Jessie The Jeep

Fishburn Airfield for Breakfast - January 15th 2023 We had our first outing of the year today, taking both Jeeps out and meeting up with a friend at a local airfield. Full details in my other Jeep thread here -

Near the airfield on the way there, there was quite a long down hill stretch before the airfield turning. It was on this hill where Jessie blew out a load of coolant heading home in 2021. I wanted to avoid this long up hill drag and found a detour on Google Earth the night before. The detour was a nicer single track lane through open country and woodland. My daughter grabbed this shot of Lynne following us in Jessie near the end of the lane, shortly before be joined the main road again. A few more pictures can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/fishburn_jan.htm

It was a chilly drive but the nice warm cafe and great food was a welcome end to the trip. After we came back out of the cafe, we moved the Jeeps around from the car park to the near by field for a few photos with a nicer background. Unfortunately we were looking into the sun when trying to get the aircraft collection in the background and this is the best compromise I could manage. I didn't want to take the Jeeps right over to the aircraft without permission and couldn't see anyone who seemed in charge.

Fishburn Airfield for Breakfast - January 15th 2023 We started our military vehicle year with a meet up at Fishburn Airfield for a late breakfast. With storm force winds the night before, we didn't confirm our plans until Sunday morning. It was still quite breezy, so I fitted the canvasses on both Jeeps, particularly for my daughter in the back seat. Lynne and I took both of our Jeeps and we met up with Andy and Claire at the airfield where Andy brought his new Jeep along. This was the Jeep we collected at the end of October, shown earlier in this thread. Fishburn was a fairly central meeting point for us both and we arrived about two minutes before Andy. Andy is waiting for warmer weather to add his chosen 9th Air Force markings to his Jeep.

When the steering wheel is chained up overnight, the seat cushion can't be lifted, so no access to the tank.

I've never had a problem with E5 before, which is why I suspect it was the wrong batch from the filling station pump. I've never had petrol turn so green.

Been there and done that, but was way too much hassle and not worth the price difference for the lost fuel volume compared to just buying E5. That's why I buy E5 fuel, not E10. The E5 should have minimal ethanol, but in this case, the water absorbsion of the fuel suggested the pump had dispensed something other than E5.

Yes, typo.

Jeep Winter Photoshoot - December 15th A few days later on December the 15th, there'd been more snow, so I took "Jessie" the M201 out for a play in the snow. I waited until my daughter was home from school, as I knew I'd be in trouble if I went out in the snow without her! The late start meant we were out for sun set, catching a nice orange fireball sun contrasting with the white landsape. GPW Winter Photoshoot - December 24th Nine days later on the 24th, we had one more run out, this time in "Hope". By now the snow had all melted, leaving lots of flooded fields. Heavy rain had washed away most of the road salt, so we had a good 18 mile run around the country lanes in the area to give the Ford a longer test following the fuel system flush. Despite many railways cancelling their 1940s weekends due to the war in Ukraine, we ended up with a healthy season of events and outings.

Remembrance Day Tour - November 11th November the 11th was Remembrance Day, with Remembrance Sunday two days later. I took "Jessie" out again on the 11th, visiting five local war memorials, stopping at one for the two minutes silence. The Jeep was out again on the Sunday for the Remembrance service at the local church, which has one of the memorials in the church yard. Dodge Winter Photoshoot - December 9th As we moved into December and saw the temperatures dropping, I was hoping for snow. In its Flying Control scheme, the Dodge usually spent the winter in its shipping container storage, a few miles from home. The battery was normally removed for maintenance charging, and so the Dodge rarely ventured out in the winter months. Since moving to a house with a garage big enough for the Dodge, it was easily accessible and could be wintered in a roadworthy condition. It had never seen winter weather since its time in the Norwegian army, so I was really pleased to see snow start to fall on December 8th. It wasn't a heavy covering, but enough to be on the road by 09:20hrs on Friday 9th December. A local drive brought me my long awaited Dodge in the snow pictures.

Ford GPW Test Drive and Two Jeep Fuel Stop - October 16th In the middle of October, we took both Jeeps for a local run and fuel top up before the winter set it. I prefer to keep the tanks nearer to full over the winter to minimise condensation in the tanks, 'though the vehicles aren't hibernated. Colours of Autumn Jeep Drive - October 22nd A week later on the 22nd, I was on my own for the weekend, so took "Jessie" out for a colours of Autumn drive. A week later would have probably seen better colours, but the weather forecast for the following week wasn't great.

Ford GPW Test Drive - September 30th Work on the house and garden has eased a little, finally giving me some time to look at "Hope" the GPW, which had been hibernating since September 2021 with a rough running engine. On September 30th, the Jeep was ready for a test drive, so I went for a short run around the local lanes. All went well. Vehicle Wash and Photoshoot - October 1st The day after, I gave all the vehicles a jetwash, to get the dust and dirt from 2022 washed off. I had some paint touch ups to do and wanted them clean before I start splashing paint around. It gave me the opportunity to get all three vehicles together for the first time outdoors, since the Dodge was repainted last year.

Fishburn Airfield "Wings & Wheels" - September 17th Two weeks after Beamish, on September 17th, I took "Jessie" to the Fishburn airfield "Wings, Wheels & Living History" event. Bit of a breezy day, but plenty of displays to see, not just from World War 2. Tanfield Railway 1940s Weekend - September 24th & 25th One more week later, "Jessie" and "Faith" were out together again for the Tanfield Railway 1940s weekend. The last time we were there was 2019, but it has taken the railway some time to recover from the covid shutdown. Tanfield is the world's oldest railway, beginning life as a wooden wagonway in 1725. They are planning some special events for their 300th anniversary. Once each day, we took a convoy of vehicles down the main road to visit the station at the far end of the line for a coffee and cake stop.

