matchlesswdg3

Selling my 1985 Armstrong MT500; its a nice complete, straight, original machine as cast by the Army with all the bits it should have. The motor was recently rebuilt by Force Motorcycles with new piston, gaskets, etc and it has a new rear chain. Has correct pannier frames and a couple of serviceable correct bags. Cosmetically good, but on SORN because the wiring needs sorting. Previous owner had upgraded the fuse box, etc but has mucked up the wiring. I have too many projects to make a start on it but its available for what I paid for it...£1300. No offers; I will keep it and fix it.....eventually....if no one wants it at that price, but its a shame to have a good bike standing idle. I am in Kent. Pic below shows its bones while I was cleaning it up. No rust!

I just wanted a Tiny Tim to go in the WC54. I think the Onan would have been carried by the unit's GS trucks as I think its quite a big/heavy bit of kit? No idea what type it was.

I have a book (The Secret Wireless War) that lists equipment carried by the British Special Communications/Liaison Units post Normandy that handled the secret Ultra traffic. This included a Tiny Tim for battery charging and an American Onan for generating power. But their kit was specialised and included radio gear not issued to the Army, for example. Although I said Royal Signals, they were composite units and included Intelligence Corps officers and other specialists. The vehicles included stripped out Dodge WC 54s for use in the American sector and Guy 15cwt wireless vans in the British sector!

Hi, Dean.......I have been looking for one of these units for my display, so I can at least tell you that they were used by Royal Signals units during the Normandy campaign for recharging radio batteries. They were carried on a variety of RS vehicles. But I am sure their application was very diverse.

This is a photo of the facia I plan to recreate.....

Thanks, Gordon!

I have been looking around for the above WW2 transmitter as made by the Whaddon Hall team but as I suspect these are rare and expensive (??) and I do not really need a working set, I thought I would try to put together a dummy set. It was a very basic bit of kit to look at, so I only need a few components. Where is the best place to have a rake around to put together the required controls? EBay has a few bits with things like a couple of period looking on/off toggle switches, for example, but they seem crazy prices. Also, the rectangular bakelite knobs for ariel, tank, etc adjustment seem available on eBay only from the US and so expensive with post and customs. Are there such things as electronic component jumbles?

What is the consensus on using sand as a blast medium when cleaning machinery, such as the gearbox shown above? I know that you need to spend time blanking things off, but in the motorcycle world, people seem to be using blasting complete engines, etc, ( as opposed to components that can be cleaned off easily afterwards) with great caution and then only with media such as soda.

Goran, via this forum, I was kindly advised of the following book that contains a reasonable amount of detail on the Mobile units that formed an adjunct to Bletchley Park. Enough information anyhow to recreate the WC54 they used when attached to US units. The photo above attached by Tony is included in that book and there is some information on how they were kitted out. The book: "The Secret Wireless War" by Geoffrey Pidgeon.

Thanks, again Tony. I now have that photo in Geoffrey Pidgeon's excellent book on the whole subject and it does seem to indicate that the red crosses were painted out.......which I guess they should have done to comply with international law.

I have a Dodge WC54 ambulance currently under full restoration. The idea is to re-create a Special Communications Unit WC54 as used by British communucations teams when operating in the US sectors of the post-Normandy campaign theatre (these handled the top level intelligence from Bletchley Park, direct to the US top brass). These Dodges were delivered to Bletchley in normal ambulance form; the Brits left on the US numbers but I think must have painted out the red crosses (data I have is unclear on that); interior stripped and basic ( though top of the range) radio gear installed with a free standing aerial so the vehicle did not stand out as a radio truck. The Units also had DRs assigned, using M20s or WDG3s. Anyhow, I am planning to use all this as an excuse to create in effect a combined motorcycle carrier and small camper. The load area is long and the body is insulated......ideal! However, while the vehicle in question is still coming together after having a lot of work done on the body, I am pondering how I could equip it to make loading a motorcycle easier.......and one-man operation. I am thinking about a fairly long ramp as the tailgate is quite high on these and an electric winch with a hand controller. Has anyone done anything similar? Ideas welcome! I will have a 12V power supply available. BTW, the photo below is "before" restoration!

"Jeeps have always seemed too expensive for what they are :-)" I dont think so. They have risen in price (guesstimate)' about 20 to 25% over the past three years so on average, they are around twice as expensive as they were five years ago.......on average. Driven I guess cos' they are iconic WW2 vehicles, car-like in terms of maintenance and easy to store in a garage. But (for me) they are now just too much money for something that is very common, somewhat fragile due to basic build quality (a strength if you need to produce lots of vehicles quickly and cheaply) and not very practical in terms of load carrying and weather protection. Sour grapes? Probably! ✌

Good luck with the hunt! I spent two years looking for a good affordable Jeep and ended up buying a Dodge WC54! TBF, I probably should have dived in and bought two years ago, warts and all because, for me at least, Jeeps are now way too expensive for what they are.

Am looking for the following WW2 era gear for a Special Communications Unit display: National HRO radio receiver and coils; "MkIII" HF transmitter; Marconi morse key; Tiny Tim battery charger. Thanks! Ferg

Yes, thats it!!

I am looking for a place to store a Dodge WC51 ambulance from next year. Happy to share space and costs. Looking for somewhere near Ashford, Kent.

Doing a search on Google, it looked very much like a Bearcat. The SWB version with two small side windows each side. As used in USA by SWAT.

This was most certainly a new purpose built armoured vehicle, like a Jackal. Not anything mainstream/civvy. Curious.

Richard, it was definitely new and looked more like this model of Jankel.......very military looking but with police markings. Quite sinister.

I did a double-take in Station Road in Ashford (Kent) today as a very new armoured vehicle (Jankel??) bearing police markings came rolling down the road! Like a cross between a Snatch and a Disco in slate grey(?) festooned with armoured spotlights; armoured glass all round. I was not aware our police had tooled up with vehicles reminiscent of NIs Troubles. A pig Pig? Has it come to this?

John......I have sent you a PM.

Whatever you have got to make up the standard 34 foot aerial......full kit, parts, eg ground spike and base. Guy ropes?

My problem was finding a BRITISH Army WW2 deployment. According to the literature, RAMC used them but I could find no photos of that application. So being steered in the direction of 'The Secret Wireless War' was brilliant and that book has a couple of photos of them in the field as well as a basic description of how they were fitted out. They were received in UK as fully kitted out and red-cross emblazoned ambulances and as far as I can discern, the red crosses were painted out but the US reg number and other bonnet markings retained with only an "SCU" unit number painted on the bumpers to identify it as part of the Bletchley Park network. So it is going to look a bit of a plain Jane, but I am going to rig up a free standing 30foot aerial for display purposes.

Thanks all for help in finding a potential British Army identity for a Dodge WC54. IJM Restorations in Yorkshire are now restoring their WC54 for me to put back on the road as a mobile Special Communications Unit manned mainly by Royal Signals personnel for deployment in the US sectors of the post Normandy European battlefield, to handle high level secret communications traffic. It is an ex 'Fury' film set vehicle and as you can see, there is a fair bit of work to do! As the load area would have been stripped put anyhow and a radio table installed, it is ideal for me to rig as a basic camper and carry a WW2 motorcycle or two!

Of more relevance (because it is no longer liable to MoT tests) is that it is currently on "taxed" status, so presumably up and running somewhere! Should be easy enough to find.....a green Jeep!:)