Great War truck

Just for a change - a bit of simple and primitive Blacksmithing! It is getting near the time to fix the Exhaust Pipe on. We were fortunate that on one of the many chassis that we acquired over the years, there was still the remains of the centre exhaust pipe bracket on one - too far gone to use again but good enough to use as a pattern for a new one. A piece of 30 x 5mm black steel was used for the new bracket and cut over length so that there was enough "spare" left to make it easy to handle. We know from previous experience that the easiest way to bend a bit of steel like that is to get it red hot and then bend it around a suitable former. It was brought to red heat outside the workshop on a small brazing hearth - a short length of scaffolding pole - the same diameter as the exhaust pipe had previously been placed in the vice - and when the steel was "red", it was picked up by the extreme ends in gloved hands, rushed into the workshop and wrapped around the scaffolding pole before it cooled! In this state, it is as easy to bend as putty.

That looks wonderful. I dread to think what it cost to have made.

Back outside we watched the aircraft being refuelled before they flew off one by one (except for the Tornado which seemed to have a problem). All very impressive especially the Typhoon which went straight up. part of the pre flight test for the f15 was a man jumping up and down on the wing: While we were waiting a Hare ran by: I was interested to see that the idea of sticking a sign saying "Follow me" in a Jeep still has its legacy: With the Harrier and Typhoon flying off it was time to head for home: What a cracking day out.

The transport plane was very interesting. For some reason or other they were encouraging everyone to get out and walk along the wing. Except for me. For some reason he didnt like me? So John, Don and i climbed in to the cockpit instead. and then did the same with the tail refueling location Back inside Richard was distraught that the USAF could not provide tea only burgers, hot dogs and coke, so retired to his Pontiac to read the paper: I admired this very fine Eureka: Then had a hotdog for lunch. While i was queing the Airforce Chaplin Brian Hochalter was admiring me Jeep so i went over for a chat and photo session. The first time a US military Chaplin has been in the Jeep (that i know of)

They had brought in a few aeroplanes for us to look over. Two f15's, a Tornado, a Harrier, a Typhoon, A hurricane, a helicopter and a C*** something (which we climbed all over):

They had built a stage out of three low bed trailers. Something you see photos of them doing at Glenn Miller concerts. We had a quick demonstration of the Air force fire engines, which were all Oshkosh (by gosh), but with British drivers. They all sounded fantastic.

Despite having spent £Millions on refurbishment the USAF will be pulling out of Fairford by the end of the year. The airfield (now that Greenham has gone) is the longest airfield in Europe. At the moment there is a military presence of just 50 who are winding the place up. The future is a little uncertain, but I believe that it will be kept in mothballs until such time that a use for it is found, or that the Government is so short of money that they sell it for houses. The base try’s to maintain a positive presence in the community and today was a “Heritage Day” where they had invited local historical groups and MV owners to put on displays for the locals and the air force personnel and their families. I think there were in excess of 30 MV’s in all, with 11 coming from the North Oxfordshire and Cotswolds MVT. On arrival i was quite impressed with the Air Force security guards on the gates having Quad bikes to get around. They were armed and i did not take a photo of them (coward). Once inside we parked inside a new hangar built i understand to house the B1. They had to readjust the bunting to let the REO in

Shrivenham?

Very true indeed. So is that the same Model t that he learned to drive in then? With a holiday now out of the way and after other diversions, it was back to the Lorry today. The Water pump is finished-painted, and the gland has been packed with a graphited yarn so the whole thing is now ready for final installation on the engine. You may remember that we said earlier that the engine has to be raised by a 1/4" and the Raising Blocks have been cut and drilled and given one coat of primer. They need to be painted before fitting to save any future problem with rusting. Next job now is to make up the bracket to hold the exhaust pipe.

What a fabulous bit of kit that is. I will dig through my photos to compare it to some others that i have seen. A really useful thing to have. Thanks for posting those, it has made my day. Tim

certainly looks like a Model T to me. Thanks for posting it Degsy.

PM being sent

Cripes!

Ooooooh, that is awful.

The majority of the US trucks would need six tyres each. The mileage you could expect from a set is in the thousands, certainly not more than 10,000. High speeds and bad roads would reduce this figure further. At the end of the war the US had exported over 40,000 heavy trucks to France, so if they all needed new tyres at the same time that would be 360,000. As you can work out they could get through 85,000 tyres very quickly. I am just trying to find out where this photo was taken, but i think it was at the main truck repair/reconstruction depot just South of Paris. I have just written an article for MMI on this depot (having found a great big bundle of original photos), and hopefully it will come out in the September issue.

You have an ex WD 200T water press!!!!! Photo, photo, photo, photo (please).

This will keep out those pesky huns.

Nothing new to add at the moment, but i did take the lamps down to Devon and hold them up against the Dennis to see how they looked. Steve will get on and make the lamp brackets soon.

(On a historical note this pile actually consists of 85,000 tires).

Yes, i know about this Jeep. I told the owners that i was very interested in buying it but I am still waiting for them to come back to me with the price. Been waiting two Months now. I will give them another call.

The ground looks very white and chalky, so Salisbury plain or the Somme or somewhere in between (excluding the English channel).

Ah, so thats where it is. I feared that it had been returned to a civilian livery. This was one of the four that came up for auction in the 1970's 80's. It was purchased by Tony Oliver and was later sold on to this Italian museum. Thats seven of them that we know about although three of them no longer have their armour.

Sorry about the lack of progress and news here. A couple of other matters have taken precedence but normal services will be resumed as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience. Tim

That looks very good indeed.