
ignited (so graphically described by veterans),
the liquid flowed out and slowly evaporated
into the surrounding air to deliver its lethal out-
come. Handling these chemicals is not par-
ticularly complicated or dangerous. I worked
all my life with dangerous chemicals in
a forensic and recovery capacity - it is the
delivery system that can become complicat-
ed, both when first issued for use and when
recovered as ‘unexploded’ in later years.
As to the so called ‘gas’ plate. The British
forces had a perfectly good ‘gas’ indicator in
use at that time; the good old yellow disc, so
why fiddle with the proven? The plate clearly
has writing on it and I suspect this is some
form of loading or destination instruction
plate. Quite clearly any MP on the ground
and also the driver, would be able to read any
instructions/message etc.
The ‘anthrax’ mention is not as I have read
it. Yes the British warned that they would use
toxic substances, if same were used on these
islands, but no mention was made of what we
specifically had in our arsenal and Gruinard
Island was more of an experiment in ‘how do
we deal with this’ if we are subjected to this
biological hazard. Bit stupid to tell your enemy
that you have nice big deliverable bio-hazard,
when they only have a bit of poison gas. Our
backroom boys and the very few in the know,
kept their cards very close to their chest.
Being born in 1943 I heard dad and my uncles
discussing things in the mid 50s (they were
involved with the military for a long time after
war’s end) that became much clearer years lat-
er, when my interest in World War Two evolved.
Also I had plenty of scrapyards to visit once I
got a bike and even better when this became a
motorbike! Shame all the ’toys’ were destined
for the scrap furnaces of Sheffield and dad
drew the line at a Bren Carrier on the back lawn
to join the V8 Officer’s Ford Station Wagon. But
you could use that all the time!
Glen Middleton
 TEL: 01233 770007
MOBILE: 07770 836438
WEBSITE: www.jeffreyeng.com Email: nick@jeffreyeng.com
Berry Court Farm, Smarden, Ashford, Kent. TN27 8RQ

18

018_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 30/04/2018 11:12:07

words and pictures Nigel Hay
Here Comes The Sun As the weather warms up
many of us think about selling our vehicles. Nigel Hay has a few tips
B
efore you fire off a few quick photos with
your mobile phone and type out your
advert and click ‘submit’– have a plan.
The photos you use will make a significant dif-
ference. Firstly, if at all possible get the vehicle
outside. We have seen lots of photos of vehi-
cles in lock-up garages with just the door open,
offering just a vague idea of what’s beyond the
radiator grille.
Position the vehicle so the light is good and
that it is the most interesting thing in the
pictures – so often we get photos where there
are lots of things also in the picture that arouse
the potential buyers’ curiosity and can actually
detract from the actual vehicle. If you are using
photos taken at a show, crop out the rest!
Clear off all the clutter, remove the camo nets,
flags and bunting and everything else that is hiding
the vehicle. The potential buyer wants to see his
main investment – everything else is peripheral.
Take the best photos you can, as photographers
say, fill the frame. Then compose the best wording
you can, experience shows that including a price
and giving a phone number as well as an email
address will get you the best results.
April was a busy month with many vehicles
changing hands and still much cross channel
military vehicle traffic despite Brexit dragging
its heels.
One of the most unusual vehicles had to be
the Cutaway 1941 Royal Enfield WD 350. This
was an ex-Portugese Army training aid - even
the battery was cut open - and the Lis-
bon-based seller asked a realistic €10,000 for
this unique bike. Portugal was the source in the
ABOVE: Ex-Portugese Army bike -1941 Zundapp Ks
600 at €17,500
BELOW: Hard Top Champ
Maultier with
a starting
price of
€240,000
Reo M35A2 at £10,995
late 1980s of a large batch of Sherman Griz-
zlies and Sextons but it was a surprise to get
an advert for a Wehrmacht ex-Portugese Army
bike – a 1941 Zundapp Ks 600 at €17,500.
Must be an interesting history there. British
bikes are still coming up for sale – with two
Flying Fleas and an Ariel WNG being offered by
a Dutch dealer.
Dutch Harley and Militaria specialist Michel
Clements offered a very nice looking Harley-Da-
vidson WLA and WLC sidecar for just under
£3,000 which seems very good value.
Champs are less frequently advertised these
ABOVE: Silver Eagle M1101 Cargo Trailer
BELOW: Harley-Davidson WLA & WLC sidecar for just
under £3,000
19
Military Vehicle Market
days so it was good to see a nicely resorted
1953 model with a rare removable fibreglass
hard top fitted by Agricultural Vehicles of Ox-
ford in 1963. Up for a realistic £8,000 it should
appeal to a true believer.
A very early and nicely painted Reo M35A2
at £10,995 should sell fast as there is always
a market for these. Modern US vehicles which
replaced the Reos like the Stewart and Steven-
son M1078 4x4 and M1089 6x6 Tactical Trucks
are starting to trickle out onto the collectors’
market – though few yet turn up at shows.
Iron Planet disposed of the US military rolling
stock assets in Europe and in recent sales have
included dozens of M1101 series Cargo Trailers
which don’t make very much money and are often
in nearly-new condition.
Marltrax in the UK has a good selection of
the more recent US trucks and trailers for sale
and we do see more of these being offered by
Dutch dealers like Rob Army Trucks.
Some years ago there were dozens of ex-
French Army Sumbs coming into the UK via RR
Services. Many became shooters’ vehicles or
gun buses and some were bought by collectors
who continue to enjoy these quite formidable
light trucks.
They dropped out of fashion in the shooting
world with the advent of the RB44 sales which
were more practical end economic.
Recently we have noticed some of these
retired (for the second time) Sumbs are being
resold but for around £1,000 or less – often just
for the V8 engine
As enthusiasts we would like to save pretty
much every ex-military vehicle from the scrap
man but the reality is only a very tiny percent-
age end up in private hands – but there are still
plenty available to fuel our hobby.
A4 Full Page Ad with bleeds_155-4pp.qxd 03/04/2018 08:05 Page 1

A F T E R T H E B AT T L E
NEW TITLE AVAILABLE NOW
WINSTON AND GAIL RAMSEY

This book focuses on the systems used by the Axis powers for the
governance of the countries that they occupied during the Second
World War. It would be easy to assume that the administration of
each country was carried out on a somewhat ad hoc basis, but
streams of detailed orders and decrees were enacted to cover all
aspects of everyday life . . . from finance to crime.
Dr Raphael Lemkin was a Polish émigré and the person who
coined the term ‘genocide’ during his study of international law
concerning crimes against humanity which he began in 1933 — the
year that the Nazis assumed power in Germany.
Dr Lemkin’s much-
acclaimed work Axis
Rule in Occupied
Europe was published
in 1944 and extracts
from it now form the
framework on which
we have built this
‘then and now’
coverage of the
occupation of
Czechoslovakia,
Memel, Albania, Danzig, Poland,
Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium,
France, Monaco, the Channel Islands, Greece, Yugoslavia, the
Baltic states, the Soviet Union, Romania, Italy and Hungary.
Individual chapters also cover the most serious crimes
committed by the occupier: the destruction of whole
villages in Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands and
Greece, and the genocidal acts carried out in Italy, Greece,
Belgium, although nothing can equal the wholesale
slaughter enacted in the Balkans and the USSR.
It has been estimated that the Axis occupation of Europe
cost between 20 and 25 million civilian lives, apart from the
deaths of at least 16 million servicemen and women who
paid the ultimate price in trying to put Europe back
together again. It is a debt that can never be repaid.

SIZE 12" × 8½" 368 PAGES OVER 1,000 COLOUR AND B&W ILLUSTRATIONS ISBN 9 781870 067 935 CODE F075 £39.95
(UK carriage is £5.00 for one copy, post free for 2 or more copies. EU carriage is £16.50. Please call us for rest of world carriage.)

AFTER THE BATTLE

The Mews, Hobbs Cross House, Hobbs Cross, Old Harlow, Essex CM17 ONN, UK
Telephone: 01279 41 8833 Fax: 01279 41 9386 E-mail: hq@afterthebattle.com www.afterthebattle.com

B R I N G S H I S T O RY T O L I F E
AftertheBattle.indd 1 03/04/2018 17:23

words & pictures Keith Harman
Impressive Display
Varied World War Two collection includes
1941 Dodge 1/2 ton, 1942 Ford GPW ‘Follow
Me’ for airfield use, plus a 1945 navy Jeep
and 1940 Ford staff car in navy colours
M
ost tourists visiting California’s central
coast wine growing country around
Paso Robles are there to sample the
excellent wine tasting available at the many
vineyards in the area. But for the military, aviation,
and automotive enthusiast, a trip to the Estrella
Warbird Museum is a must.
Situated some miles north-east of the city
of Paso Robles, the airfield was originally
constructed in 1942 and used by the US Army
Air Force until 1944, later being handed over
for public use. These days the museum is a
non-profit operation featuring an outdoor dis-
play of mainly post World War Two fighter jets.
Entering through reception leads to the displays
of military hardware including uniforms, muni-
tions, weapons, plus a number of World War Two
military vehicles acquired and restored by the
museum in their own workshops.
Carrying on between the jets will lead you
across to the Herman Pfauter ‘Red Ball Express’
collection of US military vehicles collected over
many years throughout Europe, and gradually
The Estrella Warbirds Museum
Ticket Prices: Adults $12 Children 6-12 $5
Concessions available for groups, seniors
and students (see website).
Visiting Hours: 10am-4pm Thursday-Sunday
Address: 4251 Dry Creek Rd, Paso Robles,
California 93446, USA. Tel: 805-238-9317
Web: www.ewarbirds.org
The Estrella Warbird Museum/Woodland Auto Display
Paso Robles, California. Museum of the month
Steve McQueen was a big fan of motorcycles, with
Indians being a favourite marque, much of this 1930
Chief outfit remains original as Steve owned it
No surprise in the US to find a
selection of different Jeep models
from various years on display
Among the American classics in the Woodland
display we found this lovely 1925 Dodge Brothers
civilian ambulance, with a Ford Model A ‘Depot
Hack’ next to it
A nice example of fully kitted out Harley-Davidson
WLA with 750cc side valve twin, many of which saw
service the world over
being brought over to this facility.
Making a change from olive drab in favour of
paint and chrome, the largest building at Estrella
houses the Woodland Auto Display, this is an The Estrella Warbird collection is a non-flying
impressive collection owned by Richard (Dick) preservation museum, though some privately
owned operational aircraft are kept in the big
Woodland, who just happened to be there when hangar behind
we visited, and was more than happy to show us
around.
Much of his collection majors on vintage sin-
gle-seat, oval-track racing cars, American classics,
(with a few Jaguars thrown in for good measure),
and the actual 1930 Indian Chief motorcycle and
sidecar owned by the late actor Steve McQueen
which was a highlight of the tour for us. Everyone
we met there was friendly and helpful, and all in
all it’s a varied and interesting museum, and well
MIG Killer! The QF86F Sabre Jet was specifically
worth a look if you are over on the west coast.
developed to take on Russian MIGS in the skies
Our thanks to Dick Woodland for the informative over Korea
tour of his collection.
21
Haymarkert.indd 1 29/03/2018 15:53

Jagdpanther
Tank Destroyer
German Army and
Waffen-SS Western
Europe 1944-1945
Author Denis Oliver
Year 2017
ISBN 1526 71 0897
Language English
Binding Paperback
Size 297mm x 210mm
(11.75 x 8.25in)
Price £14.99
Pages 64
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
A Tank-Craft title providing
a detailed account of the
battle engagements of this
well-known tank destroyer.
The book gives an almost
day-by-day schedule of ac-
tivity on the Western front,
from the Jagdpather’s first
engagement with the Allies
in July 1944 to May 7, 1945 and the
signing of Germany’s unconditional
Renault FT
& M1917
Author Samir Karmieh
Year 2017
ISBN 9788 365 4376 48
Language English/Polish
Binding Paperback
Size 297mm x 210mm (11.75 x
8.25in)
Price £18.25
Pages 20
www.casematepublishing.com
Only let down slightly by a few trans-
lation blips, this title covers the world’s
first modern tank, a pioneering vehicle
whose basic features can still be
found on today’s modern
tanks. The FT was an un-
deniable success. Large
numbers of FTs were pro-
vided to most Western
Front units by 1918. They
were involved in all major
offensives, successfully
crossing over trenches
as intended, but also
driving through forests.
Renault produced two
variants of the FT; the
most common of which
was the machine gun model and a
short-barrelled 37mm Puteaux SA 18
gun. Those models were identifiable
by their definitive Omnibus turret, mul-
surrender by Generaloberst Jodl. It
covers the Jagdpanther’s units, has
technical analysis and lists modi-
fications to more than 16 different
vehicles but is mainly intended for
the modeller - it has both colour and
black and white photographs of mod-
el kits and available scales and really
goes into an abundance of detail from
tracks to markings.
With many interesting photographs
of these armoured vehicles either in
service or having been knocked out,
coupled with well-researched infor-
mation about their use in World War
Two, this title is worth a read even if
you aren’t interested
in the modelling
aspect, which admit-
tedly, does take up a
good proportion of
the pages.
Verdict: A exhaus-
tive study which will
definitely help the
modeller achieve
true scale and
realism in their work,
while also imparting some interesting
history. VT
ti-faceted or rounded with bent metal
plates. By December 1917 3,100 FTs
had been produced with the Omnibus
turret. The FT had some early teething
problems in the radiator fan belt and
cooling system. The M1917 was the
American version, built under licence
from Renault. Only 64 of them had
been built by the end of World War
One and of those, only 10 had been
delivered to the Allies in Europe and
none saw active service on the
front line.
In 1919 a new, redesigned, version
was proposed by Renault to include
a more powerful engine, a long-bar-
relled Puteaux gun and additional
cases fitted in the tracks. It was
successfully exported throughout the
world.
Some of them were
immediately put into ac-
tion, like the Finnish and
Polish versions, which
went into service against
the Soviets.
For modellers there is a
small sheet of masks for
the markings seen in the
colour profiles to enable
easy airbrushing.
Verdict: The intricate
sets of drawings set this book apart;
there are 15 pages of excellent scale
plans. These include a pull out techni-
cal diagram. VT
23
New Books On the Shelf
Hungarian
Armored Forces
In World War II
Author Péter Mujzer
Year 2017
ISBN 9788 36 5437 655
Language English
Binding Paperback
Size 297mm x 210mm (11.75 x
8.25in)
Price £22.95
Pages 132
www.casematepublishing.com
At the end of World War One, Hunga-
ry ended up on the losing side; slightly
the army disintegrated and the
armaments either taken
over or destroyed. In the
autumn of 1919, after
the failure of a short-lived
Soviet-style republic, a
new Hungarian National
Army was organised
under French supervision
but led by Admiral Miklós
Horthy, who became
regent of Hungary in
1920, ruling in place of
the deposed Habsburgs.
Hungary never officially renounced its
status as a monarchy and effectively
Kisses From
Nimbus –
From SAS to MI6:
An Autobiography
Author P J ‘Red’ Riley
Year 2017
ISBN 9781 9122 6234 2
Binding Hardback
Pages 210
Size 160 x 235mm (6.25x9in)
Price £8.99
Pages 262
www.bookpublishing.co.uk
Captain P J ‘Red’ Riley is an ex-SAS
soldier who served for18 years as an
MI6 agent. Riley escaped
internment in Chile during
the Falklands War during
an audacious attempt
to attack the Argentinian
mainland. He was impris-
oned in the Sierra Leonean
jungle and withstood
heavy fire in Beirut and
Syria. In 2015, he was
arrested for murder but
all charges were later
dropped. This is his memoir and tells
the ‘behind-the-closed-door’ stories of
modern British history including some
remained a monarchy without a king
until the end of World War Two.
After World War One, Hungary was
in a very critical situation. The Treaty
of Trianon, was very similar to the one
imposed on Germany at Versailles,
reduced the area of the country from
282,000 square kilometres to 93,000
square kilometres and the population
from 18 million to 9.5 million. Thou-
sands of Hungarians became citizens
of foreign countries under hostile ad-
ministrations. Proud Hungary had lost
its imperial status and was reduced
to a small country surrounded by
hostile states and its industrial might
reduced by about 80 per cent.
This book charts the development
of Hungarian armoured units and
their machinery including soft skin
and artillery vehicles as
well as armour giving the
history of the availability,
production facilities,
technical specifications,
unit histories and their
use of lent and captures
foreign armour as well as
home manufactured.
Verdict: A well stocked
reference book on
Hungarian armour, nicely
set out with copious illustrations, and
many unusual photographs. VT
from the Iraq war, what Tony Blair
really knew about Saddam Hussain’s
WMD before the allied invasion, and
questions the British government’s
alleged involvement in the death
of Princess Diana. He also talks of
his own life and the many tragedies
therein from the emotional and diffi-
cult relationship with his brother, who
lost his battle with HIV and AIDS in
1990 to the more recent illness of his
daughter — who was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis.
All this is told in a very matter of fact
style, not emotionless exactly, but the
writer’s feelings are mostly left to the
reader to conjure up and so the con-
tent becomes all the more shocking.
Many of the instances related in
Kisses From Nimbus,
were in the newsreels
of my childhood. Having
them exposed to me here
from an insider’s perspec-
tive, as a contemporane-
ous account, has been
enlightening.
Verdict: Funny and sad
in equal measure, I get
the sense this is a true
account of what it must be like to be a
soldier and a spy in today’s politically
complex world. VT
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24

