M5Clive

Sorry I didn't get the chance to breeze-past on Friday afternoon when I hoped to Paul (I got weigh-leighed in Felixstowe driving my new purchase around the streets!) but the Chev looks far better than you had given me reason to believe! As the late Alan Chapman regularly used to say when he was trying to close a deal on any potential purchaser of his military stock ~ "A weeks hard work and that'll be fine...."

I'm so pleased you are coming up Jack as you have just saved me the price of a second class stamp and saved me the job of hunting out your address from under piles of paperwork! Looking forward to the weekend, the convoys, the flying displays, (the sunshine?) and of course the good company from those folks on here who are planning to attend. A couple of pictures from 2008 (just to temp you) which demonstrates how good the convoys were. Should arrive Friday night all being well - First trip of the year for the caravan, so i'll be taking it steady. (Better clean the green residue off the sides............I hate that job!)

This thread has been brilliant! I've just purchased a 352 Hard Cab which really needs basically the same treatment as can be seen here, but obviously slightly different as its the closed tin cab with opening doors. Reading this thread has reminded me again after almost two decades since seeing an open cab in pieces just how much work the job of stripping a GMC cab and doing a proper repair job entails. All power to your elbow old boy and lets hope you make that ferry!

I think the inclusion of the Sexton from Fort Nelson with the 'firing gun' will not only add to the spectacular of the Bank holiday Monday convoy through the village, but will also create quite a stir during the arena display! Keith also told me today that he has two C-47's displaying as well as the Spitfire dog fight with the ME-108, so I'm not sure the village knows what they have let themselves in for!

Hi Lofty! Nice to see you here. Now don't go selling that K2 in a hurry as we shall want it again for the next Operation Bolero event in Suffolk in 2011. It looked great parked beside the Tower at Framlingham in 2007. Cheers Clive

I think this is my favourite Spitfire picture that I have taken over the years. Unlike most of the other pic's in this thread, it gives an aerial advantage for the photographer! It rather looks like the Kent 'Garden of England' below during wartime with the coast in the distance, but in actual fact it is Suffolk in the summer of 2008! It could almost pass for a female ferry pilot going about her daily duties, but as many will know, it is actually Carolyn Grace, up from Bentwaters, Suffolk in her trusty Spit of many years. I also quite like this shot as well of Peter Teichman, owner of the Hangar 11 Collection at North Weald, dropping in for some lunch at Maurice Hammond's airstrip in Norfolk on a Sunday lunchtime in 2008 - He must have heard the kettle boiling!

Who's sharp enough to remember which photograph is the red herring? Full marks for spotting the odd photo out! You see, it takes a bit of local knowledge to know your petrol station forecourts countrywide! Mind you, Phil did say he used a lot of petrol in the Half Track on 'Route to Victory,' but if he filled up in Framlingham, that probably why............!

Some great pictures and thanks very much for taking the effort to share. The Dodge Ambulance in Desert paint scheme is so rare and the Weapons Carrier and Jeeps showing the star in a Blue circle, much the same as they painted on the early B-17's and C-47's in the ETO and MTO is fascinating.

