My Flying Control Jeep - The Ongoing Story

[Jessie The Jeep]

I shot a head-cam video of the drive, although this is just a short selection of scenes from the ride. I tried some video with the screen down to give a clearer view, but the wind noise was too loud to use it.

It was a 20 mile drive with a number of stops along with way making the ride out about an hour and a quarter.

For late October, it was surprisingly warm, even with the screen down. I still hope to get the vehicles out again before we start getting road salt spreading as the winter gets closer.

Further pictures can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/autumn.htm

Edited October 22, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

October 30th - A New Jeep

It was an early start on Sunday morning, setting off from home with an empty trailer. I was heading off to Northampton to check over and potentially collect another Jeep. This time, it wasn't for me! A friend had been after a Jeep for some time and finally, he spotted one that looked promising, both within his budget and appearing to require little maintenance. The Jeep was another Hotchkiss M201, just a little younger than my own, but that had been fitted with a replacement Willys MB tub. We found out why later, but not for any bad reasons.

The drive down was going well, until near Grantham, where an acident closed the motorway and we were stuck, almost stationary for an hour an and a half. Eventually we crept forwards far enough to find a small road off the motorway and cut across country, until rejoining the motorway further South where it was clear. After almost five and a half hours, we made it to the seller, got something to eat and started looking around the Jeep. There was a pause in proceedings as the Pacific Ocean descended on the area for a good 20 minutes or more before finally clearing up so we could go for a test drive.

[Jessie The Jeep]

After a drive around the area, all seemed well with the Jeep, with no bad noises, clouds of smoke or fluids leaking out. So while my friend started on the payment and paperwok, I got the canvas roof down and started sorting the trailer ready to load.

During this the owner tried to get the radio working to show it did, but there was a problem somewhere, so we gave up so we could get away. We were already a couple of hours behind where we wanted to be.

[Jessie The Jeep]

With the paperwork all sorted and the Jeep loaded onto my trailer, we were ready to head home. We set off home with the light fading and with the clocks also changing to Greenwich Mean Time that weekend, it wasn't long before it was dark.

We stopped at Wetherby services for a quick bite to eat before continuing to my friend's house. The trailer ramps were set up and I went to start the Jeep - nothing. A click of the starter solenoid and that was it; batteries flat. A couple of seconds later, it dawned on me. The previous owner had left the radio power supply switched on after his attempts to operate the radio and it had drained the batteries all the way home. While the Jeep had an isolation switch wired into the batteries, the radio was connected up to the permanently live side of the isolator!

We pushed the Jeep off the trailer and I managed to jump start it rolling down the street, so we could drive it into the garage. I packed up the trailer again and drove the last 30 minutes home, rather tired. The addition of this Jeep to our little group now brings the vehicle total to eleven, with six Jeeps, two Dodges, A Weasel, a bulldozer and a motorcycle.

Once home, I did a little research. The Jeep suspension had been uprated by the French army, with additional reinforcing of the spring shackles and coil springs added to the rear in addition to the leaf springs. In connection with this, the replacement body tub suggested the Jeep had been one of those modified to carry an SR106, 106mm recoilless rifle. In addition to the suspension changes, the rear of the body was cut away and so this was probably the reason for the replacement tub. That had been fitted prior to the previous owner.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Remembrance Day Tour - November 11th

I didn't hear about any official commemorations for November 11th locally, so planned a trip of my own. My route took me to several local war memorials, some of which I visited last year in the Dodge.

I started out at the Littletown, where they have a memorial stone and the outline of a soldier in a planter nearby. Due to the strong wind, the soldier had blown down, so I refitted it in the planter again. At each memorial, I read the names of the fallen, but it was difficult to read the full names here, as the wreath was fastened to the memorial stone with nylon line to stop it from blowing away.