024_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 30/04/2018 11:16:07


Road to
Tunis
Author A David Divine
Publisher Collins
Year 1944
ISBN n/a
Language
English
Binding
Hardback
Pages 256
Size
147x205mm
(5.75x8in)
Price £6+
www.abebooks.co.uk
In a 1942 speech after the British
Army had defeated Rommel’s Afrika
Korps at El Alamein, Winston Churchill,
perceiving a change in the tide of war,
said: “Now this is not the end. It is not
even the beginning of the end. But it is,
perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Another step towards the end would
be the final defeat of Axis forces in
North Africa and this would come six
months later in May 1943. To mark
the 75th anniversary of the end of this
campaign, this month’s ‘collectable’
books are emi-
nently readable accounts about it.
The Road to Tunis does not attempt
to cover the whole Tunisian campaign
but is a war correspondent’s account
of his own experiences, mainly with
the US 701st Tank Destroyer Battalion
(to whom the book is dedicated). This
unit had been activated in December,
1941 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It arrived
in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 11,
1942 and, subsequently, participated in
the Operation Torch landings near Oran,
Algeria in November. It advanced to-
wards
Tunisia in the same
month. Another portion of
the battalion reached North Africa in
December and took part in actions in
Tunisia, including El Guettar, Faid Pass,
Sidi Bou Zid, Sbeitla, Hill 609, and Ma-
teur. This book follows the fortunes of
the 701st from Oran to Kasserine and
ends with a short account of the taking
of Tunis and Bizerta and the surrender
at Cape Bon.
The author, Arthur Durham ‘David’
Divine CBE, OBE, DSM (1905-1987),
was born in Cape Town,
South Africa and was
employed as a journalist
on the Cape Times.
During the evacuation of
the British Expeditionary
Force from Dunkirk in
1940, Divine crossed the
English Channel three
times in a 35ft boat to
rescue trapped British
soldiers and was
wounded: for his ef-
forts he was award-
ed the Distinguished
Service Medal (DSM).
Later Divine would write the screenplay
for the 1958 film Dunkirk. In 1946 he
received the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in recognition of his service
during the war.
After the war he became the defence
correspondent of the British Sunday
Times, a post he held until 1975 and is
remembered for controversial books
on defence issues.
He was awarded the rank of Com-
mander of the Order of the British Em-
pire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours
List of 1976.
25
Collectable Books On the Shelf
Tunisian
Battle
to-day grind of the First
Army and was, by the au-
thor’s own admission, “written
in haste between two campaigns”
which permitted its publication in
September 1943, just four months
after the campaign ended. He also
Author John admits that he “dwells on the exploits
D’Arcy-Dawson of the 78th Division, Guards Brigade
Publisher and the 6th Armoured Division”.
Macdonald Like the Road to Tunis, it contains
Year 1943 black and white maps of the cam-
ISBN n/a paign and additionally has a good
Language English section of black and white Ministry
Binding Hardback of Information photographs.
Pages 252 My copies of both these books
Size 147x220mm (5.75x8.75in) bought in secondhand bookshops
Price £6+ have lost their dust jackets so, at
www.abebooks.co.uk a glance, they appear uninspiring.
Proof of the saying that ‘you should
never judge a book by its cover’
This is another
war correspondent’s well-regarded
account of the British First Army and comes from that fact.
their American comrades in Tunisia The detail and information in these
from the Battle of Tebourba, through books makes them well worth read-
the capture of Tunis until the last ing to discover details about one of
shots six days later. John D’Ar- the less well known allied campaigns
cy-Dawson was the war correspond- of World War Two. English editions of
ent for Kemsley Newspapers and both are plentiful from online sellers.
also a veteran of World War One so I also came across a Belgian edition
knew what he was writing about. It is of Tunisian Battle; La campagne de
a personal account of the triumphs Tunisie, Editions Universitaires, Les
and difficulties which were the day- Presses de Belgique (1945). JC
 e
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0017 WITV Advert 04/04/2018
12/03/2018 17:24
15:28
www.cmvmag.co.uk vicky.turner@keypublishing.com
2018
May
18-20 The Wartime Village
The Village Church Farm, Church Road South,
Skegness, Lincolnshire, PE25 2HF
Tel: 01754 766658
info@churchfarmvillage.org.uk
18-20 Findlay Show
Hancock County Fairgrounds, Findlay, Ohio, USA
Vehicles, displays, militaria. Marking 50th
Anniversary of US involvement in Vietnam
www.findlaymilitaryshow.org
19-20 Militracks
A great event for everybody interested in
military technology of World War Two,
particularly German.
The War Museum, Museumpark 1,
5825 AM Overloon, Netherlands
info@oorlogsmuseum.nl
www.militracks.nl
26-28 Overlord Show
The Lawns, Denmead, PO7 6HS
Hundreds of military vehicles and re-enactors
from the Great War through to modern day.
Organised by Solent Overlord Executive Military
Collectors Club.
26-28 Chipping Steam Fair
Green lane Showground, Chiping, Preston,
Lancashire, PR3 2QT 01995 6186
www.chippingsteamfair.com
June
1 Great Central Railway
1940s Weekend
Great Central Road, Loughborough, LE11 1RW
2-3 Devon D-Day
Marking the 75th anniversary of the opening of
the US Assault Training Centre, Cobbaton.
Combat Collection and Devon Area MVT will
host this weekend’s activities.
Cobbaton Combat Centre, Chittlehampton,
Umberleigh EX37 9RZ
info@cobbatoncombat.co.uk
Nigel Worth 07881868289, nworth2006@aol.com
www.assaulttrainingcenterfriends.
co.uk/75th-anniversary-2018
3 RAF Kenley Aerojumble
and Autojumble.
RAFA Club, Victor Beamish Way, RAF Kenley,
Caterham on the Hill, Surrey. Doors open 9am
email: Acebellaviation@aol.com
8 Wicksteed at War
The show is free to enter, features an action packed
arena, hundreds of re-enactors and vehicles on the
show grounds as well as aircraft flyovers.
Barton Road, Kettering, Northamptonshire,
NN15 6NJ
www.wicksteedatwar.co.uk
9-10 Dig for Victory Show
Portraying a uniquely British scene depicting the
May 2018 - September 2019 Calendar
home front during the war encompassing all
aspects of that time from vehicles, re-enactors,
music, farming and fashion
North Somerset Showground, Bristol
James Shopland 07968274480
www.digforvictoryshow.com
14-16 43rd Annual MVPA
International Convention
Kentucky Exposition Centre, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
www.mvpa.org
16-17 Wartime in the Vale
A family show with a mix of military and vintage
civilian displays at a World War Two camp
Ashdown Farm, Badsey, Nr Evesham,
Worcestershire, WR11 7EN
Amy Jelfs 07899 025091,
amy@ashdowncamp.com
www.ashdowncamp.com
16-17 Mapledurham at War
Held in the grounds of Mapledurham House and
Watermill. Authentic land and water battles, see
Old Phyllis, the Sherman tank featured in Fury
with Brad Pitt and fly past of a Lancaster
Mapledurham Estate, Mapledurham, Reading
RG4 7TR 0118 972 3350
www.mapledurham.co.uk
23-24 IMVG 12th Annual Military
Vehicle and Re-enactment Show
Military vehicle displays, battle re-enactments,
living history displays, militaria stalls and
moving vehicles
Naas Racecourse, Tipper Road,
Naas Co Kildare.
Adult, €10 Children, €5 Euro and Family €20
www.facebook.com/IrishMilitaryVehiclesGroup
29-1 Tankfest
The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, BH20 6JG
www.thetankmuseum.org
30-1 Vale Vintage
Machinery Club show
Vintage vehicles, steam rally and craft fair.
Ty Ucha Farm, Pen Y Cefn, Caerwys, CH7 5BQ
10am-5pm both days. Admission £4
Contact Maredudd Davies - 07921719084
valevintagemachineryclub@gmail.com
27
July
1 Military Pageant
and World War One Centenary
The Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden Aero-
drome, Nr Biggleswade, SG18 9EP
www.shuttleworth.org
6-8 Yorkshire Wartime
Experience
Now in its seventh year, this show is the north’s
largest military vehicle and re-enactment show
Hunsworth Lane, East Brierley, Bradford BD4 6RN,
10am-5pm 07748-604461 www.ywe-event.info
7-8 Woodhall Spa 1940s Festival
Woohall Spa, Lincolnshire
General enquiries
email: grahamkeegan@btinternet.com For vehicle
enquiries email: classiccars1940@mail.com
7-8 Capel Military Show
Held in support of the Help For Heroes charity at
Aldhurst Farm, Temple Lane, Capel, Surrey, RH5 5HJ
www.capel-military-vehicle-show.com
7-8 World War Two Military
vehicle weekend
Devil’s Porridge Museum, Stanfield, Annan Road,
Eastriggs, DG 12 6TF 01461 700021 or
email manager@devilsporridge.org.uk
8 Dallas Digout
Car boot for unwanted parts and militaria
Cold Ash Farm, Long Lane, Cold Ash,
Thatcham, RG18 9LT
admin@dallasautoparts.com
14-15 Camp Jeep
The fifth annual Camp Jeep event gathers
members of the Jeep Owners Group (JOG) and
fans from across Europe. July 5 is an important
date for the Jeep brand; the anniversary of the
signing in 1941 of the agreement to supply the US
Army with the unstoppable Willys-Overland MA,
this event will mark the heritage. 01753 511431
www.ownersgroup.jeep.com
www.facebook.com/jeepownersgroup
24-28 War & Peace Revival Show
The world’s largest military show held over five
Calendar May 2018 - September 2019
days at Hop Farm Show Ground, Maidstone
Road, Paddock Wood ,TN12 6PY
Set in more than150 acres, it’s a full five-day
historical spectacular.
Jamie Wells 01258 857700 or 01258 858448
www.warandpeacerevival.com
31 - August 7 Water Week
A week-long camping and swimming event for
amphibious vehicles. Gränna, Sweden
www.facebook.com/amphib2016
August
4-5 Nostalgia Festival
Large classic vehicle display including military
vehicles from all eras.
Croft Circuit, West Lane, Dalton On Tees, North
Yorkshire, DL2 2PL 01325 721815
www.croftcircuit.co.uk
11-12 Armourfest
Norfolk Tank Museum, Forncett St Peter, NR16 1HZ
www.armourfest.co.uk
info@norfolktankmuseum.co.uk
11-12 Wings and Wheels
Urselseweg 183A, 9910 Ursel,
Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
www.wingsandwheels.be
18-19 Lytham 1940s
Wartime Weekend
Wartime entertainment, battle re-enactments,
historic vehicles, Spitfires, music, song and
dance. Military charities and vintage stalls
Lytham Green, Lytham St Annes, FY8 5ZLB
Email: 1940s@fylde.gov.uk
Web: www.discoverfylde.co.uk
18-19 Combined Ops
Military Spectacular
Headcorn Aerodrome near Maidstone, Kent
www.headcornspecialevents.co.uk
19 Cumbria Classic
and Motorsport Show
Wigton Motor Club, Dalemain House near
Ullswater (on A592) Specific classes for Land
Rovers and military vehicles
www.wigtonmc.co.uk/John Graham 01228
534483 Camping available
Special celebration of 70 years of Land Rover
Entries close Aug 3
25-27 Military Odyssey
Living History Event, Kent Show Ground, Detling,
Maidstone. Under new ownership, this enormous
event includes multi-period living history and re-en-
actments, collectors’ market and indoor fair. Public
camping available but must be booked in advance.
James Aslett 07595 511981
www.military-odyssey.com
25-27 Tanks, Trucks & Firepower
The Alvis Fighting Vehicle Society has been
putting on Tanks, Trucks and Firepower since
2010 and each year the show has got bigger
and better. One mile from Dunchurch village
centre on the A426 in Warwickshire and five
miles from Rugby, follow postcode CV22 6NR
www.cmvmag.co.uk vicky.turner@keypublishing.com
email tanks-trucks-and-firepower@gmail.com
www.tanks-trucks-and-firepower.co.uk
31-1 The Victory Show
Dinner Dances
Foxlands Farm, Cosby, Leicestershire, LE9 1SG
September
9 Speech House Vintage Show
Hosted by the Forest Vintage Vehicle and
Machinery Club in the Royal Forest of Dean.
A family day out, raising money for local charities.
email jim@jwlrs.co.uk to exhibit
www.fvvmc.co.uk
14 Tiger Day
The Tank Museum
Bovington, Dorset, BH20 6JG Wareham, Dorset
www.tankmuseum.org
29-30 Cotswold Airport
Revival Weekend
Kemble Aerodrome, Nr. Cirencester,
Gloucestershire, GL7 6BA
100 aircraft flying in to represent 100 years of the
RAF, coupled with a vintage and wartime extrava-
ganza including vintage, military and emergency
services vehicles on display.
www.cotswoldairportrevival.com
30 Gaydon Military Show
Explore military through the decades. The show
28
encompasses all aspects of military history with
a range of activities to enjoy.
British Motor Museum, Banbury Road, Gaydon,
Warwickshire, CV35 0BJ.
www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
November
4 Northern Military Expo
An indoor show at Newark County Showground,
NG24 2NY,
Military vehicles, books, manuals, vehicle parts,
uniforms, 40s fashion, radios, medals, models,
guns, accessories and much more. Admission
£5 per person. Display or sell your vehicle
For more information call 07889 516401 or
email jeep.promontions@btconnect.com
www.northernmilitaryexpo.co.uk
2019
January
6 Croydon Airport Aviation
and Military Collectors Fair.
(Indoor)
Croydon Aerodrome Hotel, A23, Purley Way,
Croydon Surrey. Doors open 10.30am
email: Davidsutton16@aol.com or call
07973 885754
September
Liberation Task Force’s
30 Corps Event
Operation Market Garden - 75th Anniversary
Similar to the even in 2014, with more than
200 British military vehicles expected, book
early. Registration now being taken.
Convoy Lommel to Arnhem in Holland,
www.ltf-hq.com/Registration
14-22 Operation Market Garden
Register now to participate in the 75th
anniversary and convoy along Hell’s Highway
to Veghel, using the same roads as the
liberators in 1944
www.widget.yourticketprovider.nl
 CAPEL MILITARY
VEHICLE SHOW
7TH & 8TH JuLY 2018

