Jessie The Jeep

No, because I was brushing it on. It was thin enough from the tin to brush out well, followed a few minutes later by the glossing roller.

It turned out a nice day after lunch and the colours in our mini-woodland looked fantastic in the bright sun. I thought it would make a great background for some pictures of the Dodge and since it was already on the lawn, took the opportunity.

Dodge Working on the Railway - June 9th The Dodge has already been put to work in the garden. On the 9th, it was put to work again. Part of the garden landscaping includes building a garden railway; a fullsize railway! It's only a small length as a garden feature, as there used to be a railway here in years gone by. The longest lengths of rail weigh close to 400 pounds and the railway was being built right at the bottom of the garden. There was no way I was going to be able to carry the rail there, but it would be light work for the Dodge. There were four rails to be moved. It took four and a half hours to rig them all on the crane, move them all to the build site and assemble the track. I need to order some ballast next. That's another delivery to the front of the house, so the Dodge will be working once more.

Mine on the Dodge took quite a while to dull down. I brushed it on, then went over with a glossing roller to take the brush strokes out. Coat number one was quite thin. The second coat covered well. In the end, it had four coats and dulled down nicely.

D-Day Drive - June 6th Late afternoon on June 6th, I took the GPW for a D-Day anniversary drive. Earlier in the day, I'd been out in the normal car and spotted some poppies in the village. I thought they'd look nice in a photo with the Jeep. After my daughter was home from school, we went for a short drive to look for some other poppies around the local area. Considering the anniversary, the poppy stop seemed appropriate.

My Dodge sat on axle stands for a year through covid. During that time I also moved house, so by the time I finally went to collect it from the storage yard, the petrol ( E5 ) was almost 2 years old. It still started up fine on 6 volts and once out of its shipping container, I added 10 gallons of fresh fuel and drove it home - no problems at all.

A battle was held on the beach each day at noon. I didn't see the Saturday battle, but the last of the mist was still clearing at the time, so it wouldn't have been great for photos. I believe the Germans were attacking on Saturday. On Sunday, the sky was clear and it was the turn of the British to storm the beach and carry the fight into the dunes to capture the Germans. There were also firing demonstrations from some of the re-enactor groups. The event finished at 4pm, but I'd already got my tent and camping gear packed into the trailer by then. This allowed a fairly quick getaway for the hour trip home. It then took a couple of hours to get the Jeep out, empty the Dodge and trailer and put the trailer away, put the Jeep away, take the canvas, bows and crane off the Dodge and finally put that back in the garage. For the full set of pictures, visit - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/blyth.htm

The next few photos are of the gun battery and its associated buildings. On a Saturday evening walk, I also spotted a pill box on the edge of the beach at the far North of the site. The two 6 inch guns are replicas, fitted in 2019.

No, it clashes with another event I attend.

Many of the dioramas had a large amount of kit on show, so I've combined several photos from each group. I've tried to include all the displays in the attached pictures, but I know some have been missed or not shown in their entirety.

In addition to the various dioramas, a number of vehicles were parked up around the battery and towards the edge of the car park. Some only attended for one day of the show. These were a mix of military and civilian vehicles.

The sea breeze pulled the temperature down a little on Saturday and it took until late morning to burn the sea mist off. The misty start didn't stop the public turning out in their thousands. An email on Monday from the organiser, estimated around 46,000 visitors across the two days of the show. The show itself is located around the gun battery. The displays are on either side of the battery complex, a few on the edge of the car park, in addition to the museum exhibits within the gun battery buildings. Looking at how far the displays were spread along the sea front this year, it looked to have been the biggest show so far; certainly since my first trip there in 2009. The show field to the North of the battery was full and to the South, the displays were spread along both sides of the coastal path, much further than usual. In past years, the area to the South was always the German area, but this year, there were so many displays, it also included a US re-enactor and vehicle group.

Blyth Battery Goes to War - May 20/21st In past years, the weather at Blyth Battery hasn't always been friendly! As a result, rather than camp, I've travelled to Blyth each day. Since moving to Durham from Washington, it's added another 12 miles each way to the trip, so to save fuel, I took the Dodge and decided to camp for the weekend. This year, the event had unusually good weather. I arrived on Friday afternoon to sunshine, clear sky and no wind ( I had to check I was at the right place!! ). It was hot work setting up camp, but a nice change for Blyth! The clear sky allowed the temperature to drop quite a bit overnight.

Is the starter motor new, overhauled, or old and untouched? My Ford starting got slower and slower with a new battery and it was the starter motor that burned out. I replaced the starter and all was well.

Sounds like an earth problem or a loose/dirty contact somewhere.