I planned to stop at Ludworth for 11am, but was a little early to hang around, as the memorial was outside someone's house. So I stopped a couple of times on the way there, to get some pictures of the Jeep. I got to Ludworth around seven minutes to eleven and read through the names. I held a two minutes silence at 11am before getting some pictures and then moving on.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Several villages I passed through, had poppies and crosses fitted to lamp posts and benches. My next stop was at Sherburn Hill. The memorial was at the road side, so I stopped and chocked the Jeep and went to look. There were a lot of names on this memorial; fifty two from World War 1 and another fifteen from World War 2. In the first war, there were probably no more than two hundred houses in the village, so many of the people there would have lost family and friends.

The Sherburn Village memorial was next after Sherburn Hill. Forty one names from World War 1 and twenty from World War 2. Sherburn Village was even smaller than Sherburn Hill during the first war.

[Jessie The Jeep]

My last stop was at St Laurence's Church at Hallgarth. The memorial was in the church yard. Fifty names across both world wars.

I took a couple of pictures of the Jeep outside the church yard before heading for home. The local school had a crotcheted poppy and cross scene attached to their fence.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

Remembrance Sunday - November 13th

I was back out in the Jeep on Sunday morning for Remembrance Sunday. A shorter trip out this time, taking Jessie back down to St Laurence's Church for the Remembrance service. There was a half hour service inside the church, after which we finished the service with the names of those lost and the two minutes silence at the memorial.

This probably marks my last event of the year, though I still want to give everything a run out before the year is over.

[Enigma]

Well done!!

[Jessie The Jeep]

Jeep Winter Photoshoot - December 15th

We seem to be living in a little island of snow and ice in our immediate area. You don't have to go many miles for the snow to vanish, so while it's here, I wanted to make the most of it. Especially as the temperatures are meant to rise significantly in the next couple of days.

After spending the morning, checking all the anti-freeze in the three vehicles to make sure it was up to the job of the current cold weather, I decided to go for another drive. Then I realised I'd be in trouble from my daughter if she missed out on a second snow trip, so decided to wait until she got in from school. We wouldn't have long before the sun set, but hoped to catch a nice sky at some point on the route.

We'd had several heavy snow showers across today, topping up the landscape with a fresh blanket of white. The trip followed the same route as I'd taken with the Dodge a few days ago, though I missed one stop next to a small woodland due to poor lighting there.

[Jessie The Jeep]

My daughter snapped a few pictures while we were on the move and I used my DSLR for the parked shots; shooting in Nikon RAW format as usual. The sun was already very low in the sky when we set off, only 3 degrees above the horizon at our first stop.

[Jessie The Jeep]

The view at the church yard was a bit more snowy this time and after a few pictures there, we moved on to sunset lane to end the trip.

The usual spot was in a bit of a depression so I stopped a little before that for a couple of pictures before moving the the normal spot. We were only just seeing the setting sun from that location, as it was now only 1 degree above the horizon.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Parked up at the usual spot.

The low sun gave a nice golden light to the backdrop, but it was already sub zero temperatures.

[Jessie The Jeep]

A little further up the lane again to the stop with the steep banks.

This area doesn't see much sun at this time of the year, so there hasn't been much snow melt here, so everything looked fresher and whiter.

[Jessie The Jeep]

We took a few pictures of ourselves here and then headed back home. My daughter took my camera and flying jacket indoors while I stayed out to wash the road salt off again before putting the Jeep away.

Additional pictures can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/snow_jeep.htm

Edited December 16, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

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.

[Jessie The Jeep]

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.

[Jessie The Jeep]

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

[Jessie The Jeep]

A Couple of Winter Jobs - March 1st

The Jeep RAF markings were originally painted at the back end of 2017. Over the years, the blue enamel paint had faded quite a lot and had become a very pale blue. I didn't like the way it now looked, so it was time to give them a repaint ( see inset compared to the repainted small roundels ).

I found 250ml tin of water based Oxford Blue on the B&Q website, but when I called in at the store, it turned out they don't actually stock it in the store. I find the lack of stock at the local B&Q frustrating at the best of times. I wasn't prepared to pay for shipping on top of B&Q prices, so found the same paint on Amazon and got free next day delivery and a cheaper price!

Everything blue had a first coat on February 28th and as the large roundels still showed some brush strokes and thin areas, they were given a second coat with a glossing roller on March 1st.