Not dead, but I agree that things have been dormant for a while, so high time for an update! Ed Abbott, my partner Suzanne and myself organise this even out of passion, ambition and the desire to want to do it. Only if we feel these three key ingredients will the event work - and exceed everyones expectations, including our own. Home life has been pretty hectic since the last Bolero in 2007, with plenty to keep us diverted from doing another one - A new baby, building a new house, becoming a director of the business that I run etc etc, you simply cannot do it all and if I don't have enough free time to commit to putting together an event, then I won't do a half hearted effort either! I still can't quite believe that it was June 2007 that we did the last one - It only seems like last year. However, both Ed and I are responsible for the planning, running and general organisation of the Route to Victory convoys in Wiltshire in May this year. We also did the same for the 2008 Route to Victory. Those loyal followers who attend our convoy's 'country wide' will know how much fun the 'Route to Victory' convoy weekends are and will appreciate that we simply cannot do both in a year - It is just too much. Therefore, the plan as far as i see it is to do RTV one year and Operation Bolero the next, which will mean we are due for a Bolero in 2011. The event takes about a year to put together and as you can see from all the comments on this thread, people are eager for it to run again and people have been very constructive in their comments on what they want from the event. So to conclude, yes we still plan to do the event again. For those wanting Bolero more central in the Country be sure to book into Route to Victory this May Bank Holiday weekend which is looking to be another corker and for those who prefer to keep their bar tread in East Anglia it will be Bolero 2011, somewhere in Eight Air Force territory! Not forgetting Jack's exciting new venture in deepest Dorset of course in June this year which seems to be attracting a great deal of interest as well - After all, he did learnt from the best!!

A couple more pictures from the last one to wet the appetite of anyone who missed it! Who's sharp enough to remember which photograph is the red herring?

I was born in Savernake Hospital too! We used to keep our fleet of four GMC CCKW's at a farm at Burbage for many years before I relocated to Suffolk and Neil moved to Notts. We always took our Red Ball Express convoys of the early 1990's up that hill as well, just to separate the men from the boys on slick gear changing!

Having seen the M10 shortly after it arrived at Adrian's and sit there for many years, I am finding this thread is absolutely fascinating. Isn't it marvelous that there are collectors out there who have the resources to fund these kind of mammoth projects, because it will be to all of our benefits (not just the proud owner) when we see this machine trundle through the streets of Dorset in the summer. This kind of project is totally out of my league, but I'm so glad that there are people out there who commit the huge amounts of resources into restorations of this nature. This has been a real eye-opener. Thanks for taking the time to post all these pictures - Not a 10 minute job in its own right; I don't know where you find the time!!

Back in 1989, we did a Vehicle Display in Hungerford High Street with the GMC 352, Dodge WC-51 and a Willys MB for a local military modelling group who were putting on a display in the Town Hall. Amongst the many modelers there was a chap who was a schoolboy during the Americans tenure in the Kennet Valley, who was also a military modeler himself. When he saw Colin Spencer's Willys MB he said "Blimey this takes me back" and he started to open up. The top and bottom of the story is that as a young boy, he saw a crated Jeep buried by the Americans (He thinks in the final days leading up to their departure shortly before D-Day) using a large US Military dozer. The reason he knew it to be a Crated Jeep was because he had been on site in the camp previously when he had watched these vehicles be assembled from crated condidtion. The location of his recollection? - Sole Wood, in close proximity to the Sherman Turret pictured in Neil's initial photograph at the start of this thread. I did eagerly ask him to return to the location with me in order to pin-point the spot, but he declined, saying that he had only recently been walking through those very woods trying to trace where it would have been, but after 45 years and with so much dense woodland growth in the interim years, he found the whole camp entirely unrecognisable. Even though it was 21 years ago, I recall this man's name clearly and his soft spoken recollection of all those earlier was total fact. He wasn't out to impress, nor brag - in-fact it took much coaxing on my part to get as much out of him as I did. I've never forgotten his story though and on the rare occasion I have cause to pass-by the spot in question, i often wonder. In answer to the speculation of rumours about 3 scrapped Flying Fortreses, well, i can indeed prove beyond any doubt that the Yanks did certainly intentionally bury aircraft parts by the gross load. The pictures taken below by myself were of a dig I participated on during October and much of the pieces recovered were B-17 components! This dig was organised by a well established aviation recovery group which has been going many years and I was very much on a big learning curve, but it was an incredible experience to witness! These two pictures show a B-17 G engine nacel panel from an aircraft of the 490th BG from Eye Airfield, Suffolk, that had a taxing accident on 17th October 1944 and was salavaged. Good crew chief's put there individual aircraft serial numbers on many of the removable panels to speed up the refitting process - It also made it much easier for us 65 years later to identify where the parts had come from! Lots of heavy metal comes out of the ground some from just 6 inches deep! The large sections of aircraft manifolds unearthed! After having a manifold section bead blasted by a local company, the manufacturers data plate reveals a wealth of information and the unit is in excellent condition, more than capable of being returned to flight on a vintage B-17! Many of the parts recovered could be traced to individual aircraft. Of note a number of units from B-17's of the 95th, 96th, 490th and 401st Bomb Groups were discovered.