MILITARY MUSEUM
10AM TO 5PM
FRIEndLIEST MILITARY SHOW
WWII exhibits including
Plenty for everyone to do and see, from live a Sherman Tank
firing Main Battle Tanks, helicopters to car crushing and everything in
between. Café De Normandy
Hundreds of display vehicles, two battle
re-enactments every day Armoury of deactivated
Large active arena weapons
Daily afternoon and evening entertainment
Children’s dressing up area

“We all enjoyed the museum which had some

wonderful exhibits. Would recommend
it to anyone!” Customer

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Large children’s assault courses,

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Living history displays and trade stalls OP IL
EN D LY APR
Eat, drink be truly astounded and all in aid of Military Charities AI
Admission £ 7 Adult,£4 Child/OAP £20 Family
Capel-military-vehicle-show.com
Aldhurst Farm, Temple Lane, VISIT www.militarymuseum.uk
Capel Dorking RH5 5HJ OR CALL 01858 880239 TO FIND OUT MORE
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29

029_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 30/04/2018 16:12:53

 30

030_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 30/04/2018 11:22:27

Words and Pictures John Carroll Event Yorkshire MVT Annual Crank Up

Dukes of

Yo r k
VW Iltis in front of York Castle Museum Jeep below the ramparts of the 13th century Clifford’s Tower

O
n an April Sunday, the rain held off and
military vehicles rolled into the historic
walled city of York from all over Yorkshire.
York is at the confluence of the rivers Ouse
and Foss in North Yorkshire, a spot chosen by
the Romans when they founded that place as
Eboracum. It was later captured by the Vikings
and became known as Jórvík before falling to
the Anglo Saxons. It prospered as a centre for
trade and the 19th century industries of railways
and confectionery have left a huge legacy within
the city walls. This includes numerous fine build-
ings, and it is in a corner between York Castle,
Clifford’s Tower and the Crown Court that the
Yorkshire MVT holds its annual crank up.
The attendees brought vehicles of several
nationalities, eras and sizes. Around 20 Jeeps
and a dozen Land Rovers were perhaps to be
expected but these numbers were swelled by
examples of other 4x4s including the Austin
Gipsy and Champ and a VW Iltis. American
machines included Dodges, GMCs and Reos.
The British were represented by Bedfords, a
Stalwart and rarities such as an Austin tourer
and a Humber Box.
It’s a low key event made great by a friendly
bunch of enthusiastic vehicle owners who came
and went as the day passed. Without exception,
because of the late spring, everyone was looking
forward to better weather in the season ahead.

Dodge WC54 ambulance leaving the event Bedford MW restored and driven by Nick Dunford

Ex-Home Office 1965 LWB Austin Gipsy G4M15 Panoramic view of the Crank Up from Clifford’s Tower
from the batch sold by the government in 1997

Austin Tourer and Humber Box were among the

vehicles in front of the Crown Court

31
WarandPeace.indd 1 03/05/2018 11:18:00
 Event AA Commemorative Run
Words Vicky Turner Pictures Matt Stevens
- Sevenoaks to Hastings

Chris Martin‘s Scammell Pioneer. Regulars on the Mark Hart’s Harley-Davidson WLA This World War One vintage Model T Ford pick-up

e
Hastings
run, he and his partner always dress the part is owned by Tony George

y
S

E
unday April 22, 2018, saw the Automobile All the proceeds from the day went to the charity
Association’s (AA) 10th Commemora- Combat Stress.
tive Military Road Run taking place from The road run is open to all soft-skin vehicles
Sevenoaks to Hastings. The first event took place and motorcycles in use by the British forces be-
in 2009, the centenary of when members of the tween 1909 to the present day as well as veteran
AA took soldiers from London to Hastings by and vintage cars and motorcycles up to 1945;
car - an exercise organised by the AA and no armour is allowed, as it didn’t form part of the
the War Office to test the viability of moving original exercise.
troops in this manner. In 1909 more than Blessed by glorious sunshine and unseason-
100 AA members’ cars and London taxis ably warm temperatures this event was very
carried troops, weapons, ammunition and well attended with an interesting assortment of

r
equipment and it provided valuable lessons in 59 vehicles in the cavalcade. The 40-mile route

ne
logistical planning for mass, rapid mobilisation. was lined with well-wishers enjoying the weather

Op e
This event continues to be organised by the as well as the spectacle this convoy made. It
AA, whose yellow vans glowed amid the drab stopped on Hastings beachfront where it drew
greens and desert sands of vehicles belonging much attention from the crowds.
to members of the Invicta Military Vehicle
Preservation Society who support the event.

A desert sand-coloured Canadian CMP

Ford F8 Pick Up, owned by Steve Good

The Sevenoaks to Hastings Commemorative Road

Run, sponsored by the AA, has been held every
spring since 2009, this year in aid of Combat Stress

Alex Scott’s beau-

tiful 1939 Humber
Snipe Heavy Utility,
which was captured
by the Germans in
1940 when it got
This Model T Ford Ambulance is the pride and joy left behind
of Mick Davis at Dunkirk

33
 words Louise Limb pictures Louise Limb, Andy Teare

Trucks on
Tracks
Cuthbertson were famous in the early 1960s
for their tracked conversion kits for
Land Rovers. Louise Limb finds one on
an 88in Series One in the REME Museum
Reserve Collection

T
ucked away in the breathtaking vehicle
reserve collection at the recently relocat-
ed museum of the Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers (REME), Lyneham, is a
well-used Series One Land Rover sitting on top
of a set of Cuthbertson tracks. Though some
details of its exact history remain a mystery,
this audacious little vehicle symbolises and
highlights both the unique pragmatism and
ingenuity of REME’s technicians and the clever
design of engineering expert James A Cuth-
bertson; it is completely fitting that the Series
One now resides at Lyneham.
As well as its symbolic connotations, this Se-
ries One 88in Land Rover also brings together
two interesting strands of military vehicle histo-
ry. Not only does the vehicle showcase a set of
extremely rare Cuthbertson tracks but it is also
an equally scarce variant of the MK 5 military
Land Rover, a 24-volt version.
With the Land Rover body sitting high over its
rubber tracks, the Cuthbertson is an odd-look-
ing and quite radical Solihull variant, standing
over eight feet in height and taken to its theoret-
ical top speed of 30mph, would be challenging
to drive, though with its very low ground pres-
sure is reassuringly capable over boggy ground.
The exceptional ground clearance is a huge
advantage but also a drawback for stability with
the high narrow vehicle profile. This is offset by
the weight of the kit and the Cuthbertson was
relatively safe to 30 degrees just like any other
Land Rover: it was only ever intended for use at
low speeds on soft ground. Of an approximate
total of 22 Cuthbertson kits fitted to Series II,
IIA and Lightweights it is estimated around 13
remain. However as recently as 2011, CMV
editor John Carroll acquired and recovered a
set of spare tracks from Lix Toll in Scotland so
there may be more out there.
Most of the complete vehicle conversions
Estimates vary but of around 22 Cuth-
discovered in recent years have been carefully
bertson conversions only approxi-
restored as found or the tracks fitted to differ- mately 13 remain and it is unknown
ent Land Rovers, making any chance of finding how many are of military origin
a military Cuthbertson conversion survivor

34
35
 even tougher.
Winter weather and boggy terrain specialists
James A Cuthbertson Ltd, based in Biggar, La-
narkshire had been trading since 1936, mainly
in snowploughs, but during World War Two
branched out into manufacturing rubber tracks.
James Archibald Cuthbertson was an excep-
tional engineer, designing the first endless rub-
ber belt and during the war he assisted among
others, the UK, Canadian and US governments,
working on projects such as the underwater
pipeline from Britain to France to supply Allied
vehicles after D-Day.
Cuthbertson tracks taking up the slack as the Series II 109in emerges from Packington Lake, under test by Land Rover Given Cuthbertson’s pioneering approach
BELOW LEFT: A view underneath shows how the sub-frame fits neatly around the front crossmember of the Land
it’s not surprising that the firm came up with
Rover’s chassis
BELOW RIGHT: A view along the length of the Land Rover looking rearwards shows this Cuthbertson sub-frame an experimental tracked Land Rover prototype
has a single strut between front and back axle conversion in the late 1950s to suit a Series
One. Awarded Land Rover Approval by the
Special Projects department in late 1959, small
scale production of tracks began to aid farmers
in what James A Cuthbertson Ltd described as
an ‘uneven, hostile landscape’. There were also
other developments based on applications for
Cuthbertson’s endless rubber belt, including
half-tracks and as well as the unique Water
Buffalo which could extract heavy plant such
as diggers and excavators even from marshy
ground. There are still two of these vehicles
on the Falkland Islands from an original three
sent out there for land drainage work in the
early to mid-1960s. While one farmer there had
considered buying a Cuthbertson Land Rover
at the same time, he chose instead a Roadless
Traction Series IIA Forest Rover. Nick Pitaluga,
the farmer’s son still maintains the Roadless,
which was perfect for the craggy terrain and
reports that, thankfully, it escaped being com-
mandeered by the Argentine forces in 1982.
Another of his Land Rovers famously did see
action, seized under Argentine occupation and
deployed again by British Forces in the period
after liberation.
Once in civilian production, one could acquire
a set of tracks in three different ways. Cuthbert-
son would order a new Land Rover and convert
it for you; you could take your own Land Rover
to them as for example the J Arthur Rank
family did for their Scottish estate; or brave
souls were able to buy a kit consisting of the

REMINISCING ABOUT BOMB DISPOSAL CUTHBERTSONS

In the Spring 2011 issue of the Series
Cuthbertson with Mk6 Land Rover described as
2 Club journal Built to Last, contributor
‘Special vehicle for mine clearance 1963-4
‘Sandy’ recalled his job running the
Holbeach, Lincolnshire’ GEOFFREY POWELL
technical library for NATO and as well
as describing the bright red wings and
tub of the blue RAF bomb disposal
Mk6 Cuthbertsons and wrote of a
deployment. “…in about 1974, I was
involved with a tasking at Orford Ness
and we borrowed a Cuthbertson Land
Rover from the RAF team who were
working there, for a few hours to drive
across the shingle in order to destroy a
German World War Two 500kg SC bomb
that had been uncovered by the sea. I
had a short drive of the vehicle…”
The Rover Mk6 Cuthbertson conver-
sion had its limitations. Geoffrey Pow-
ell, ex 5131 Bomb Disposal Squadron
RAF 1960/63 and Cuthbertson driver
writes in 2012, on spotting a familiar
vehicle online: “Looking at your site I
came across Cuthbertson Land Rover
reg 76 AA 75. I have to tell you I was
the driver of this vehicle in 1962 and
we had a sister one but the number
escapes me. I drove it on Holbeach
bombing range in Lincolnshire and I
remember going on a special course
to get a track laying vehicle licence.
I am 72 now and was on 5131 Bomb
Disposal work. The problem with this
vehicle was it had a long draw bar at
the front so the tow rope cleared the
front tracks. We cut it off with Oxy.
We did this because as we went into
a deep dyke and tried to drive it out,
the tow bar fouled the opposite ditch
and as I accelerated it put pressure on
the half shafts and - you guessed it –
bang, the half shafts broke. Incidental-
ly, this vehicle replaced two worn out
Bren Gun carriers.”
(With thanks to Geoffrey Powell. First
published in Classic Land Rover maga-
zine October 2016)

