My 2014 Season in pictures

It's that time of the year again to review my year of MV events and challenges! There were a number of highs, including getting my rebuilt Ford GPW on the road for the first time, and the lows which centred around the M201's engine troubles.

Yorkshire MVT Crank Up - April 13th

I had planned to be at the York Crank Up event, but only got as far as Ferryhill before the electronic ignition unit failed, ironically, the only modern part in the vehicle! This resulted in "Jessie" being brought home by the RAC for the first time since purchase back in 2005. Not a great start to the season!

GPW on the Road - April 16th

A few days later, the vehicle insurance renewal started, allowing me to get the Ford onto the road for the first time since it died on a Texas farm, who knows how many decades ago. I made three short drives starting with just up and down the street, going around the block and taking the family for a short ride around the streets.

Battlegroup North, Elvington Airfield - May 10/11th

This was the first event of the year that I got to, but even this trip wasn't without trouble. The journey to Elvington was uneventful. I was to display inside the museum grounds, but the gate was blocked, so parked up and switched off. When I came to restart, the engine wouldn't fire. After two condensers were tried, all was well again! I think my vehicle electrics have something against Yorkshire! This was also the first test of my new canvas tent. Inside the canvas tent, my pop up tent has just enough room to be set up, giving an extra layer of warmth and still leaving room for my cooker, fridge and somewhere to sit and eat. While it was nice and sunny on Friday evening, the rest of the weekend alternated between dull and hammering down with rain.

Blyth Battery Goes to War - May 17/18th

Compared to Elvington, Blyth was at the other end of the scale with the weather. Gentle off shore breeze, and temperatures in the very high twenties. There were a good number of displays with English, German and American vehicles and re-enactors.

D-Day Drive - June 6th

The D-Day drive was started by our own Jack several years ago, to get people out with their vehicles on D-Day. It was hoped that being seen out and about might cause one or two people to stop and think about those actions of June 1944. I had a number of things to do and ended up making three trips in the Ford.

St Gregory's RC Primary School 1940's Day - June 19th

St Gregory's RC Primary School, in South Shields, were having a big 1940's day to celebrate the anniversary of the school opening. I was invited to bring a vehicle along, together with a friend who brought his M38A1 Jeep. Being reasonably close to home, I decided to take the Ford and the new photographic display. This was the first public event for the Ford. Many of the school children had made the effort to dress the part in 1940's style clothing. The weather was warm and sunny, and there was a great turn out of parents and family. There was a great deal of interest in the stereoscope from the children, fascinated by the 3D image it produced.

Great North Fly In - June 21/22nd

It was a nice warm sunny afternoon the Friday of the event, and after a hour trip North through Newcastle, we were set up by late afternoon. It was soon after that I was offered a local flight in one of the Purple Aviation Eurostars, flown by Charlie. It was fairly calm and thermal activity was falling, so around 19:44hrs, we taxied out for runway 08. After take off, we headed past Acklington Prison and on to Amble. From there over Walkworth Castle and on to Alnwick Castle and the Gardens. We then turned South back towards Eshott, joining the circuit at around 1500 feet, and keeping a close eye on four paragliders circling the airfield.

Tankfest, Bovington Tank Museum - June 28th

In late June, we headed South for our family holiday. By good luck the trip fitted in the the date for Tankfest at Bovington, so we spent the Saturday there baking in the sunshine. The day ended with a re-creation of the Arnhem battles which included flypasts by the BBMF Dakota and the Hangar 11 P-51D Mustang.

Croft Nostalgia - August 2/3rd

I decided that Croft would be the first event where I would have all three of my vehicles on display together. Because "Jessie" wasn't running well, and the Ford still had a low mileage and reletively untried, both Jeeps ended up being trailered there over two days. A friend joined my on Sunday with his Dodge, so we ended up with four vehicles, two trailers plus a number of displays.

NE MV Club, DLI Museum Show - Aug 24/25th

Day one was nice and dry with several sunny intervals during the day. Many of the usual vehicles were in attandance, but it was nice to see a second Austin K2 Ambulance on show this year. World War Two entries may have been down a little, but the post war display was well represented. Space is limited at the DLI, but there were a few dioramas amongst the woods.

Mynarski Memorial Lancaster visits RAF Middleton St George - August 28th

On Wednesday August 27th, the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster landed at the former RAF Middleton St George, now Durham Tees Valley Airport. The Lancaster has flown the Atlantic from Canada for a six week tour of the UK. One of only two airworthy Lancasters, it flew in for a big open day on the 28th. It is painted in the markings of the aircraft flown by Andrew Mynarski VC, which was based at RAF Middleton St George during WW2. Because "Jessie" hasn't been running well, I decided to trailer the Jeep down to Teesside rather than try and drive it. With me was a friend from the local astronomical society, who was also interested in seeing the Lancaster. Between us, we took around 1500 photos!

Three Avro Lancasters at East Kirkby Airfield - September 7th

Following on from the Middleton St George Lancaster event, and after a week being grounded at Middleton with a U/S engine, the Canadian Lancaster rejoined the BBMF Lancaster for displays. East Kirkby airfield is home to Lancaster "Just Jane". This aircraft is running and can be taxied, and is slowly being returned to airworthy condition. With the Canadian Lancaster in the UK, the opportunity to get two Lancs flying over head with a third running on the ground was too good to miss, and East Kirkby arranged a date where all 5000 tickets sold out rapidly. They managed to get a second date, also limited to 5000 tickets, and I was lucky to get one.

Due to the engine failure, the first planned "3 Lancs" event at East Kirkby on September 2nd was cancelled and rearranged for the 14th. Fortunately for me, my ticket was for the second "3 Lancs" event on September 7th. This now became the first to happen.

M201 Engine Rebuild - October 13th ~ October 29th

After testing and cleaning a number of the usual components ( condensers, points etc ) with no improvement in running, it was time to investigate further. A compression test revealed number one cylinder was very low and number three a little low. Time to pull the cylinder head off. To be fair, the engine had a rebuild plate from the French Army dated 1987, so 27 years between rebuilds isn't too bad! Valve seats were all in pretty good condition, but two of the valves were well past their sell by date! The seats were dressed, eight new valves purchased and lapped in and it all went back together again. Start up was almost immediate, and a number of test drives on the afternoon of Oct 29th revealed no problems, so hopefully "Jessie" is now good for her tenth season in my ownership next year.

Remembrance Weekend - November 8/9th

The season ended in November during Remembrance weekend. In preparation for the Remembrance Service at the aircraft museum on Sunday 9th, I took "Hope" out on the 8th to get fuel and give her a run around. It was also a chance to test out the modifications to the fuel tank sender float. The reworked cork float, still wasn't floating, so as a temporary measure, I've fitted a plastic 35mm film container as a float. I'd like to get a replacement cork float if possible.

So there's my annual review over for another year. Despite the engine troubles with the M201, it has been a great year, with many great memories and special events.

A greater selection of pictures can be found here -

http://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/events.htm

Great pictures and videos. It certainly looks like you had a busy season. Also good to see you got Jessie back up and running happily.

Great pictures Jessie, Thanks for Sharing :thumbsup:

fantastic write up, thank you for sharing