Jessie The Jeep

We made a small detour to the RAF Morpeth water tower to get some photos. It wasn't far from the camp site and it could be seen above the tree line from certain parts of the site. Neil's family and us stayed at the camp site on Saturday evening and packed up to return home on Sunday morning. Additional pictures can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/stannington.htm

We made two laps through the village, stopping briefly after the first to swap passengers into the appropriate vehicles for lap two. The passenger swap was needed, as the convoy broke up after the second trip, for those heading straight home and those going back to the campsite. Derek and Andy headed straight home after the convoy split. Chris took some of the gang back to the camp site before heading home himself.

Around 15:30hrs, the convoy set off. Derek's GPW was in the lead, then Chris' Dodge WC51. I was next in my WC51 with the trailer in tow. Paul, who also has a WC51, brought up the rear of the military section and the vintage bus just coming into view, followed that.

There was a huge queue for the bus back, but we spotted Chris' Dodge and Derek's Jeep parked out front, so jumped in the Dodge for a lift back to the farm. By late afternoon, we were waiting around for the go-ahead to start the convoy through the village. The other Jeeps had already disappeared by this time.

One of the most interesting displays was an air raid shelter. Along side was an officer with a tablet computer connected to some loud speakers. He was playing an air raid siren, followed by the sound of bombers, a raid with the bombs falling and the all clear signal. There were a number of radio controlled model aircraft on show, most of which were the usual club sized aircraft, with a few larger scales. In the car park around the community centre were a dozen or so classic cars. Inside were more stalls and displays, including a group working an RAF plotting table, recreating the tracking of a raid on the North East of England. We've seen them before at Barnard Castle.

The public were shuttled between the two sites by two buses, one being vintage and the other with disabled access. A little while after lunch, we took the bus down to the village to have a look around. The main feature in the show field behind the community centre, were some fullsized fibreglass replicas of a Hurricane and Spitfire fighter aircraft, both in Battle of Britain camouflage. There were a number of dioramas and quite a few military vehicles. Some of those vehicles should have been at the farm, as the event was very village biased. It's a shame that both the Hurricane and Spitfire had droopy wings as it completely spoiled the look of the replicas.

Part way through the morning, Derek, Andy and Charlie headed off in Derek's Jeep to see what was going on at the village. While they were gone, I did a mini photoshoot with my daughter in her Land Army outfit at a few locations around the farm, then went indoors to look at the displays. They'd set up a vintage shop, house and school room, plus several other smaller displays inside the barn. It was clear that a great deal of effort had gone into the displays.

On Saturday morning, our three vehicle convoy set off the few miles to Stannington Village where we were then redirected to Lough Farm, about 3/4 mile up the road. We were told that all the vehicles were displaying at the farm. As it turned out, this wasn't true and only three Dodges and four Jeeps were at the farm, including ours. We later found out that all the other military vehicles and classic cars were in the main village show field. I originally parked the Dodge pointing in the same direction as the other vehicles, but when it became clear that nobody else would be joining us, I turned it and the trailer side on. These two Jeeps were parked near to my Dodge with the two other Jeeps along side the farm building.

Stannington Battle of Britain Day - June 18th The Stannington show was only a one day event. It really should have been two days, after the amount of effort that had gone into it and all the exhibits already there. We had planned to drive there and back in a day, but a few of the guys suggested we camp near by and make a weekend of it. So on Friday afternoon, we set off for the camp site at the former RAF Morpeth, where we'd all stayed during the easing of covid restrictions in August 2020. It was only a few miles from Stannington village. The drive there was a bit torturous and by trying to avoid the motorways and fast roads, it resulted in crawling through Gateshead and Newcastle during rush hour(s). The 30 mile trip took 90 minutes in the end. Neil's Jeep had a broken spring, so he was without his vehicle, but Chris had his Dodge, Derek and Andy came in Derek's Jeep and we had our Dodge and trailer. Despite being a breezy day, the campsite was sheltered and we had a nice evening with a pink/purple sunset.