36
RAF Bomb disposal Mk 6 SWB Cuthbertson
being inspected at a NATO exhibition
tracked bogies and sub-frame separately and
do their own conversion. James A Cuthbertson
Ltd were keen to emphasise in their advertising
that this was of ‘simple, robust construction
without any special transmission parts and the
articulated power assisted steering (would)
give reliability and ease of control’, to give ‘a
smooth ride over the roughest country’. They
also stressed that ‘the unit is easily re-convert-
ed to a normal wheeled Land Rover’.
The sub-frame is a substantial piece of
engineering onto which the Land Rover’s axles,
springs and wheel stations were fixed. With a
central adjustable strut to suit an 88in, an extra
section could be bolted on to fully extend it for
a 109in wheelbase. The Land Rover’s wheels
were replaced by sprockets, 47% of the size of
a standard Land Rover wheel, which reduced
the gearing by 53%. In turn, each of the sprock-
ets was attached to a bogie, onto which four
dumper truck wheels were fixed; the tyres for
The power-assisted steering (PAS) system is based on that of a tractor and the hoses and tractor-style
hydraulic ram are routed carefully around the Land Rover’s track rods
Cuthbertson power-steering reservoir is visible
though the pump is hidden behind a protective cover
carrying a National Army Museum label; note military
headlamp rims are present
This track conversion kit was numbered 05 and 1975
by Cuthbertson but the date of manufacture may have
been much earlier as tracks fitted to another Light-
which were as found on a motorcycle sidecar. weight were of the later three-wheel type
Each tyre was given a metal protector to pre-
vent the tracks from damaging the rubber tyre
walls. Later, a three-bogie wheel system was
introduced when the dumper trucks’ wheels
were no longer available. The three wheels were
the same size as those on an Austin Mini.
Operation seems cumbersome but users
report that thanks to the power steering, the
only real concern for the driver is that the tracks
extend unseen a good 12in beyond each wing,
meaning steering judgements require a good
deal of extra caution. The front bogies turn to-
gether in their entirety, controlled by heavy-duty
power steering. A hydraulic steering ram sits
below the front bumper and supplies the power
steering (PAS). Like many firms who looked
around when developing experimental conver- The beefy 24-volt distributor is clearly visible in the
sions, Cuthbertson adapted a Ford tractor item engine bay of the Series One
to fit, coming up with a solution that had the
PAS being driven by the front of the engine
The Land Rover’s rear suspension is visible behind
the sprocket and tracks which replace the Land
Rover’s standard wheel
37

RAF EOD Series III Lightweight Cuthbertson serial
number 54 AM 02 in action PHOTO COURTESY RAF
PHOTOGRAPHER MICK GLADWIN
crankshaft pulley.
With Land Rover’s four-wheel drive system
engaged, each track is powered and subject
to different motion and forces at each corner,
which eliminated the side-to-side scrubbing
of the rubber tracks which tends to occur
with conventional tracked vehicles. Sufficient
ground clearance was never a problem and
with ground pressure greatly reduced, the Cuth-
bertson could make light work of peat bogs and
marshes. However, it struggled with stepped
Cuthbertson tracks taking up the slack as the Series
II 109in emerges from Packington Lake, under test by
Land Rover
BOTTOM: Mk5 24-volt military Land Rover dash is
the same as a civilian Series One 88in but for the
multi-position military light switch and two separate
ammeters to the left of the instrument panel to mon-
itor the charge from each of the 12-volt batteries

‘The exceptional
or steep banks and lumpy obstacles because
it lacked sufficient articulation within each

ground clearance
tracked unit and the tracks tended to spin. Tank
tracks for example have a raised front ‘ramp’ to

is a huge
deal with this problem and a glance at modern
wheel replacement track systems shows how

advantage’
RAF EOD Series III Lightweight Cuthbertson serial
number 54 AM 02 showing four-wheel bogie tracks
but with just discernible joint in the main length-
ways strut beneath the Land Rover PHOTO COURTESY
RAF PHOTOGRAPHER MICK GLADWIN
The RAF EOD Series III Lightweight Cuthbertson sitting
on the same tracks (without a join in the main strut) are
now under the Series One at the REME museum, pictured
outside Martyn Russell’s Durham workshop c 1986
the technology has moved on.
Only one prototype Series One Land Rover
Cuthbertson conversion was ever produced,
despite contemporary civilian advertising liter-
ature that depicted a Series One with extended
wheel arches to protect the vehicle occupants
from mud spatters and a special 10cwt trailer
featured in advertising, ‘using the redundant
Land Rover wheels’.
Military involvement with James A Cuthbert-
son Ltd began in May 1962 and was confined
to the RAF, when it is stated that six MK 6 (Se-
ries II) Land Rovers, delivered to the RAF were
sent to the Biggar, Scotland, factory to be fitted
with the track conversion kits.
The converted Land Rover represented a
lighter, more manoeuvrable vehicle for bomb
disposal operations than heavier tracked
vehicles. These modifications were described
as Cuthbertson/Caterpillar Track (Code-1620-
2768).
Returning in September 1962, they went
into service in November with the Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams working at
the bombing ranges of Holbeach, Orford Ness
and other east coast locations and according
to remaining records, were allocated in pairs. reached the end of their service with their EOD
Serial numbers 76 AA 42 and 76 AA 72 went to units and four Lightweight Series III Half-Ton
RAF Bicester, which in 1967 became 71 Mainte- models replaced them.
nance Unit Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight While it is probable that the conversions were
and was tasked with the immense operation of carried out as early as August 1973, these
clearing disused slate quarries at Llanberis in vehicles didn’t actually enter service until 1975.
North Wales. Known vehicle serial numbers were 53 AM
Meanwhile, 76 AA 62 and 76 AA 75 were des- 84, 54 AM 02 and 54 AM 04 and to be on later
patched to RAF Leconfield near Yorkshire’s east three-wheel tracks.
coast. There remains no recorded destination At least one photograph exists of a Light-
for 76 AA 65 or 76 AA 70. weight on top of two-wheel bogie tracks. After
By 1975, the Series II Cuthbertsons had some months at RAF Leconfield and Bicester,

Early RAF EOD Series III Lightweight serial number

54 AM 04 on late three-wheel bogie Cuthbertson
tracks PHOTO KIND PERMISSION REME MUSEUM

38
 SPECIFICATIONS
Make Land Rover
Model Series One 88in 24-volt
Nationality UK
Year 1957
Used by UK Commonwealth
and ROW
Production Run 1956-1985
Engine Rover
Type Four-cylinder OHV
Fuel Petrol
Displacement 1997cc
Power 52bhp @ 4000rpm
Torque 101lbs/ft @ 1500rpm
Transmission Rover
Type Manual
Gears Four-speed
Transfer Box Two-speed
Suspension Leaf springs front
and rear
Brakes Discs front, drums rear
Wheels Steel disc

Dimensions(overall)
Length 140.5in
Width 62.6in
Wheelbase 88in
Weight 2740lb unladen

Modifications
Cuthbertson sub frame and tracks;
steel disc wheels replaced by
toothed driving wheels which in
turn drive steel-band reinforced,
rubber-belted tracks over twin
dumper truck wheeled bogies.
Power assisted steering using a
tractor-type ram was fitted and a
radiator overflow tank was added.
The combined height of the vehicle
stands at over eight feet

they moved to Wittering as part of the EOD
Squadron when the two units were assimilated
into the RAF Armament Support Unit (RAFASU-
PU). It is stated that the vehicles remained in
service until 1980 and that official approval for
the Lightweight conversions was never granted
by either Land Rover or the MVEE (Military Ve-
hicles and Engineering Establishment) but their
subsequent history remains unknown.
The Land Rover Series One Cuthbertson
conversion now residing at the REME Museum
at Lyneham was gifted to the collection in 2006
by the National Army Museum (NAM). In turn,
NAM has a record that they had acquired it
directly from the Royal Logistics Corps in 2000
rather than as a gift arriving externally.
At this time, the Cuthbertson was still located
within the Museum of Army Transport (MAT)
at Beverley, near RAF Leconfield. It would previ-
ously have been in the care of the Royal Corps
of Transport, which was disbanded in 1993 and
assimilated along with others to form the Royal
Logistics Corps.
Sadly the MAT was forced to close in 2005
and the collection dispersed, some exhibits to
other museums and others returned to their pri-
vate owners. Once with the REME museum at
Bordon in 2006, the Cuthbertson travelled with
the rest of the vehicle reserve collection to MoD
Lyneham for the museum’s re-opening in 2017.
It has long been believed among Land Rover
aficionados that the rare Series One 88in
24-volt Mk5 Land Rover did not originally sit
on the Cuthbertson tracks as you it see here,
especially as there was only one known Series
One Cuthbertson, a civilian 88in with reg-

THE REME MUSEUM RESERVE COLLECTION SUPERVISOR AND HIS CUTHBERTSON CONNECTION
A younger Roger Jones and Philip Bashall, pleased with their Cuthbertson find A vital resource of the REME mu-
seum has always been its reserve
collection and its supervisor from
the outset in 1982 has been Roger
Jones. At the time of its inception,
Roger was still serving as a REME
Staff Sgt. Once retired from the army
and working for the museum, Roger
continued to seek out and select
vehicles to add to the collection and
he can rightfully take sole credit
for acquiring the approximately 116
varied and fascinating vehicles there
today. In an exciting development
the museum is intending to make
the reserve collection available for
group visits by appointment in the
near future.
As well Foden trucks Roger has a par-
ticular fondness for Land Rovers and
also has a Cuthbertson connection.
Some years ago he and his friend
Philip Bashall, a name well-known in
Land Rover circles for the Dunsfold
Collection each independently found
NNH 297, a LWB Series II Cuthbert-
son at the same scrapyard and came
together to rescue it in the 1990s.
Following Phil’s expert attentions
the restoration was immaculate and
was sold to a private collection and
changed hands again fairly recently.

39
istration number MSR 760 which is currently
under restoration.
Rumours held that the REME exhibit was
constructed from a found Series One that just
happened to be ex-military and put on spare
track parts which were assembled specially as
a museum exhibit.
As we go to press and with grateful thanks to

THIS IMAGE: Accessing the cab involved climbing up

the tracks: the top of the cab is 8ft from the ground
BELOW: Now showing a little rust, flat metal rings
protect the rubber tyre walls of the dump truck
wheels from possible damage caused by the teeth
of the metal track struts

Standing over eight feet tall the

Cuthbertson appeared top heavy
but was relatively stable at slow
speeds on the soft ground for
which it was intended

the same contact in the Falkland Islands with
the Roadless, a fresh line of enquiry has re-
vealed that the tracks on the REME exhibit were
almost certainly originally those under one of
the Lightweights that went into service in 1975.
It appears that Martyn Russell, a Land Rover
collector based in the north east of England
with a particular interest in ex-military models,
acquired the RAF EOD Lightweight on its Cuth-
bertson tracks in the early 1980s. As the oth-
erwise unremarkable Lightweight was pristine,
with only 130 miles on the clock Martyn reck-
oned he could sell it for an excellent return and
set the Lightweight on fresh axles and wheels.
He sold it in 1986, to fund further additions to
his collection of rare military Land Rovers.
With the intention of recreating the Series One
Cuthbertson prototype, Martyn then attached
a Series One to the tracks, thus, in the words
of our Falklands contact, “saving a good Series
One from getting hacked about and trashed in
CCV trials.”
Given Martyn’s knowledge and expertise, there
seems little doubt that his choice of a rare
24-volt 88in was entirely deliberate. The vehicle,
with chassis number 111703066 came from
army contract number 6/Veh/24950, dated
December 18, 1956. This is the same batch
from which the SAS Mk5 Land Rovers were
drawn in 1957. How the Cuthbertson then
entered the MAT still remains a mystery but it is
known that Martyn moved to Canada and
continued his passion for Land Rovers before
his recent death.

A view from the inside With grateful thanks to...

of the track assembly; REME Museum: Major Rick Henderson, Staff Sgt
note the four slender Roger Jones, Jennifer Allison, Celia Cassingham
dumper truck wheels www.rememuseum.org.uk
that make up the enquiries@rememuseum.org.uk
bogie and the blocks 01249 894869
on the sub-frame
restraining the leaf- National Army Museum :
Robert Fleming
spring assembly
The Royal Logistics Corps:
Tony Abrahams
Lt Col Andy Teare
Nick Pitaluga
Clare Westbrook
Philip Bashall

Further reading:
British Military Land Rovers
James Taylor and Geoff Fletcher
Herridge and Sons 2015

The Half Ton Military Land Rover

Mark Cook
Veloce 2001

You can see period footage of Cuthbertsons in

action here:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/y7477wjn
https://preview.tinyurl.com/yckpynyh

40
 ABLE ENGINEERING
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41

041_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 30/04/2018 11:28:35

www.cmvmag.co.uk

42
 Centrespread 1943

75 years ago the capture of

the port of Tunis in May 1943
brought to an end the entire
North African Campaign of World
War Two. The Tunisian Campaign
of November 17, 1942 - May 13,
1943, was a series of battles
that took place in Tunisia within
the North African Campaign.
Over 230,000 German and Italian
troops were taken as prisoners of
war, including much of the Afrika
Korps. Here, in Tunis, a carrier
follows a soldier of the British
First Army, which captured the
city, as a resident shakes hands
with him

43
 Ginardening
words Tim Gosling pictures archive

Salonika
Thousands of troops were stationed in the city of Salonika during World War
One and they took to growing their own food to supplement their rations

Normally put to use towing heavy artillery

this Holt 75 is pulling out tree stumps while
rebuilding this road. The engineers appear to be
enjoying the spectacle

44
W
ithout the aid of the internet I am sure
most readers would be fairly hard
pressed to locate the city of Salonika
on a map. When the British soldiers began to
arrive there in 1915, looking out from the ships
across the bright blue water to see the famous
White Tower on the waterfront, the diverse mix
of historic Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman
buildings all overlooked by the ramparts of
the city, they must have thought that they had
arrived somewhere truly exotic.
These first impressions would not last very
long and soon the soldiers would settle down
into a life of drudgery, boredom and disease
mixed with outbreaks of sudden violence. The
number of allied troops stationed in Salonika
and the surrounding area would eventually
number 385,000 but it seems that when com-
pared to the Western Front their achievements
would be ignored back home and they would
best be remembered by the unfortunate nick-
name of The ‘Gardeners of Salonika’.
The city of Salonika (or Thessaloniki as it was
originally known) was founded in approximate-
ly 315BC on the north east coast of what is
now Greece. Over the following years Salonika
45
seems to have fallen under the control of one
nation after another giving it a range of different
architecture and a variety of ethnic minorities.
In 1913 following the second Balkan war the
city of Salonika was ceded from Bulgaria to
Greece. Athens, the capital of Greece, is approx-
imately 300 miles to the south while Bulgaria
is just 70 miles to the north. It is this proximity
to Bulgaria which would bring Allied troops to
Salonika in such large numbers.
In 1914 the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princep
assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria, an act which would ultimately start

