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Could this 1942/1943 photo be a 15cwt CMP?


Cheshire Steve

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My father (now 94) mentioned the other day that in 58RSU in North Africa the radio truck was a 15cwt, and they had a couple of machine guns in the back allowing them to fight back if strafed on the desert road. I have been looking through his WW2 photos from when he was doing RSU recovery in the Western Desert (mid-1942 to mid-1943), but only one of his photos show what could be a 15cwt truck, and that from the rear. I assume the 15cwt trucks would be 4x4, and it seems the Ford and Chevy CMP trucks (C15A, F15A) were available. I don't know if there is enough in this shot of RAF 95506 to identify the truck type, but it looks CMP-like to me but maybe heavier than 15cwt, e.g. 30cwt. My father would have been radio operator but I am not sure the radio truck would have looked much different from the others in the convoy. Any other info on the make-up of the RAF RSU convoys appreciated - sadly my father has advanced dementia and I only get snippets of memory as they surface, but the war is about all he can remember so some of them are interesting so I am trying to piece together the fragments. (Hope this picture is attached OK - it doesn't seem to have worked well with my browser).

 

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Page15e.jpg

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Hi

The truck to the left in the picture is a 60CWT (3tonner) 13 Cab CMP.

I would say the truck to the right was yes a 15cwt, 4x2 judging from the suspension height, with what I would say is a 2C1 steel rear body, and because of that body type I think it is a 13 Cab CMP. ( I cannot remember ever seeing that rear body on a 11/12 cab)

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I totally agree that it is a 2C1 steel rear body on a 13 Cab CMP. In the Western Desert the RAF had the same need for offroad vehicle types as the Army, as they operated in the same conditions, and units that went to Sicilly & Italy afterwards still used the same types.

 

Here is another CMP in Tunisia, though it has an earlier type rear body

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Military_Pattern_truck#/media/File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa,_1939-1943._CM5067.jpg

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Thanks guys, I only discovered what a CMP truck was yesterday, and to ID both in that photo as CMPs helps. I assumed they would go for 4WD types as they were operating 'off the map', but seeing as they managed to get queen mary trailers through then maybe 2WD was enough.

 

Does it seem reasonable that they would use a canvas top for the radio truck, or do you think they would have a special radio truck bodywork? I was thinking that a tin top would be like an oven in the desert, and also present more of an interesting target if the convoy was attacked.

 

I think I'll get hold of a model of one of the 15cwt CMPs and see if it jogs my father's memories.

 

Steve

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I have studied the picture some more, and I think that it is a Banjo type rear axle, Chevrolet type, and not the Ford split axle.

But it is not an definite answer on what make the truck is, because on some (at least early) Fords where fitted with Chevrolet axles.

My 11 cab F15a is fitted with a Chevy rear axle and a Ford front.

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No 13 cab C15 I think. Differential suggests Chevrolet, and I agree that the body height also suggests this is a 4 x 2 C15 rather than a 4 x 4 C15A. If it was a 4 x 4 that rear body would be sitting almost 6" higher.

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Not sure of the cab types you refer to - is this the sort of thing ? It looks very similar at the back, though the vehicle number isn't in the same place. I suppose for use in the Western Desert they would be sand coloured.

 

https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/trucks/chevrolet/53640/view/chevrolet_cmp_15cwt_4x4/

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Excellent pics, thanks. With the fantastic help here from everyone I feel fairly sure that the last pic is the C15A, with type 13 cab (with headlights inset), and 2C1 all steel body. I have found a kit for exactly that, so will make one for my father and see what he says (didn't find a C15 equivalent kit). I now know they had CMP trucks in the RSU, but the wireless truck may have been something else, so hopefully I can get dad to tell me about it (though due to his dementia he now thinks its 1950 and so is rather cagey about revealing anything 'secret').

 

Steve

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