I needed to order some aluminium angle for my observatory construction, but while I was on, I ordered some galvanised steel sheet for the garage wall. This was collected yesterday. When I get around to it, it will be hung on the wall and can store many of my magnetic Jeep markings. When I first got the magnetic plastic, I read that it was better to keep it stored attached to a flat metal surface. I don't know if it looses magnetism if stored loose? Either way, it keeps them flat and out of the way when not needed. It's not big enough for everything, so the other RAF markings are still on Jessie from the Jubilee day. Metal ( like many things ) is expensive these days, so 1.5 x 1 metres was a good compromise on storage verses price. If I need all the vehicles out without these markings, I can always stick some on the back as a temporary measure. With that in mind, I may try to mount it on hooks on the wall, so it can be lifted down to use both sides. My RAF roundels are looking quite faded now after four years and could do with the blue repainted in a darker shade.

I had a bit of a swap around this morning, to make the trailer more easily available to pack the camping gear for the next trip. It is usually parked sideways across the back of the garage with the Jeep in front. It used to live in the old garage as seen below, with the trailer tipped up and the hitch over the hood of the Jeep. Usually, the hood was open so I could access the batteries and fuel pump. I tried backing the Jeep into the new garage, but the aerial and spare wheel wouldn't clear the wall shelving, wasting around two feet of garage length. Instead I had to drive in forwards. The back of the Jeep is of course higher than the hood, making it a little harder to get the hitch between the spare wheel and aerial and over the back seat rest as the back of the trailer body was touching the ground. Fortunately, there was just enough length before the door to squeeze the trailer in.

Are you spraying or brushing? I got Cromadex for the Dodge repaint. Because of the various seams in the Dodge body, I decided to brush paint it to get into all the corners. I was also painting in the garage where the other two Jeeps were and didn't want to overspray everything. A panel was brushed out, then followed by rollering with a 4 inch glossing roller to take out the brush strokes. It was fairly quick and has given a finish that looks sprayed. I did four coats in total.

On a hunch, I suspected a poor earth was causing the trouble. The jump leads were pulled from the locker and clamped onto the Dodge tow hitch and the trailer towing eye, creating a new earth connection. The lights were turned on again and instantly, nice bright lights! The wires in the trailer plug and socket were connected as they should be, so I cleaned all the earth terminals on the trailer, but it gave no improvement. On the Dodge, the earth wire from the socket disappeared into the Dodge wiring harness and I've no idea where it went from there or where it was connected to the chassis. Rather than waste hours trying to chase where it went to, I made a temporary jumper wire from the white trailer socket wire to the Dodge chassis to make a new earth. The lights then worked as they should. This is the tail light and indicator. With the problem sorted, I made a permanent connection from the Dodge chassis to the trailer socket earth wire and checked everything once more. The last picture is the tail and brake lights. All the lights were working properly so everything was packed away in the garage again.

The first job was to change the registration. The registrations are very similar, with only four digits between the M201 and Dodge. I just have the numbers to alter with a bolt on plate. Next, all the 24 volt bulbs were removed and some 6 volt bulbs were fitted. It was connected up to the Dodge, but with very little glow resulting from the bulbs. The other bulbs in the Dodge are LEDs, as the original 6 volt tail, brake and indicators were very dim for modern roads. I didn't know whether having the mix of bulbs was causing resistance issues, so I ordered some additional 6v LEDs. June 9th On the 7th and 8th, the new LED bulb replacements arrived, so later on the 9th, I got the Jeep back out, followed by the trailer. That was pulled around to the back of the Dodge once more. The new LEDs were fitted and the trailer plug connected to the Dodge and the lights turned on - which were dim and flickering. Hmmm?