Photographed in Salonika a Holt 75 is transporting
the barrel for a large artillery piece on which a
group of sailors are taking a ride
‘The British and
French decided to
land troops into
Salonika’
Well sheeted-over Peerless trucks are in the front
row ready for disposal. The truck on the right has
OK painted on the scuttle
Being unloaded off the deck of a ship is an Albion
A10. The cab and front mudguards have been
removed to prevent damage while being transported
One French driver was a little slow in moving his car
as the flames spread throughout the city and his car
suffered accordingly
World War One. Bulgaria, still in turmoil from
the second Balkan war at first declared its
neutrality but with the offer from the Germans
of the return of lost territory they declared
for the central powers on September 6, 1915
and promptly advanced into Serbia. Greece
declared its neutrality but it was apparent that
they were leaning to side with Germany.
In order to apply pressure onto Greece and
take the pressure off their ally Serbia, the British
and French decided to land troops into Salonika
and advance northwards towards Bulgaria
and Serbia. Salonika had been selected as the
landing point due to its large deep water har-
bour which would enable the landing of large
quantities of troops and equipment.
The British advance party comprising seven
officers landed on September 30,1915 and
proceeded to book rooms in hotels, selected
a base for a supply depot three miles outside
of town and started purchasing supplies. The
Greeks were found to be uncooperative and in
the habit of confiscating the supplies that had
been bought or restricting the purchase of cer-
tain materials. A prohibition on buying fuel from
the local warehouse of Standard Oil resulted
in British troops climbing over the wall at night
and passing over fuel cans under the noses of
the Greeks guarding the premises.
Following the advance party would come
eight British infantry Divisions including 47
companies of mechanical transport (each
of which operated approximately 50 trucks) which were equipped with Model T Ford vans
and 68 companies of horse transport which and three-ton Albion trucks were assigned to
were a mixture of horse-drawn wagons and assist in transporting supplies for the Serbian
pack mules. There were also six motor- army which was sorely pressed by the advanc-
ised ambulance companies, one battery of ing Bulgarians. Working in the most dreadful
motorised anti-aircraft guns, two mechanical blizzard conditions three trucks got lost for
transport heavy repair workshops and one for 10 days when cut off by the Bulgarians before
anti-aircraft guns. The lorries were predomi- managing to escape across the border to the
nantly manufactured by Albion, Peerless and Greek town of Florina.
Thornycroft, but there were also examples Following defeat at the battle of Kosovo in
built by Karrier, Napier, Daimler, Packard, LGOC October 1915 the Serbian army retreated to the
and FWD as well as the ubiquitous Model T Adriatic coast where they were evacuated by Al-
Ford. For hauling the heavy guns at least 13 lied ships and transported to the island of Corfu
Holt 75 gun tractors were put ashore although to reform. The remaining British transportation
the unloading of such a monstrous machine at which had been assigned to assist them was
a port with no heavy cranes must have proved evacuated back into Greece without loss.
to be an interesting exercise. A few weeks later the British and French
Nine of the mechanical transport companies forces which had marched into Bulgaria were
Equipped with LGOC
B Type buses which
have been fitted with
a general service-type
body. 244 Company was
a divisional supply
company for 29 Division
46

driven back by Bulgarian counter attacks and
by December 12, 1915 the British and French
were back over the border in Greece. Trench
warfare, so familiar to the Western Front, would
now exist for the next three years and troops
would be more concerned with improving their
living conditions.
Soldiers spent available spare time cultivating
food to supplement their rations. One company
of the Army Service Corps, with the assistance
of POWs and agricultural equipment, set to
growing hay for the army’s horses as well as
fruit and vegetables for the men.
North of Salonika the terrain becomes very
hilly and the roads eventually become impass-
able for motor vehicles. The main road for the
Struma front was 50 miles in length but only
the first 35 miles to the town of Lahana were
One of the most numerous British trucks in
Salonika was the Albion A10, photographed
here with five British soldiers and a very
happy looking Serbian
passable by truck. Bringing in road making and
quarry equipment from Britain, the road was
rebuilt all the way enabling it to carry 2,000
trucks loaded with vital supplies every day. But
maintaining such a heavily-used road required
constant effort.
Due to an influx of refugees and displaced
persons, the population of Salonika had already
increased to in excess of 250,000 even before
adding in the arrival of foreign troops. It was
this exceptionally overcrowded environment
which created the disaster which befell the city.
On August 18, 1917 a fire broke out in a build-
ing occupied by refugees. Wooden buildings,
inadequate fire-fighting equipment and a strong
wind caused the fire to quickly spread while
refugees began to flee the city.
All available British trucks were taken into
A massive plume of smoke extends over Salonika
as the city burns. British army lorries were used to
help evacuate the citizens and their possessions
47
SPECIFICATIONS
Make Albion
Model A10
Nationality United Kingdom
Year 1915
Used by Great Britain
Production Run 1910-1926
Engine Four cylinder
Type In-line
Fuel Petrol
Displacement 5,210cc
Power 32.4bhp
Transmission Chain drive
Type Manual
Gears Four-speed and one
reverse
Suspension Leaf springs
Brakes Drums rear
Wheels Metal spoke
Tyres 720 X 120 mm front.
880 X 120 on rear
Crew/seats 3
Dimensions(overall)
Length 216in
Width 96in
Wheelbase 157in
the city to help evacuate the population and
their possessions. To control the spread of the
fire British and French troops started blowing
up buildings, while ships sprayed water from
hoses on to the dockside.
Already on the docks was a recently arrived
Dennis N Type fire engine which was joined by
a second one held at the mechanical transport
depot at Kalamaria. These two fire engines
with their scratch Army Service Corps crews
pumped water out of the harbour and on to the
fire continuously, one for 10 days the other for
17. Their actions saved the docks but by the
time the fire was out a square mile of the town
had been destroyed and 80,000 people left
homeless.
In September 1918 a joint offensive by British,
French, Serbian, Italian and Greek forces broke
through the Bulgarian front line in Macedonia
forcing the Bulgarians to retreat and eventually
sue for peace. An armistice was signed on Sep-
tember 29 and the Bulgarian armies withdrew,
surrendering their heavy weapons, and were
demobilised.
British forces now concentrated on bringing
pressure onto the Ottoman Empire who would
sign an armistice on October 30. British troops
occupied Constantinople shortly afterwards
and took control of the well-equipped German
workshops located in the railway station as
well as 20 German trucks which were being
used by the Turks. Under the armistice terms
the Germans had to withdraw from Turkey
leaving behind much of their motor transport.
To prevent vehicles falling into British hands
the Germans had sold off a number of cars to
wealthy private individuals but many of these
were subsequently tracked down and requisi-
tioned by the British.
As the British forces withdrew from Salonika
all mechanical transport was consolidated
 Sitting on the dock
are the two Dennis N Type fire engines which were
used to help bring the fire under control

at a depot just outside the city. On November Attacks from German aircraft were not uncom-
16, 1918 a census recorded that there were mon so the British deployed anti-aircraft guns
2,320 lorries (including 90 workshop and including some 13pdrs mounted onto five-ton
104 stores lorries), 400 cars, 1,393 vans, 338 Packard truck chassis
ambulances, 663 motorcycles and 13 Holt gun
tractors in Salonica.
With troops now being transported back home
and an enormous surplus of transportation
back in Britain it was uncertain what to do
with these vehicles. Some were sold off to the
Romanian government while the remainder
just sat outside. Eventually everything that was
left was sold to a British businessman who
disposed of them locally by April 1920.
Although the chance of this happening does
seem to be very unlikely I do harbour the hope
that maybe an un-restored War Department
lorry from World War One might one day turn
up in a Romanian barn.

The war is over and all surplus vehicles have been lined up at the Kalamaria mechanical transport depot
outside the city ready for disposal

‘A prohibition on buying fuel from the

local warehouse of Standard Oil Additional Notes

resulted in British troops climbing over

The British War Department bought 5,563 exam-
ples of the Albion A10, one of which survives in a
remarkable un-restored condition within the Rahmi

the wall at night’ Koc Industrial Museum at Istanbul

48
 49

049_CMV_JUN18_ad.indd 1 02/05/2018 10:09:21

T
he Coquet Safari has become well known
nationally as one of the most exciting
and enjoyable events on the military
vehicle calendar. This popularity has become
something of a double-edged sword - but more
of that later.
The weather always dictates the scale and
scope of the event and the weeks leading up to
March 24-25 were far from benign dictatorship.
Arctic temperatures and heavy snowfall lashed
the county as the Beast from the East took out its
spite on the Coquet and Rede valleys.
There was a distinct possibility that the event
would not go ahead but better weather made
a brief appearance in the preceding week and
it was decided to continue regardless. It was
clear that off-road opportunities would be few
and far between and the previous year’s forays
over the Cheviots to the Scotland-England
Border were off the itinerary.
The weather and ground conditions fell
between two stools as the rap-
id snow melt had
The final line-up on
Wholehope Knowe
‘Most had elected to remove canvases
to take full advantage of the spring sunshine’
turned the fields and moors into treacherous
muddy bogs which would hardly stand foot traffic
never mind churning Jeeps, and the damage
to farmers’ land would have been completely
unacceptable.
None of this seemed to weigh heavily on the
minds of those who came from far and wide
to the bar of the Queens Head in Rothbury
to catch up with old friends, swap tales of
previous derring-do and to partake of one or
two ales.
The correct amount and quality of lubrication
is essential to a successful military vehicle event
and this requirement seems to have transferred
itself effortlessly from Jeeps, Champs, Land
Rovers and the occasional Kubelwagen to their
drivers and passengers!
Whichever gods are
responsible
50
for the Coquet weekend, the
promised sacrifices must have worked as Sat-
urday dawned bright and cool prompting one
wag to suggest that winter was finally over and
it was only the 74th of January!
The first part of the day was a climb through
the forestry to the now traditional coffee stop
below the summit of Simonside. The panoram-
ic views away to the north showed the Cheviot
Hills in clear relief, their flanks still snow-
streaked with the shadows of cloud darkening
parts of the valley below as they blew through
on a stiff westerly breeze.
Emerging from the
 words Duncan Glen pictures Duncan Glen and Ian Clegg

Coquet Safari 2018

The Swansong?
The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to call it a day

LEFT (FROM FAR LEFT):

Windswept spring skies
in the Northumbrian
hills; Matthew Hallett’s
Kubelwagen practising
for the Eastern Front;
The Chew Green road
had been cleared of
snow the previous day;
Solitude - CanAm
Bombardier for outrider

51
 ‘During the grip of winter,
various mechanical contraptions
had emerged from farmers’ sheds
to get feed to the livestock’

forestry, the convoy was very much in the spirit

John Spowart on pole position for the Harwood Forest Grand Prix
of the event; most had elected to remove can-
vases to take full advantage of the spring sun-
shine although others stayed covered up, their
only concession being the removal of doors.
After a brief toilet stop at the green latrines
courtesy of the MoD on Otterburn Ranges, we
pulled up to line abreast on a well-hidden gun
spur for lunch and entertainment courtesy of
the Royal Artillery.
The range liaison officer at Otterburn has been
very supportive of this event in recent years and
had directed us to a prime (and safe) viewing
point from where we could witness a T/A Royal
Artillery battery carrying out direct fire exercises
from a hidden firing point to our east.
As we arrived, small grass fires on the oppo-
site hillside showed the morning activity and
no sooner had the first bites sunk into doorstop
sandwiches then the gunners let fly.
For the next half an hour or so, we were treated
to the sights and sounds of 105mm guns pound-
ing away at distant tank hulks. Clods of peat
arced skywards, smoke billowed, lit occasionally
from within by the bright flash of a direct hit.
When the gunners took a break, the convoy
moved off and wound its way across the roads
and tracks of the training area and into the
upper Coquet valley that had only been finally
fully cleared of snow the previous day.
There were some excellent photo opportu-
nities as the convoy climbed the road over
Chew Green with banks of snow on either side
and from this point, the day took on a distinct
‘chilled-out’ feel.
During the grip of winter, various mechanical
contraptions had emerged from farmers’ sheds
to get feed to the livestock. The Snow-Cat
at Blindburn Farm generated a great deal of
interest and much discussion about its military

FAR RIGHT: Most participants spent the weekend driving with a broad smile
BELOW: The rear view at lunchtime. Sound effects courtesy of the Royal Artillery

52
 LEFT (FROM FAR LEFT): The
Blindburn Farm Snow-
Cat. A godsend to starv-
ing sheep; Cresting the
rise on Simonside; The
road through the woods
from the centre of the
convoy; At the edge of
Harwood Forest en route
to the first coffee stop
of the day

provenance (or the lack of it).

As the sun was beginning to sink below the Running repairs in upper
Coquetdale
yardarm, we took a reasonably direct route
back to Rothbury from the top of the valley. No
doubt minds were turning towards hot show-
ers, some dinner and more of that traditional
lubrication and good company.
Sunday also dawned bright and clear and any
early cobwebs were cleared with a run along-
side Debdon Lake and up on to the moorland
just to the north of the village. The route follows
the carriage drive laid out by Lord Armstrong on
his Cragside estate and passes by a well-pre-
served set of World War One practice trenches.
A brief stop was made here to walk the short
distance to where, just over one hundred years
ago, Northumberland Fusiliers practiced the
skills that they would need on the Western Front.
Remembrance has always been a cornerstone
of many military vehicle events and this was a
fitting opportunity to think back.
As the surface of the ground was beginning
to dry, we were able to make the descent down
a large sloping field past the gouges and ruts
made just days earlier by the farmer’s tractor
and out on to the road at Thropton.
The gunners had obviously finished their views stretching from the North Sea to the Lake Ian McCormack summed these feelings up
weekend exercise the previous day and as the District hills far in the distance. perfectly in a subsequent email.
red flags were not flying, we were able to make At the final debrief, Denny Thompson, who “Whatever the future of the safari may or may
a foray up to the edge of the impact area for is rightly considered the father of the Coquet not be, we count ourselves extremely lucky to
another extended coffee stop with marvellous Safari, made the announcement that the event have been able to experience it. I use the word
scenery. The relaxed atmosphere of the previ- would not be continuing in its present form. ‘experience’ deliberately as it isn’t just an event
ous day was clearly contagious. There are a host of reasons for this which aren’t to attend, it’s something to immerse yourself
The final action of the weekend, and a fitting really appropriate for this article but the sheer into which is impossible to convey adequately
conclusion to the event, was the long climb enjoyment etched on the faces of the participants to anyone who hasn’t been there. I don’t think
from Shillmoor over Copper Snout. The track had seriously dented the decision to pack it in. we stopped smiling all weekend and will treas-
winds up from the farm and runs along the The subsequent mini-deluge of positive ure the memories for a long time.”
ridge with steep drops into shadow-filled messages has forced a rethink and the event Much more discussion will be required over
valleys on either side ending up with a final line- is likely to continue in some form but probably the coming months but it is time to finish one
up on the top of Wholehope with panoramic with a reduction in scope and numbers. chapter and to start writing another.