I stayed with my display chatting to the public for the rest of the day. I had my K-20 aircrew camera, stereoscope, RAF photo album, target photos, film containers and developing trays and chemicals on show. There was a large number of people really interested and told me that they found it more fascinating than the displays with weapons. Many were impressed by the 3D image provided by the stereoscope and surprised by the weight of the camera. Late in the afternoon, I packed up most of the contents of my tent, ready for when I was able to bring the car and trailer around to collect it all. As the public drifted away at the end of the day, I took "Hope" back over to the Halifax to get a few more pictures in the sun, rather than a thunderstorm! Further pictures of the show can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/elvington.htm

Due to watching over my display, I didn't get to see much of the museum or displays on Saturday, so went for a wander first thing on Sunday before I set anything up. The first stop was the T2 hangar. One end was very empty, the normal parking spot for the Halifax, but the rest of the hangar was full of aircraft. They are well laid out and it didn't feel like everything was crammed in. The far end of the hangar seems to be a conservation area where a Gloster Meteor was being worked on. From the main hangar, I moved on to some of the smaller aircraft storage sheds, followed by the other buildings.

SUNDAY 7th First thing on Sunday morning, I moved the Jeep a bit closer to my display table and parked at an angle compared to Saturday. The picture through the windscreen shows lots of the public sitting at the picnic tables. Over both days of the show, there was more than double the usual attendance compared to a typical weekend. This was an especially impressive turnout, as on Saturday, it was the King's Coronation. For those wanting to attend the event, but not miss the coronation, it was shown live in the base cinema.

SATURDAY 6th - "Hope's" Birthday There was more rain overnight, however Saturday started dull and dry. Here's a few of the other displays. Despite a poor forecast, the weather stayed dry until about 5pm when everyone was packing up for the day anyway.

I returned to the tent for a while, reading a wartime book about Bomber Command until the sky began to darken. After some additional rain showers, I then went back out for some more atmospheric pictures of the Halifax in the dusk light. I got some silhouettes of the Dakota against the fading sky before noticing the Full Moon rising in the South East - a Bomber's Moon. I wanted to try and get the Halifax along with the Moon, but the position of the Moon and the hangar didn't lend themselves to a good composition. The picture below was the best I could manage, as the pitch of the hangar roof, continued to block the Moon as it rose.

Eventually the sky did clear and I took some additional pictures with the Halifax before moving the Jeep to the Dakota. After a few further pictures there, I returned the Jeep to my tent and got something to eat. Later in the evening, I went for a walk around the site, looking at the original wartime buildings and outdoor exhibits. The hangars and other buildings were all locked up by this time. The aircraft were spread around the site, with those shown below, at the end of the site nearest the airfield. More aircraft were parked along the road that runs parallel to the hangar, with further aircraft at the far end of the hangar. The more fragile aircraft, particularly those fabric covered were all indoors.

Yorkshire Air Museum, "We'll Meet Again" & GPW 80th Birthday Outing - May 6/7th 2023 As mentioned in the previous post, I was going to take "Jessie" to Elvington, but the change in circumstances meant that "Hope" would have a chance for some public attention for her 80th birthday! This event is one of the rare events where the museum brings their Handley Page Halifax bomber outdoors. As my GPW has never been to Elvington, it was a chance to have a GPW/Halifax photoshoot, rather than my M201 as in past years. FRIDAY 5th The forecast for the weekend wasn't great, with heavy rain showers predicted all weekend, but I got there mid afternoon on Friday and got the tent set up in dry weather. I even started the photoshoot with the Jeep and Halifax before the thunder and then rain started. I quickly fitted the roof and then hid in the hangar, waiting for the rain to pass. As it eased, I came out of hiding and got some more pictures in the rain before the blue sky finally appeared.

Not sure about the oil pump tolerances, but having a missing pipe on the rear bearing is apparently ok. I was having a problem with a leaking rear oil seal and Cliff at Universal Jeep Parts said later engines omitted the pipe and told me it was ok to remove the pipe on mine. This increases the hole from about 3/8in of the original pipe to about 1/2in opening, allowing the oil to flow more freely, reducing pressure on the rear oil seal.

I'm heading off on my adventrures again this coming weekend, to a 1940s show at the Yorkshire Air Museum. I was going to convoy my M201 "Jessie", along with a friend in his Jeep, but his clutch failed last week, so his Jeep is in bits. As a result, I'm going to stick "Hope" my 43 GPW on the flatbed trailer and tow it there rather than driving the M201. The Ford isn't wired up to tow the Jeep trailer, so I'll stick it on the flatbed and put all my camping gear in the car. It's quicker, cheaper, warmer and more comfy towing. Driving the Jeep would have been pretty much the same route I took to the York Crank Up on April the 16th in the M201. It would have been around two and a half hours, but on the flatbed, I can take the motorway and speed up the trip. Unfortunately, the weather isn't looking too good so far. The other reason for the change of vehicle is that I want to treat "Hope" to a special show for her birthday. On Saturday 6th May, my GPW will be 80 years old! I've only had the M201 and Dodge at the Yorkshire Air Museum shows, so it's time "Hope" got to enjoy some public attention and a photoshoot with the Halifax and Dakota.

If it is taxed now, it is in the system and you should get a reminder through the post as with any other car, except this one will have Nil rate on the renewal cost.