question dodge wc42 1/2 ton radio panel van

[panelvan]

does anyone know if the wc42, used only by the british, poles and commonwealth forces, ever saw action in north west europe. pictures of this vehicle in service are few and far between and i have seen no reference of them being used other than north africa,sicily and italy.i have seen the set of british army reference/recognition pictures in the iwm. this shows a wc42 in mickey mouse camo,a brief shot of one in the 1942 film the way ahead and only a a few more pictures in sand colour.there is a well known picture of a wot 2 ? in a vehicle park full of mvs waiting for d day !. in the background i can just make out some panel vans . did they go to n.w. europe?

Edited December 15, 2008 by panelvan
i put n.n. instead of n.w.

[Tony B]

Some were used by BFBS, there is picture of one somewhere in Italy. Try the BFBS website.

[panelvan]

hi,regarding the bfbs. thanks but i think the picture you may have seen shows a chevvy 1.5 ton radio van.i have seen such a picture taken in italy. i once spent a whole day looking through the all photos in the north africa/italy files of the imperial war museum to see if there were any pictures showing wc 42 radio panel vans. of the thousands of photos, i found only one ! but what a great way to spend a day....i would love to find more , but especially would like to know if this vehicle did serve in n.w. europe.

[mcspool]

Here's a nice pic I found recently in a book on the city of Rotterdam during WW2. It shows the headquarters of a Canadian Army unit set up at the Heemraadssingel, Rotterdam, May 1945.

 

If you look closely you will see a myriad of interesting vehicles, one of which is a Chevrolet K-51 Panel Van. I have since seen a couple more pictures of the K-51 in Canadian service in NW-Europe, but no Dodge WC-42 as far as I can recall.

 

Regards,

Hanno

 

click here for a large size scan

[mvdepot]

Not a pannel van but still very nice found it last trip out to the USA think it will be coming home next trip !!! ,cheers

 

[Enigma]

1/2 ton Dodges don't seem to be used on the European mainland that I know.

Possibly a few by rear echelons but never seen photo's to back the claim.

 

( I have owned a WC 21 so kept an eye out for pics.).

[panelvan]

thanks to those who responded. i would love to show the few pictures i have of wc42s but they are all italy/north africa and i dont know if i am allowed to show pictures due to copyright ? etc even if i knew how to .i have a wc42 and one day will finish it and paint it up. its on the road and legal but needs more work to finish it . maybe i could show photos of my wc42 on here :confused:

[abn deuce]

In the rough unfinished or comletely restored I think I can speak for a lots of people and say all photo's are of interest so please post the pics of your WC42

[Enigma]

In the rough unfinished or comletely restored I think I can speak for a lots of people and say all photo's are of interest so please post the pics of your WC42

 

 

Pics are allways wellcome!

[panelvan]

dont laugh, but how do i do it? i have pictures saved under " my pictures " but all the best ones are ordinary photos in my album...

[abn deuce]

here the faq answer link http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/faq.php?faq=vb3_reading_posting#faq_vb3_attachments

[panelvan]

i have posted this already elsewhere, but asking does anyone has any pictures of the DODGE WC42 PANEL RADIO VAN as used by British and Commonwealth forces during WW2. i have the supply mechanical identity pics, 2 pics of the Polish forces using them, a couple of pics in the it in North Africa and Italy and a picture of Ford WOT,s in a vehicle park with Dodge panel vans , probably WC42,s in the very distant background but that,s all. hope there are more out there, cheers, Mike

[Runflat]

i once spent a whole day looking through the all photos in the north africa/italy files of the imperial war museum to see if there were any pictures showing wc 42 radio panel vans. of the thousands of photos, i found only one ! but what a great way to spend a day....i would love to find more , but especially would like to know if this vehicle did serve in n.w. europe.

 

Hi, I see you've re-asked about photos in a new thread. To keep things together I'm posting here.

 

Anyway, the only IWM picture of a WC42 I'm aware of at the moment is at ref NA4873, in the North Africa/Italy series. This is probably the one you've already found!

[mcspool]

Hello Mike,

Did you ever find more pictures or info re. WC-42s in Commonwealth use?

 

I am wondering if anyone has more info re. 1/2-ton Carryalls. According to the caption of this picture, out of 1,100 WC-26 Carryalls built, 300 were delivered to the British via Lend-Lease. 
Does anybody know in which theatres they were used? 

[Pete Ashby]

1 hour ago, mcspool said:

Hello Mike,

Did you ever find more pictures or info re. WC-42s in Commonwealth use?

 

I am wondering if anyone has more info re. 1/2-ton Carryalls. According to the caption of this picture, out of 1,100 WC-26 Carryalls built, 300 were delivered to the British via Lend-Lease. 
Does anybody know in which theatres they were used? 

 

This is a pure guess Hanno but at the stage in the conflict that the contract would have been delivered could they have shipped directly to N Africa ??

Pete

[mcspool]

On 11/21/2021 at 10:21 AM, Pete Ashby said:

This is a pure guess Hanno but at the stage in the conflict that the contract would have been delivered could they have shipped directly to N Africa ??

Hello Pete, I think that is the case indeed. Pictorial evidence, especially of the Ambulances, suggest they were used in the North African campaign and then Sicily and Italy.

Bart Vanderveen wrote the British used the WC-21, WC-23, WC-26, WC-27 and WC-42. But I'd like to see more info on how many of which type were delivered to the Commonwealth armies and where they were used.

The attached picture shows a WC-42 with census number Z-4781243:

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by mcspool

[Runflat]

Here's the picture I mentioned before

 

[Runflat]

On 11/21/2021 at 7:45 AM, mcspool said:

I am wondering if anyone has more info re. 1/2-ton Carryalls. According to the caption of this picture, out of 1,100 WC-26 Carryalls built, 300 were delivered to the British via Lend-Lease. 
Does anybody know in which theatres they were used?

Hi Hanno, there's a 1/2 ton carryall pictured here (just!) in Burma (Ref: CF327): ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945. | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)