53
 FORGOTTEN ARCHIVES 1 BOOK
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A few things remain
to do to the S1; the water
pump and brake master cylinder
and a few electrical gremlins

‘The upper armoured structure

is all welded and is made from 6mm thick
Australian bulletproof plate-3’

56
 words and pictures Jason Belgrave

Jason Belgrave, assistant manager of the

Australian Armour and Artillery Museum,
reports on the restoration of a very rare
Scout Car S1

Two of a Kind
I
n 1942, the United States Army AirForce in Australia issued a requirement for
a light armoured car to be used for patrolling duties and airfield defence. The
requirement resulted in a vehicle designated Scout Car S1 (American); the term
was given as it was operated only by the US. There is very little known of this vehi-
cle’s service history, few contemporary photos are known to exist and with only two
known survivors - it is very rare indeed.
Only 45 vehicles were made and all were produced by Ford Australia. Five were be-
lieved to be built at the Newport Railway Workshops in Melbourne to ensure correct
fitment of the armoured body to the chassis.
Based on a Ford C291W F15 4x2 chassis and weighing in at four tonnes, it was
pushed along by a naturally-aspirated Ford 1942 side valve 239-ci V8 crank-

57
 ‘The S1 was in a pretty poor condition when it arrived
in mid to late 2017’
ing out 95bhp.This was coupled with a Ford
heavy-duty crash-type gearbox with four-speed
forward, one reverse gears with a diff ratio
of 6.66 to 1 and a power to weight ratio of
23.75bhp/tonne.
The S1 is an open-topped armoured hull and
was similar in design to that of the American
built M3 Scout Car, with similar components
above the driveline. Being built in Australia they
were right-hand drive, which would have no
doubt initially confused the Americans and was
perhaps a design oversight. The S1 remained
in Australia for defence duties from August
1942 until September 1944 and did not see any
combat.
The upper armoured structure is all weld-
ed and is made from 6mm thick Australian
bulletproof plate-3 (A.B.P-3). A.B.P-3 was also
used on the LP2 Bren gun carriers and Dingo
armoured cars built by Ford and the Newport
Railways.
The armament consisted of one .50in M2HB
heavy machine gun and two .30in M1917A1
machine guns on a skate rail similar to the M3
Scout Car, with the tripods for each gun carried
on the rear of the vehicle so that they could The left-hand side of the Scout Car after priming
also be utilised in a dismounted role.

The strap mounts fitted for the mounting of the three tripods designed to hold he
The grille has now been replaced to original specifications and condition .50 and .30 cal machine guns when in use off the vehicle

58
ABOVE (FROM THE FAR LEFT): The S1 arrived in a pretty poor state of repair - it had had some significant modifications since it was in service; After much remanufacturing
and hours of preparation work, the S1 Armoured car is now almost ready for a sand blasting; Restorers Allan Aumuller (L) and Lewis Kruyer (R) with the final product
ready for sandblasting
The S1 was operated by a crew of five: the
driver, the commander and three gunners seat-
ed in the rear. There was a front weapon mount
for the commander that housed one Thompson
SMG. The amount of ammunition carried could
be varied depending on the mission tasking.
Internal volume of the storage boxes and floor
space, including under the rear seats within the
S1, can carry a substantial amount of .30cal
and .50cal ammunition.
This vehicle was bought from the Sid Beck
collection about 60km out of Cairns. The S1
was in a pretty poor condition when it arrived in
mid to late 2017. The vehicle sides were cut off
and the doors removed, most likely having been
adapted for use as farm equipment after World
War Two. This project, as with all projects
undertaken at the museum, is funded by the
owner Rob Lowden.
The objective is to have the vehicle back to
running condition by mid-2018 but at the time
of going to press, the water pump is causing
problems and a new one is on order awaiting
delivery and installation. This may or may
ABOVE: Interior after priming - it is all beginning to take
shape now and the end feels more achieveable
BELOW: With all the fitments being installed after its paint
job, this shows the interior view of the Ford V8 engine fitted
59
not resolve issues and allow it to run, but at
this stage it is a process of elimination and the
team will persist until they have the old engine
working again.
Taking charge of the build is semi-retired Allan
Aumuller, who was assisted early on by Lewis
Kruyer from the UK’s AXIS Track Services, in
Australia on an exchange workshop pro-
gramme. Allan has a wealth of experience and
vast knowledge of old engines and has rebuilt a
few bikes and cars along the way himself.
Fabrication of the sides, doors and front
nose of the vehicle began in the very early
stages. The engine was removed and given
the once-over; it was in surprisingly good
condition, only having 3,598 miles on the
clock. The radiator had to be replaced and
the starter motor and coil were not in the
best of condition. Due to their age, they all
had signs of deterioration. The interior also
needed a bit of work, seats needed to be
repaired or fabricated for both front and
ABOVE: As an open topped armoured vehicle, there wasn’t
a lot of protection for the crew from above
BELOW: The dash surround had to be fabricated, but
the gauges are still original and haven’t been touched
‘Being built in Australia
they were right-hand drive,
which would have no doubt
initially confused the
Americans’
60
 SPECIFICATIONS
Make Ford Australia
Model Scout Car S1
Year 1942
Production Run 45
Engine Ford 3.9-litre V8 engine
rated at 95bhp
Power 23.7bhp/tonne
Suspension 4x2, leaf spring;
(one example built in 4x4
configuration)
Crew/seats Five
Armament 2x .30 cal Brown-
ing M1917A1 machine guns
1x .50 cal
Armour 6mm (A.B.P #3)

Dimensions(overall)
Length 4.40m (14ft 5in)
Width 1.90m (6ft 3in)
ABOVE: The upper armoured structure is all welded and is made from 6mm thick Australian bulletproof plate-3 (A.B.P-3) Height 1.80m (5ft 11in)
LEFT: At the time of going to press the S1 restoration was about 90% completed Weight Four tonne
FAR LEFT: The two-piece doors had to be re-fabricated; this was done in the workshop by Allan, including the locking mechanisms

The 95bhp Ford V8 engine is fitted. It

is the original engine which proved to
be in not too bad condition

a
ve,
bt

61

The re-fabricated sides and rear plate have been
welded back into place. These were remanufactured
in the museum’s workshops by Allan Aumuller
The new doors fitted. The doors are similar to the
American M3 Scout car which proved useful in
showing how things should work
The right-hand side of the Scout Car after receiving
a coat of primer
Becoming more recognisable: though the original
headlights have yet to be fitted
The engine has been refitted and the
body is getting its top coat applied
‘Underneath, on the running gear, the
brakes had a complete overhaul’
rear, along with the ammunition and tool
boxes and fuel cell.
The dash surround had to be fabricated, but
the gauges are still original and haven’t been
touched.
The two-piece doors had to be re-fabricat-
ed; this was done in the workshop by Allan,
including the locking mechanisms, but being
similar in design to the M3 Scout car (of
which there is an example in the museum), it
was a good reference when constructing the
split-fold doors and other internal compo-
nents. The museum was lucky enough to
have an external contact who provided us
with additional high resolution photos of the
inside of the vehicle which help immensely
with the interior.
Underneath, on the running gear, the brakes
had a complete overhaul with new brake lines
and the master cylinder being reconditioned. The S1 shows significant progress on its return from
The brake pads appear to be the original ones sandblasting and being primed
fitted with only minimal wear. New old stock
(NOS) tyres and rims were sourced from anoth-
er military buff, Martin Ryan who has a number
of soft-skin military vehicles just outside of
Cairns.
The drive shaft was also given some new bits
and pieces to ensure it was safe as there was a
bit of movement in the universal joints.
The S1 will be the second remaining S1 in
Australia in running condition and will sit
alongside other Australian-made armoured
cars including LP4, and Dingo. The museum
very much looks forward to showcasing their
newly restored S1 Scout Car at forthcoming The seat mounts, fuel tank and stowage boxes fitted
events. into place
The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum
2 Skyrail Drive, Smithfield, Queensland 4878
Phone: (07)4038 1665
Web: ausarmour.com
Facebook: The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum.
Opening hours: 9.30am-4.30pm daily; closed New Year’s day, Good Friday, Christmas and
Boxing Day.
Entry: (Aus) $25 Adult, $15 Children (5-16 years), Seniors $18
62
 David Yamulla
Military Vehicle Restoration Parts

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 words and pictures John Carroll

Jeep
Only the right hand drive configuration really
gives this Jeep away as a Mahindra CJ340 IAN CLEGG

On The Cheap
Alchemy was the medieval forerunner of chemistry,
largely concerned with converting metals into gold. John Carroll
considers the alchemic options for creating cheap Jeeps

I
t’s fair to say that since the military vehicle
scene developed in the 1970s it has evolved
considerably. It’s also fair to say that, despite
the four decades of evolution, the popularity of
the Jeep is undiminished. This is very much a
mixed blessing for those seeking to buy what
some still as the ‘entry level’ military vehicle. It’s
found on farms and behind country garages
‘All the NEKAF that were the survivors from the thousands of
vehicles sold off in war surplus auctions. Later,
Jeeps were built the pool of wartime Jeeps was swelled by
vehicles imported from Greece and France as
with the Willys well as numerous batches of French Hotchkiss
M201 variants as they were disposed of by the

F-head Hurricane
also understandable as a Willys Jeep will fit in a French military. Currently, Willys MB and Ford
domestic garage making it a practical proposi- GPWs are being imported in small numbers

engine’
tion for many to own with the added cachet of from the USA and sold online.
its film star looks and starring roles. These American imports give a good indica-
Initially, military vehicle enthusiasts bought tion of two aspects of the current market for
and refurbished the vehicles that could be Jeeps. Firstly, many of them are very definitely

66
‘projects’ in need of considerable restoration
work to put right the ravages of time and previ-
ous owners’ modifications.
Secondly, and regardless of condition, the
price of these projects starts around £5,500
and that is the crux of the matter. Those of us
who remember Willys Jeeps advertised for sale
in roadworthy condition for less than £1,000
will consider, regardless of inflation, a project
in need of substantial work for five times that
price to be expensive. In financial terms, it’s
also a long way from the cost of acquisition of
a project to a fully-restored vehicle.
This, of course, explains why prices for
restored Jeeps start around £15,000. In reality,
regardless of any perception, the days of Jeeps
being entry-level military vehicles have gone.
Such is the Jeep’s desirability, price, or even a
shortage of time to complete such a project,
doesn’t, of course, stop people aspiring to own
a military Jeep. For these reasons, many peo-
ple seek budget alternatives and there are more
options than might be imagined.

Hotchkiss M201
In a quirk of fate, Hotchkiss-Delahaye became
the only company to licence-build versions of
the original Willys MB. The French Directorate
of Armament Design and Manufacture com-
missioned licence-built versions of the proven
Willys MBs from Hotchkiss-Delahaye. The first
contract for 465 vehicles was placed in 1955
and production began in the same year and ran
until 1966.
The vehicles’ constituent components were
made in France but the vehicles were almost
identical to the US-made ones and spares
were interchangeable. Through the subse-
quent contracts there were detail improve-
ments made to what became officially known
as the Voiture de Liaison Tout Terrain (VLTT)
Hotchkiss M201: one was the use of a 24-volt
electrical system in place of the six-volt one
to facilitate the use of military radios. The
type of road wheels fitted was different to the
US. Split, combat rims and a waterproofed
ignition system were fitted, different wind-
screen wipers were used and the chassis was
of a heavier gauge steel among other minor
differences.
Around 28,000 Hotchkiss M201s were manu-
factured and the vast majority were the stand-
ard M201 Jeep although a number
of special weapons mount vehi-
cles were supplied. The French
Army was still disposing of its
stocks of M201s during the late
nineties and many found their
way into enthusi-
asts’ ownership
with a number
painted to
resemble US
Jeeps.
* The
most
immediately
obvious
difference be-
tween post-war
Hotchkiss M201s and wartime MB/
GPWs is the type of steel wheel fitted
* Prices asked for Hotchkiss M201s are not far
behind those asked for Willys MB and Ford GPWs
ABOVE & TOP: A LWB Mahindra CJ540 given a military makeover with Hotchkiss wings, steel Hotchkiss wheels,
Viasa windscreen and numerous pattern MB parts BELOW: The Classic 1944 Willys
CJ-2A/CJ-3A
As World War Two drew to a close, Wil-
lys-Overland of Toledo, Ohio, believed it was
onto a good thing with the Jeep. It had become
apparent that many of the new military vehi-
cles, especially the Jeep, would be invaluable
to farmers, foresters and ranchers
after the war. The last military
Jeep of World War Two rolled off
the Toledo, Ohio, assembly
line on August 20,
1945, Ford’s
contract had
ended weeks
earlier on July
31, but, as early
as 1942, Jeeps
had been
experiment-
ed with to
assess their
suitability for use
as farm vehicles.
It was the CJ-2A that would become
the first mass-produced civilian model,
initially heavily marketed as being suitable for
agricultural purposes. The production CJ-2A
was introduced in mid-July 1945, approxi-
mately one month before the cessation of
military Jeep production, and featured a similar
four-cylinder, L-head Go-Devil engine and 80in
wheelbase as the MB but included the revised
transmission that had been tested during the
CJ’s development phase.
The engine, fitted with a timing chain and a
different Carter carburettor, was slightly up-
graded from that used in the wartime MB. The
three-speed T-90 transmission was considered
an improvement over the weaker T-84 unit,
although the Spicer Model 18 transfer box was
retained. CJ-2As had an MB-type full float-
ing rear axle albeit with different differential
ratios. The steering arrangement was slightly
different. Early CJ-2A bodies showed their MB
origins with the axe and shovel indents on the
driver’s side of the body and MB-type sidelights
with civilian front lenses.
More obvious changes included the provision
of a column-mounted gearshift and a bot-
tom-hinged tailgate to facilitate easier loading
of the Jeep and associated necessary reloca-
tion of the spare wheel to the vehicle’s side.
There were also detail improvements including
larger diameter headlights, made possible by
reducing the number of apertures pressed in
the grille from nine to seven. The fuel filler