Back in 2014, I got an old Girl Guides 10ft ridge tent for 1940's camping. Since it was white, I painted it in green shed paint, both to change the colour and help with waterproofing. Due to the white canvas, it dried much more pale than I expected and lighter than it was in the pot ( shown below ). I made do with the light colour until recently, when I decided to try and dull it down further.

I got some Ronseal Forest Green and Dark Oak shed paint and tried a 2:1 mix to get olive drab. I painted a small sample of white fabric and took it out to the garage. At the first mixing try, it was a pretty good match to the Jeep roof canvas, so I mixed up 8 litres to repaint the tent again. Due to its size and floor space in the workshop, I've been painting it in sections. There's just two end flaps left to paint.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

M201 Service and Test Drive - April 7th

With a dry day forecast, I had to take the opportunity to give Jessie a service. Tomorrow, I have my first event of the year in Hartlepool. I got most of the grease points done, but there's a few on the steering linkage I can't get to. In the middle of the job, the flexi-hose on my grease gun split, so I had to revert to a rigid nozzle. This was fine for most places, but there's a few it won't reach. I'll have to order a new hose before I can finish the rest. The fuel pipe to the carb was weeping, so that was stripped, cleaned, some burrs removed and reassembled.

The oily bits were oiled, the greasy bits greased. Once everything was done, I went for a short test drive around the local area to make sure everything was operating correctly for the following day. I stopped at a few of the usual places and another local spot, where I found some nice puddles for photos with reflections. 

[Jessie The Jeep]

Heugh Gun Battery - April 8th

I had a nice day out at Heugh Battery in Hartlepool today. It was the first show of the season and a rather chilly 18 mile drive to the coast. It was quite overcast when I set off, but the sky cleared and in the sheltered gun battery compound, quite warm, despite the sea breeze. Andy saved me a spot and it was nice to see his Jeep at its first public event, with the paint on the new markings barely dry! It is painted up in 9th Air Force, 422nd Night Fighter Squadron markings, which for a time were based locally at RAF Scorton.

[Jessie The Jeep]

The vehicle turn out wasn't as big as last year, but I know some local vehicles have been sold and others are up for sale. This and perhaps the current financial situation restricted numbers. I got there in good time and for once wasn't squeezed in by the entrance gate.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Most of the other vehicles attending were Jeeps, with one Dodge, a couple of bikes, a Kubelwagon and a Landrover 101 Forward Control truck. There were several diorama displays up on the grass around the gun emplacements that took the full chill of the sea breeze. In the battery magazine store were some of the museum displays including a shell hoist and a replica World War 1 trench.

[Jessie The Jeep]

The event was to end at 4pm and the dioramas started to pack up from about 3:30. Andy and I got a few more pictures before heading home in opposite directions.

On my way home, I dropped in to the garden centre at Shotton Colliery to see the Durham Angel, a sculpture by a lake. We plan to visit the garden centre sometime, but as I was passing, I thought I'd take a look at the angel. I think I had a bit too much fresh air and I was quite tired by the time I got home and I think I caught the sun a bit. It's going to be a harder day next Sunday for a round trip to York in the Jeep.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Yorkshire Military Vehicle Trust Crank Up - April 16th

It was a big day and an early start for "Jessie" and I this morning. April 16th was the Yorkshire MVT Crank Up event and also an anniversary drive for "Jessie the Jeep". It was 18 years ago that Lynne and I drove to Scotland to collect an ex-French Army Hotchkiss M201, that would go on to become known as "Jessie the Jeep".

A few days before, I'd switched the markings to a "Follow Me" Jeep with the RAF roundels, but didn't bother with the light box and follow me sign. With that fitted, it is too tall to fit through the garage door and I didn't want to waste time in the morning, trying to fit it after getting the Jeep out.

My alarm went off at 7am and I was on the road just before 8am for the long drive south to the Tadcaster/A64 sliproad. This was the meeting location for the vehicles that would then convoy in to the centre of York. If I was running late, I planned to go straight into the city, but I got to the York ring road with enough time to make it to the convoy start point.

I joined the back of the queue and I think I was the last to arrive.

This is the front of the convoy, a few minutes before setting off.