Beamish "Dig for Victory" - August 30th ~ September 2nd The Beamish event itself was from September 1st to the 4th. As usual, we had the freedom to drive around the 350 acre site, setting up displays at various locations for a while, before moving on to somewhere else. This gave the public a dynamic, constantly changing display and plenty of convoys to see on the road. There's lots of period buildings for backdrops to pictures, most being in the town and pit village.

Ryhope Pumping Station NEMVC Rally - August 28th Over the last weekend in August, the North East Military Vehicle Club hosted their annual show at Ryhope Pumping Station - a Victorian steam powered water pump originally used to supply water to the local town. It was another day out for the Jeep and Dodge. It is now a museum, but the beam engine is still operated on open days. Here's a video from our 2018 visit Beamish "Dig for Victory" - August 30th~ Over the last couple of days in August, We got the Jeep and Dodge over to Beamish and our camp set up ready for the "Dig for Victory" show.

Land Army Photoshoot and Drive - July 20th July 20th was my daughter's last half day at school before the Summer holidays started. Since the weather was nice, we'd decided to go for a Jeep ride, screen down around the local lanes. Seeing that the crops were tall in the fields, we made it a Land Army photoshoot, stopping at a few places on route for pictures. Breighton Aerodrome - Vintage World Aerobatics Championship - August 19/20th A month later, over the third weekend in August, Breighton Aerodrome hosted the World Vintage Aerobatics Championship. Entries came from all over Europe and once again, we had glorious weather. "Jessie" was back there again and this time, after the event, my daughter had her first proper drive of the Jeep, up and down the airfield.

Breighton Aerodrome "Lancaster G - George" Day - July 16th Another two weeks went by , taking us to July 16th. It was time for the Breighton Aerodrome "Lancaster G-George Day", celebrating one of the Lancasters that was based at Brieghton during WW2. We had a small display by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster, the crew of which had postponed a trip to the International Air Tattoo, so they could fly for us. Saturday evening ended with the usual hangar party - and a Jeep drag race along the airfield, in the dark!! Not the fastest of races, but fun!!

Bowes Railway - June 26th In late June, it was the first opportunity to take two vehicles to an event. It was the Bowes Railway 1940's weekend. I missed Saturday due to being at a fly-in in Yorkshire, but "Jessie" and "Faith" were both out on parade for Sunday. Chester-le-Street Steam Fair - July 9/10th Two weeks later in early July, I had the Dodge at the Chester-le-Street Steam and Vintage Fair. On Saturday, the engine was trying to cut out during the parade lap. On Sunday, it wouldn't start at all. It turned out that the condenser had failed, which had only been fitted at the start of the season.

Plantinum Jubilee Street Party - June 5th The Queen's Plantinum Jubilee in early June, was to be celebrated by some friends with a street party. We weren't originally going to take the Jeep, but they were looking for things to make their house stand out. With the Red, white and blue RAF roundels added, "Jessie" seemed appropriately decorated for the occasion. Stannington Battle of Britain Day - June 18th A couple of weeks after that, we took "Faith" the Dodge North into Northumberland for the Stannington village "80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain". The sharped eyed will have realised that should have happened in 2020, but we all know what happened that year. Restrictions still hadn't eased enough in 2021, so the event was put back another year to 2022.

Heugh Battery - April 16th Our first event was at Heugh Coastal Gun Battery, near Hartlepool. This is Britain's only World War 1 battlefield, first opened in 1860. On 16 December 1914, a German Naval Fleet bombarded the coast. The leading German battle cruiser fired a shell which struck less than 100 metres from the battery. This marked the first death in action of a soldier on British soil in World War I. Durham Marketplace Nostalgia Day - May 2nd A little over two weeks later at the start of May, there was a gathering of vehicles in Durham City market place for their 1940s day. The thirteen vehicles were spread around the market place, so only a few show up in my pictures.

2022 would be the first full season for the Dodge in its new scheme, but I was down to two vehicles for most of the year. "Hope", our '43 GPW, had been running rough towards the end of the 2021 show and with our house move and all the things needing to be done on the new property, I just hadn't got the time to start investigating. Dodge Pre-Season Drive - March 27th While not a harsh winter, the roads through the village had been frequently gritted, so I didn't take any vehicles out until the end of March, where "Faith" the Dodge was given a pre-season run around some of the local country lanes. Test Drive & School Run - April 6th About a week later, I took "Jessie" the M201, on the school run. I'd recently done some maintenance and wanted a short run our to see that all was well.

That hut wasn't at Cassop, it was closer to Sherburn.

Another picture at the foot of Cassop hill before heading more towards home. We stopped off again near an old Nissen hut, which was probably moved and converted into a garage. I can't find any record of a military site at this location. From there we headed home for lunch. That puts about 28 miles on the Jeep over three trips, since the fuel tank was flushed out and it was returned to the road. All seemed well, although the brakes are pulling to the right ever so slightly. Something to adjust when the weather warms up.

Coming through Old Cassop, we passed a stable and donkeys, but no sign of a star, Mary or Joseph! Perhaps there was room at the Inn after all! We dropped down the other side of the hill and made a couple more stops for pictures.

Part of the route was a hill climb to Old Cassop, with a great view from the top of the hill. I should have tried to get here when it was covered in snow. A short video of the Cassop hill climb and a drive along sun set lane, later in the trip.