67

cap was relocated from under the driver’s seat
to the vehicle’s side and the manufacturer’s
name was pressed into several of the panels
including the bottom of the windscreen and the
sides of the bonnet.
Through the production run of the CJ-2A there
were numerous sequential changes made,
initially as stockpiles of MB parts were used
up. An example was the change of front axle
from the MB-style fully-floating Dana Spicer
25 to a stronger semi-floating Dana Spicer
unit. Changes subsequently followed as they
were required From mid-1946 on a full length
exhaust pipe was fitted. The solid disc wheels
were changed to a slotted dropped centre type
and the column mounted shifter was dropped.
The fully-floating rear axle was dropped and a
stronger Dana Spicer Model 41 item was used.
Late in the production run of the CJ-2A ,Willys
Overland began to press its own steel bodies
shifting away from American Central Manu-
facturing, the company that had made Jeep
bodies since the start of the ‘composite’ body
production in early 1944. More than 210,000
CJ-2As were made and some exported CJ-2As
were used in post-war military roles.
The end of the CJ-2A production run over-
lapped with that of the second of the CJs, the
CJ-3A. This Jeep went into mass production in
Steel 15in CJ wheels and Dualmatic
freewheeling hubs hint at civilian origins IAN CLEGG
ABOVE: This rusty Mahindra CJ340/CJ-3B made just
£300 on eBay so is a cheap start to any project
BELOW: Secondhand Hotchkiss wheels and MB grille
being painted for the project
1948 and was built until 1953. The most obvi-
ous difference between the CJ-2A and CJ-3A is
the latter’s one piece windshield with a vent at
the bottom. There were other subtle changes
too, the rear wheelarches were adjusted to
give more leg and knee room for the driver and
passenger. The transmission was upgraded
through the fitment of a stronger rear axle, the
Spicer 44-2 unit, and a heavier duty clutch. CJ
production continued apace and in the end
more than 138,000 were made by 1953.
*Project CJ-2A/CJ-3As are plentiful and start
at lower prices than MB/GPWs so are a favour-
ite to paint olive drab as ersatz World War Two
military vehicles.
*At a glance giveaways for these ‘MB-2As’
are the tailgate, side fuel fillers, Willys pressing
68
on bonnet sides and windscreen, steering rods
and the seven-slot radiator grille although the
latter can be easily changed.
Jago Jeep/Geep
Geoff Jago was the man behind the fibreglass
Jago Jeep from 1971 onwards. He took a
mould directly from an original Willys Jeep and
used mechanicals from the readily available
Morris Minor and Ford Anglia on a very basic
ladder-frame chassis. The kit cars soon went
wholly down the Ford route and moved on to
Escorts. Continuing developments with chang-
ing donor car specifications and a cheap entry
level price for the kits saw the Jago Jeep sell in
large numbers over the years. It was a relatively
easy kit to build because of its basic nature
which meant many were seen on the roads.
Later the Jago Jeep became the Jago Geep
following legal issues with the Jeep trademark
and production ended during the mid-1990s.
The earlier models look more like the real deal
as later ones had different shaped bonnets,
wings and grilles that varied in detail.
In recent years several olive drab Jago Jeeps
have appeared at military vehicle events and
appeal to some as a budget way into the scene.
*While some Jago Jeeps pass the ‘at a glance’
test, giveaways can be small diameter wheels,
four-stud wheel hubs and a lack of four-wheel
drive and high/low levers
M38A1
When many people say they are keen to get
a cheap Jeep, they mean a cheap World War
Two-era Jeep. However the post-war M38A1
is well worth considering because it is a solid,
reliable Jeep with a bona fide military history
that includes use in Vietnam. Following the
US Army’s dissatisfaction with its MC/M38
models and, in particular, their performance,
Willys sought to provide a better Jeep. Devel-
opment of the new military Jeep had started
in 1951 and production of the result - the 81in
wheelbase MD/M38A1 that used the F-head
Hurricane engine from the CJ-3B - commenced
in April 1952. Military contracts ordered the
production of approximately 82,000 M38A1s
and production ran until 1957.
M38A1s are plentiful in Europe because of
the licence-built NEKAF. The Nederlandse
Kaiser-Frazer Fabrieken Ltd (NEKAF) factory
in Rotterdam started by assembling the Willys
Universal Jeep CJ-3B for sale in the Nether-
lands but is noted for producing a version of
the M38A1 military Jeep for the Royal Dutch
Army from 1955 until the late 1970s. The US
State Department agreed, in 1954, to approve
assembly of the M38A1 in the Netherlands, and
that enabled the Dutch Army to order it without
any further delays.
A contract for 4,000 M38A1 Jeeps for the Roy-
al Dutch Army was signed on January 21, 1955
and the first of, what became known as, Nekaf
Jeeps was delivered on May 28, 1955.
The contract stated that parts for the Dutch
M38A1 Jeeps were to come from the US, but
to aid the Dutch economy, the Jeeps would
be assembled at the factory in Rotterdam.
Later, up to 25% of the parts would be sup-
plied by local companies: batteries and tyres,
for example, were supplied by Dutch firms
Bataafse Accufabriek (now Varta), and
 A cheap Jeep? £900 bought this M38A1 project

A Jago Jeep - you have to look twice!

‘Gradually the
Mahindra company
shifted from
assembling
ABOVE: Mahindra CJ540 seen at War and Peace in 2017 CKD Jeeps to
licence-building
BELOW: Daihatsu PCD wheels match those on Jeeps

Jeeps’

The same Mahindra as top left, having its rolling

chassis converted to LHD and being rebodied with
someone else’s cast off composite MB body found on
eBay for £150

69

ABOVE: Hotchkiss M201 painted as a US Army Jeep
Vredestein respectively.
The Nekaf Jeep was essentially an M38A1
with minor additions made to make them
comply with Dutch traffic regulations of the
time. This included extra reflectors on the front
fenders, ‘city lights’ fitted on the grille and turn
signals mounted to the left and right sides of
the tub just behind the seats. The NEKAF was
equipped with a canvas roof. Kaiser-Frazer
gained subsequent contracts for 4,000, 1,520
and 154 M38A1 Jeeps and, at start of produc-
tion, NEKAF delivered about
‘The French Army was still
55 Jeeps per week. Deliver-
ies had dropped by almost
disposing of its stocks of M201s
half by 1957 and production
ceased in 1959 when the
during the late nineties’
factory was unable to deliver
within the conditions of the
contract.
The Dordrecht-based firm of Kemper and Van
Twist Diesel took over production from 1959 to
1963, with consecutive contracts for 834 and
1,403 M38A1 Jeeps. Regardless of the change
of manufacturer, all the NEKAF Jeeps were
built with the Willys F-head Hurricane engine.
Alongside the standard issue Jeep used for
general purposes, the NEKAF was used as a
radio Jeep, ambulance, fire engine and snow
plough. After 1959 a version was equipped with
the 106mm M40 recoilless rifle.
The NEKAF M38A1s had a long service life,
after being taken out use and a period of
storage in reserve most of the Jeeps were sold
as surplus and the last were sold in 2000, most
went to enthusiasts.
*Many NEKAFs have their specific Dutch
components removed to make them more like
the US version and so make them resemble
Vietnam War Jeeps
*US and Dutch made M38A1s do not
command the premium prices that
wartime MB and GPW models do
Mahindra CJ-3B
Many people aren’t fans of
the ‘high hood’ CJ-3B Jeep
with its high bonnet line but
another quirk of the inter-
national motor industry led
to their production in India
and, much later, their import
into the UK.
In the years immediately after
World War Two, Indian brothers,
J C and K C Mahindra, started
assembling completely knocked down (CKD)
Willys Jeeps that were imported into India from
the USA. In the early days of their operation only
10% of the components for the Willys Jeeps were
sourced in India but this percentage gradually
increased to 17%.
In the 1950s things took off for the Mahindra
brothers and plans were submitted to the Indi-
an Government in 1954 to increase the amount
of Indian manufactured parts and decrease
the number of CKD kits imported. The plans
were approved and in April 1955, the company
bought a factory at Bhandup.
Gradually the Mahindra company shifted from
assembling CKD Jeeps to licence-building
Jeeps. By 1958 things were going so well that
the government permitted the Mahindra con-
cern to increase production to 5,500 vehicles
per year. Demand increased and by 1961 the
company was making 10,000 vehicles per year,
rising to 18,000 by 1984.
The company was still producing CJ-3B
models and a long wheelbase variant known
as the CJ4 - a designation that has only ever
been used in India - which has 91in be-
In military vehicle circles, enthusiasm for the Willys
Jeep remains undiminished
70
tween the axles. As well as fulfilling Indian
home market military orders and export ones,
as recently as 1991, the company produced
30,100 Jeeps and even supplied $35,000,000
worth of Jeeps in CKD form to Iran. Much of
the reason for the exponentially increasing
production was because of increasing demand
for exports.
Eventually Europe was considered to be a
potential market and as diesel engines were
a popular choice for 4x4s in Europe, Jeeps
destined for Europe were fitted with Peugeot In-
denor 2,112cc XDP diesel engines while those
for the domestic and other export markets
were still built with a 72bhp F-head four-cylin-
der engine.
UK imports of CJ340 and CJ540 models,
short and long wheelbase respectively, started
in 1989 and continued until the mid-1990s with
mixed success. Latterly, rusty SWB Mahin-
dras have provided the raw material for MB
lookalikes as it possible to remove three inches
out of the front of the tub and fit the MB-type
grille and bonnet. How much further you want
to go with changing wings, windscreen, seats,
steering wheel, RHD to LHD and so on depends
on inclination and budget. Some really rusty
Mahindras have been re-bodied with one of the
MD Juan body kits. Just how convincing your
build is depends of how
much work and money you
are prepared to invest. The
parts are readily available
from Jeep parts specialists.
* Now this idea is proven,
the prices of dog-eared
CJ340 Mahindras are
creeping up but it is still a complex and time
consuming job to build one from scratch.
* The idea of converting a Mahindra into an
MB has also been tried with older, leaf-sprung
Daihatsu and Suzuki 4x4s that also have an
80in wheelbase. Mahindras use Jeep compo-
nents but all have Jeep PCD hubs
In conclusion, some may read this article and
think that they will continue to save up for a real
Willys MB or Ford GPW either in restored or pro-
ject condition. Others may opt for a more budget
but still DIY approach. Something else that may
affect the choice is what the finished machine will
be used for. Some re-enactors or off-roaders may
be happy with something that looks close enough
while some restorers may want something that is
detail perfect.
Of the two project vehicles in the
photographs here, the
M38A1 (actually an
M606A2, a militarised US
export version of the
CJ-5), is to be returned to
its military specification.
The re-bodied Mahindra
CJ340 will recycle a rusty
Indian Jeep into something
close to a Willys MB but its
non-genuine spec and combina-
tion of used Indian and American
and new pattern parts will ensure
that its value is low enough to
get it muddy off-road. Progress on
both machines will be reported on here in
CMV from time to time.
JoesMotorPool.indd 1 26/04/2018 10:12:35
Ice Cold

72
d in Alex
words and pictures John Carroll

In April 2012, John Carroll and friends followed the tyre tracks of the Long
Range Desert Group through Egypt’s western desert

I
n 1940, Britain and its empire stood alone
against the Nazis and the war wasn’t going
Britain’s way. Giving up without a fight was
out of the question and, with an urgency borne
of necessity by the Italian threat to Egypt, the
first Long Range Patrols left Cairo and slipped
into the desert in September of that year. Their
mission was, famously, to ‘engage in piracy on
the high desert’. The Long Range Desert Group
(LRDG) - originally called the Long Range Patrol
- had been founded in June 1940 but had its
roots in the 1920s as Europeans searched for
the legendary lost oasis of Zerzura. Foremost
among the group was Ralph Bagnold, a Cam-
bridge graduate and officer in the Royal Corps
of Signals.
Bagnold had been posted to Egypt in 1926,
bought a Model T Ford and, impressed by its
ability to travel on unsurfaced tracks, began to
explore the vast and roadless desert regions.
Using sun compasses, he and his team learned
how to navigate in the vast expanses of desert
and mastered the art of driving their vehicles
over huge sand dunes without overturning or
getting stuck.
Each trip was more ambitious than the previ-
ous and by 1929, in both Model A and Model T
pick-ups, Bagnold and his companions drove
into the Great Sand Sea, a place that was gen-
erally considered to be impenetrable by car.
During 1930, the group drove to Jebel Uweinat,
close to where the borders of Egypt, Libya and
Sudan intersect. In the November after this
trip, the noted Zerzura Club was founded by
Bagnold and his companions. If anything, the
mythical status of the oasis encouraged, rather
than dissuaded, members and the club grew.
The outbreak of war brought this halcyon period
to an end and Bagnold, along with most of his
companions, ended up in the British Army.
Seven decades after the LRDG’s exploits be-
came the very stuff of Boy’s Own adventures, a
diverse group of eight experienced desert trav-
ellers, military vehicle enthusiasts, historians
and classic 4x4 fans from Egypt, England,