June 4th The Jeep was brought out of the garage and taken on a short drive to fill up with fuel. We had the Jubilee event on June 5th and needed fuel for that, plus it would leave it ready for other events coming over the next few weeks. The fuel trip and Jubilee event were only the second and third outings for the Jeep this year. While the Jeep was out of the garage, it gave me the opportunity to do some tinkering with the trailer. Later this month, we'll be taking the Dodge to an event where we are camping for the weekend. For that, I wanted to tow the trailer behind the Dodge. Getting the trailer out wasn't quite so easy as normal. With the GPW up on axle stands, it was in the way and wouldn't roll, to allow the trailer hitch to clear the rear body. I had to drop the GPW down off the stands and move the back end over towards the Dodge to give me the space I needed.

Plantinum Jubilee Street Party - June 5th This outing wasn't one originally planned for the Jeep. We'd been invited to a friend's house for a Plantinum Jubilee celebration street party. Our friends had decided on a 1950s theme to tie in with the original coronation. We were intending to go in the normal car, but the street was holding a competition for the best decorations and garden display, so we thought the Jeep would add to the overall effect. The British forces were still using Jeeps at the time and National Service was in force, so I'd put the RAF markings back on the Jeep and would go in my RAF gear. Wanting to out-do their neighbours, our friends asked if we had any bunting we could bring. "Yes, of course we do, left over from our VE Day celebrations. But why don't we bring our big Union Flag and 15 feet flagpole too?" So after a chilly 15 mile drive to our friend's house, we set to work with the additional bunting and flagpole. With that done, it was time for the tables and chairs and then checking out the competition elsewhere in the street. Several houses along the street had made an effort to decorate their gardens, but our friends ( with a little help from us ) took joint first place for best decorative effort and display.

It would have been nice if the council had required vintage signs above all the shops in the market place to keep the character of the place, but time moves on and we are being left further behind each day.

The Durham Light Infantry Memorial. I don't know when this was installed, but it may have been after the DLI Museum was closed by the council a few years ago to save money. This was pre-covid. They now plan to open it again. Other than the cold and my grudge against the BBC weather forecasters, it was a nice day catching up with people and getting back out to events again. Unfortunately, no more events for us until June. More pictures here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/durham.htm

Even though I'm a Jeep owner, row upon row of just Jeeps can be a little dull, despite each owner trying to make their vehicle stand out from the rest with various period canvas and steel bling! The vehicles were spread around the marketplace, though more concentrated towards the top end. It's a shame the sun wasn't out as forecast, but at least it did dry up and there were some good coffee shops and food outlets near by to take a break from the cold.

The rain didn't last too long, but the cold and damp remained for most of the day. It didn't prevent a good turnout of vehicles, re-enactors and dioramas. There were also lots of public who took a genuine interest, some having their own family stories of WW2. There was also a nice variety of vehicles on show, with three Dodges, a number of Jeeps, but also civilian and staff cars, a bike, plus an Austin Firetruck.

Durham Marketplace Nostalgia Day - May 2nd We had the Dodge out again today, at our second event of the year at the Durham Marketplace Nostalgia Day. Sadly, we've now got 25% of the 2022 events behind us. There's not many events to attend this year around our area, with several cancelled for various reasons. Some are still short on money following two years lost to covid. Being on the doorstep, it didn't take us long to get there and we hadn't been set up long before the rain arrived. Now that wasn't in the forecast that I saw just before we left. Wish I'd had my flying jacket, but I foolishly believed the BBC's "Sunny Intervals" for the morning.

We all caught the sun today and my daughter was so exhausted ( both from the day and a sleepover two days ago ), that she slept all the way home!

Heugh Battery was one of three erected in 1860 to protect the fast-growing port of Hartlepool. Heugh Battery is the only WW1 battlefield in the United Kingdom, after the German Navy attacked the battery on December 16th 1914, trying to provoke small naval engagements to whittle down the British fleet.

Not too long after we got there, the sun broke through and it ended up being a really hot day and a great first event of the season. There was a good turnout of vehicles and re-enactors and a great turnout of public.

Heugh Battery - April 16th It was a misty and damp start to the drive to Heugh Battery in Hartlepool for our first event of 2022. It was a 38 mile round trip, cutting cross country on the slower roads, but we almost got to the point where we could see the battery and then discovered a road close sign. The diversion signs weren't great, but Google maps came to the rescue.