How an earth do you manage to take nearly 1000 pictures at Hendon and Duxford (with all but one of the hangars closed) when I could only struggle to take just over 700 when I spent half a day flying aboard the B-17 G Liberty Belle last year! That said, I just don't know how you find the time to upload and present all your photos on here with so much detailed information - You've just saved me £16 quid! Seasons Greeting and happy birthday too!

My only concern Lloyd is how your going to get 'in and out' beside that spare wheel as your WC51 is the early variant with the small fuel filler and where the body is snug up to the spare wheel with no access gap between. The Mrs. isn't going to like getting 'in and out' every time you move from the hot seat............Here's a characterful shot of Telly Savalas himself at Rougham in August!

I found one of the original pictures I was looking for and also one of my old WC-56, now sold to a HMVF'er in Holland and pounding the roads near Arnhem. As I said earlier, if you look through all the 8th AF unit histories and look under the motor pool section, it is rare to find a picture of a Dodge either with a winch or a spare wheel fitted beside the driver - the above shot taken not 500 yards from where my house is built, being an exception!

Hi Jimmy Snapped a quick shot of your 51 as you chugged around the pit at Wantisden in September trying to avoid getting it too dusty! For what its worth, I prefer the 51 and if you look at USAAF photographs of vehicles in England, especially East Anglia, you will struggle to find a WC-52 Weapons Carrier or a WC-57 Command Car. I had my WC-56 marked up as 490th as I live on the edge of the airfield at Brome, but I do have an original picture of a 51 at Brome in 490th markings that I will have to look out for you. Trust you enjoyed the burgers last Sunday and mince pies!

Hi Robert Mention that your a friend of mine (Clive of the Benham Encampment) and that should do the trick! "At least twice the original price...............!"

I was with Maurice Hammond yesterday and he showed me the proposed running schedule for the aircraft displays. From memory it included Vulcan XH558, Hammond P-51, Old Flying Machine P-51 and Spit, BBMF, B-17 Sally B and a Hurricane from memory, but dont quote me. Quite what the Vulcan's place at the WWII Victory Show is, I'm not entirely sure, but I doubt their will be many complaints - Especially if the pyro-display planned for the low level run comes off as planned!

Very good Bodge - That has made me laugh out loud!

No probs. Well done for flying the 'Bolero' flag though - Always gives me a sense of pride when I see someone wearing one of the T-Shirts. Guess it tells me that a) people are proud to be associated with the event b) I clearly need to supply cheaper shirts in the future if those ones have lasted two years already! Will they last until the next one in 2011 ?

Yes indeed - I was rail-roaded into driving the Fordson as no-one else was keen and once I got into the spirit of travelling at 1.5 mph, I quite enjoyed it! Some say I took-off the part of the farmer just a bit too well!

It wasn't only Jack who got scalped....... One of the Pathfinder Tents also had a close shave and prop-wash!

As I was driving the Land Army Girls tractor (Standard Fordson N for the Wurzels here) I saw a woman walking in a Bolero T-Shirt.............I waved, but she recognised me and hid-up!

XH558 flew right over our house on Fathers Day. I heard a jet aircraft and ambled outside expecting to see a KC-135 Tanker going towards RAF Mildenhall and low and behold is was the Vulcan flying pretty low, below the cloud base. Apparently, it was in-bound from Holland and heading to Kemble Airshow, via Duxford military vehicle Day and if you draw a line between them, it crosses our house! How lucky was I !