73
Sweden and the US came together to follow in
the unit’s tyre tracks.
The team comprised; Toby Savage, photogra-
pher and CMV contributor; Sam Watson maga-
zine freelancer and desert traveller; Rick Pewe,
US 4x4 journalist; Mahmoud Marai, desert
enthusiast and traveller; Karl-Gunnar Norén,
Swedish author; Bob Atwater, USMC Vietnam
veteran; Jason Paterniti, traveller; and me. With
an adventure travel company support
truck and a military ‘escort’ we set
out in a pair of 1943 Jeeps, to follow
some of the LRDG patrol routes
through the vastness of the
Western Desert and the emp-
tiness of the Great Sand Sea.
It’s fair to say that our trip had
beginnings as casual as those
of the Zerzura Club but that
it took considerably longer to
get to the point where we left
Cairo and headed for the desert.
A full year’s delay was unavoid-
able because of the ‘Arab Spring’
revolution of 2011 but in 2012
we finally found ourselves
negotiating the bureaucracy in
the Port of Alexandria to free
the Jeeps from their shipping
container in which they’d come
from Harwich, England. It was
a hot and tiresome business,
and two days later in the cooling
evening air we were happy to
head south west, Jeeps loaded
and tilts flapping. There’s
a tarmac road through the
oasis towns that wasn’t there
during World War Two and we
drove through the night to reach
Bahariya. The next day with little
more than military checkpoints and fuel stops
to interrupt the journey through the oases of
Farafra and Dakla we took turns driving. During
a stint stretched across the back seat, under
a purple night sky, stars visible through the
window in the back of the tilt, I realised that our
spirits were soaring with each mile south. We
overnighted in Mut, serviced the Jeeps, includ-
ing resetting the valves on one, and then, just
south of yet another military checkpoint, simply
turned right into the sand.
The advent
of the GPS
LOUISE LIMB
Parked at Shaw’s Cave at Magharet El Kantara on the southern edge of the Gilf Kebir
74
has made desert navigation much easier and
removed the reliance on Bagnold’s invention,
the sun compass, but it hasn’t removed the
need to maintain old vehicles in this arid envi-
ronment. The Jeeps, a Willys MB and a Ford
GPW, belonging to Toby Savage, required daily
maintenance and checks especially as we were
trying to cram an 11-week LRDG patrol route
into three weeks.
Both Jeeps were recently overhauled
but, with the exceptions of alterna-
tors in place of dynamos, mod-
ern tyres and a dash-mounted
power socket, were largely
standard. Desert war-inspired
touches include the cut grilles
and condenser bottles.
Not far into the sand from our
first camp, we came on the first
evidence of the LRDG and asso-
ciated units such as the Sudan
Defence Force (SDF) when on
top of a rock outcrop was a cairn
made from the pre-war-style
petrol tins known as ‘flimsies’
because of their inherent
weaknesses. Soon afterwards
was the scene of some truck
maintenance; an in-line, six-cylin-
der Chevrolet engine and many
of its components lay in the
sand where a vehicle had been
worked on. The next point of
interest was a cairn with a
Welsh slate plaque erected in
1984 to mark the point from
where, in that year, a Chevrolet
WA 30 cwt 4x2 truck was re-
covered (detailed in After the
Battle magazine No 44). The
truck in question is W8 Waikaha,
truck No 8 of W patrol LRDG and,
after a spell at the now defunct Grange
 Rick Pewe at the wheel of one of the Jeeps

‘A full year’s delay

Remains of a desert airstrip marked out with ‘flimsy’ petrol tins
was unavoidable
because of the
‘Arab Spring’
revolution of 2011’

Evidence of desert maintenance, an abandoned six-cylinder truck engine Toby Savage (left) and Rick Pewe fuel up one of the
Jeeps from a Jerrycan

Cavern Museum in North Wales, is now on
display at the Imperial War Museum.
The next ten days of the trip settled into a
routine of driving, camping and navigating our
way via a selection of remains left by the LRDG
and the SDF including several Ford trucks. We
visited a desert air strip marked out with tens
of flimsies but not the famous ‘Eight Bells’ be-
cause, such was the current political situation,
our mandatory military escort in a Toyota Land
Cruiser wouldn’t let us travel further south. We
camped at the entrance to Wadi Wassa - wide
wadi - and checked the Jeeps over. So far we’d
only suffered one puncture. Around the dinner
table with the GPS, we worked out that we had
driven 127 miles that day and were more than
1,100 miles from Cairo.
The next morning we reset the valves on the
Willys again and headed out for what promised
to be a demanding morning. It started with
a brief stop at another abandoned in-line six
where two holed pistons are testament to its
failing. Then followed a steep sandy climb to
Shaw’s Cave at Magharet El Kantara on the
southern edge of the Gilf Kebir National Park.
The wadi was discovered and explored during
a 1935 expedition led by W B Kennedy Shaw.
On the saddle separating Wadi Wassa from Sam Watson laughs with the fuel station owner at
Bahariya

Bob Atwater uses a shemagh to avoid the dust

Evening in the desert, the colours changed with the light

75

Making camp as the sun sets
Wadi Firaq, Rupert Harding-Newman discov-
ered a series of rock paintings in a shallow
cave. Both men subsequently served in World
War Two, Kennedy Shaw with the LRDG and
Harding-Newman with HQ 8th Army. These
wadis were used as a route for the convoys
supplying Kufra Oasis in Libya, which was occu-
pied by the allies. It was captured by LRDG and
The Jeeps parked at Pillar Rock from which theLRDG used to fasten aerial wires to
Free French under Leclerc in February 1941 but
needed constant supplying so the SDF were
tasked with a massive logistical exercise of
trucking supplies. From here the drivers turned
north, drove past the distinctive ‘Three Castles’
rocks and headed into Wadi Sora and we would
follow this route.
Bouncing around in the back of the Willys MB,
76
I scribbled into my notebook: “Lazing on the
back seat, blue sky, hot, dusty, views of far off
hills and the Gilf Kebir. This is Jeeping!”
It really was hot and the whole party paid at-
tention to the practicalities of keeping sunburn
and dehydration at bay but there was next to
no shade as we pulled up for lunch alongside
an abandoned White 6x4 truck. From here the
route is clearly marked with flimsies and ruts
from the heavy trucks that once frequented this
empty place. The Americans with us, immedi-
ately termed it, ‘The Flimsy Highway’. The going
was mainly firm but different coloured patches
in the sand are a clue to the whereabouts of
softer patches and we developed a technique
for preserving momentum; two-wheel drive
high range, third, second and first as it got
stickier and then, if the Jeep almost stopped,
knock it down into four-wheel drive low range
and crawl through. We left a poppy wreath at
Three Castles, a LRDG look-out point, and, as
the shadows lengthened, stopped at another
abandoned truck, an SDF Chevrolet. As we
drew near the gilf, the terrain changed and it
was almost dark as we pulled up in the vicinity
of the ‘Cave of the Beasts’, a site of recently
discovered rock art.
One pre-war recruit to the Zerzura Club
was László Almásy, the man behind
the fictionalised character in The
English Patient. Regardless of the
massive liberties taken with the
truth in Michael Ondaatje’s 1992
novel and the subsequent, Acad-
emy Award-winning movie, it re-
ignited interest in the pre-war era
of desert exploration. Almásy’s
name cropped up as we visited
the famous Cave of the Swimmers
where he discovered the 10,000
year old rock paintings in 1933 and,
in the movie, fictionally, leaves the
The desert landscapes varied widely from miles of
hard going (FAR LEFT AND RIGHT) to dunes of blown sand
(LEFT AND ABOVE)
injured Katharine Clifton. Ahead of us was El
Aqaba, a driveable pass first tackled by Almásy
and party in 1933. It was a long, steep and
sandy climb but the Jeeps made it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon negotiat-
ing saucer-shaped bowls of soft sand divided
by rocky outcrops and camped at
the southern edge of the Great
Sand Sea. As the sun rose, the
morning ritual started; tents
down, breakfast and Jeep
maintenance. We went over
the Jeeps and I wrote
a list. “Ford; tighten
lower radiator bolt,
left front spring
missing cotter,
right front chassis
rail cracked (behind
transfer case cross-
member), very small
A landmark is Pillar Rock,
so named by the 1930 Bagnold
Expedition, the only rock
outcrop of any sort for 50
miles or more’
77
sidewall split in right rear tyre, Willys; torque
reaction spring clamp loose.”
We re-inflated the tyres, starting at 15psi in the
mornings, the heat of the day meant this rose
to over 20psi so they had to be partially deflat-
ed and the cool of the night made them drop
to around 10psi which is a bit low for the rocky
stuff. We had rags wrapped around the fuel
pumps so that if things got too hot they could
be soaked with water to prevent fuel evapo-
rating. Rick Pewe, who took charge of Jeep
maintenance summed up the Jeeps’ condition:
“Overall, phenomenal!”
Later we had the only ‘breakdown’ of the trip
when a clutch linkage rod snaps. Necessity is
the mother of invention and we made a new
one by cutting and bending the steel from a
long screwdriver.
The Great Sand Sea was a revelation, it is
one of the largest dune fields in the world and
contains some of the largest recorded
Bodging a replacement clutch rod in the sand

Setting valves at one of the overnight stops

Tilt being used as a windbreak to keep sand

out of the engine Daily checks included fluid levels

The wind scuplts the dunes into

ever-changing feminine curves

‘There was a
tell-tale spot of oil
on the rear axle of
the Willys MB’

Tools were pushed into the sand vertically to stop them being lost if lain down and covered in sand

Tyres were aired up and down as required to allow

for the heat of the day

Rick Pewe is a longtime American Jeeper and took

Wing off in Bahariya for the first reset of the valves charge of most of the maintenance

78
sand dunes. It covers almost 30,000 square
miles in which seemingly endless lines of sand
dunes are oriented north-south. This meant
we could drive north in the inter-dune corridors
so minimising the number of dunes crossings
required.
Siwa Oasis is the northern gateway to this
area and it took us four days to get there. We
made good time on the hard going between
dunes but it slowed down where crossings
were required. Going over the dunes requires
momentum and confidence and, with the lack
of shade, it was hard to focus. The technique is
to find and drive up the long side gradually over
several miles and then drop down the fall line of
the steep side in four-wheel drive High. On the
way down, if the front end starts to dig in, it’s
imperative to accelerate. The wind made things
The long climb up El Aqaba Pass, a driveable route onto the Gilf Kebir plateau from the plain below
79
dusty but kept the temperature down and faced
with massive expanses of sand we dropped the
tyre pressures to 12psi.
We camped near an abandoned CMP 4x4 Ford
with its flathead V8 lying in the sand. This truck
belonged to the Rhodesian LRDG S-Patrol and
was left there with a broken steering column dur-
ing April 1941. The wind made Jeep maintenance
difficult and we used the tilts as windbreaks.

At the filling station in Farafra oasis during the journey south
A wartime waymarker made with a pile of Flimsies filled with stones. WD markings clearly evident (RIGHT)
A landmark is Pillar Rock, so named by the
1930 Bagnold Expedition, the only rock outcrop
of any sort for 50 miles or more and a LRDG
rendezvous. The LRDG patrols attached the
Wyndon aerials - a wire of variable length
stretched between two poles - or in this case a
pole and the rock outcrop. In this way the No.
11 Radio Set, standard equipment for LRDG’s
wireless trucks and, using morse code and this
external aerial, communication over hundreds
of miles could be achieved.
The next landmark, Russian Well, is the
legacy of more recent exploration when, during
Nasser’s era, the Russians searched for oil.
Demolished industrial buildings and a running
well are all that remains. We camped just a few
miles from here and were awoken in the early
hours as the wind shifted 180° and blew almost
LEFT: the Jeeps had Egyptian number plates for this trip
BELOW: Ice Cold in Alex - our first beer in weeks
80
a foot of sand against the tents. Even this
uncomfortable night didn’t dampen our spirits
even though we’d be driving into the wind and
grit all day as we made the final run into Siwa
Oasis. This is one of the places where the LRDG
operated from.
It was not journey’s end because it was still
a long haul back to Cairo on the metalled road
but the real desert and the real adventure was
behind us. There was a tell-tale spot of oil on the
rear axle of the Willys MB and it was clear that
the differential pinion seal had gone.
We topped the EP90 up with a funnel made
from a water bottle and duct tape and knew that
with subsequent top ups it would get us all the
way back to Cairo via the inevitable ‘Ice Cold in
Alex’ moment as there’s no beer in Siwa. The
toast was, of course, to Ralph Alger Bagnold
and the LRDG.
The current political situation in the region
means that, for now, this trip can’t be repeated
and nearby Libya is also off limits. By the time
we saw the pyramids through the flat wind-
screens, we had driven the Jeeps 2,300 miles,
1,000 of them off-road. It’s a trip that generated
memories that will stay with us forever, make us
appreciate further the audacity of the LRDG -
both in terms of fighting the war and in travelling
through these empty places - and make us see
Bagnold’s words in his beautifully-crafted 1935
book, Libyan Sands, through new eyes.
Next month
Next month we’ll take an in-depth look at the six
abandoned trucks that were encountered en route
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02/05/2018 16:21:39
Echoes of War 1943: Fall of Tunisia
The original caption reads: “Two photographers from the staff of ‘Yank’ the Army weekly were with the victorious Allied forces as they entered Tunis. The approach to
Tunis in Jeeps, trucks and tanks was along narrow waterswept roads like this one.” The distinctive shapes of a Jeep and a Dodge WC51 are clearly evident
A
t first glance some may doubt that this
desolate image was taken in Tunisia
which is in North Africa and borders the
Mediterranean Sea. There is however no doubt
that it was taken during the closing stages of the
Tunisian Campaign of World War Two.
In Tunisia the climate is Mediterranean on the
northern coast, with mild, rainy winters and hot,
sunny summers, while it is semi-desert or desert
in inland areas. The rains follow the Mediterra-
nean pattern on the coast, so they are frequent
in late autumn and winter, and become fewer in
late spring and summer.
In Tunis, precipitation amounts to approximate-
ly 520 millimetres (20in) per year, most of which
falls from October to May, while in summer it
rains infrequently. In Bizerte, in the north which
words John Carroll picture Yank photo from US Army
was captured by the US Army, rainfall is slightly
greater at, around 570 mm (22.5in) per year.
The Tunisian Campaign was a series of battles
that took place between November 1942 and
May 1943 during the North African Campaign of
World War Two between Axis and Allied forces.
Following the Operation Torch landings, the
Allies aimed for Tunis but suffered setbacks at
Medjez el Bab, Kasserine Pass and El Guettar.
The Allied final offensive was to be at Medjez
where the US Army was to push forward into
Bizerte and the First Army was to attack Tunis
while the Eighth Army would attack from the
north. The British pushed forward and captured
Tunis while the Americans captured nearby
Bizerte on May 7 and six days later the Axis
surrendered.
82
Additional Information
Yank, the army weekly
Yank was a weekly magazine published by
the US military during World War Two. The
first issue was published with the cover date
of June 17, 1942 and written by enlisted rank
soldiers with a few officers as managers.
Initially it was made available only to the US
Army overseas but, by the fifth issue of July
15, 1942, it was made available to GIs in the
USA. It was never offered to the public to
buy and eventually circulation exceeded 2.5
million in 41 countries and 21 editions. The
final issue was published on December 28,
1945 and copies of the magazine are now
collectors’ items
Gaijin.indd 1 27/04/2018 12:21:21
Untitled-1 1 26/04/2018 14:19:37