A B-17 Fortress, Two Jeeps and a Dodge - My Ongoing MV Journey

[armyairforce]

Introduction part 1 - Wings & Things

Hi, I'm Steve, and this is the story of my journey into collecting, restoring and maintaining a small military vehicle fleet. You may have already seen my collection on the Facebook group, but I've a bit more space here to make a proper introduction and give a bit of background into how my collection started and its ongoing care. Having searched the various forum sections, this seemed the most appropriate area as there isn't one for collections. At some point, I may well call upon your knowledge to help out with a problem, but until then, this is the story of how the collection started.

The fleet at anchor. "Faith" the Flying Control Dodge at the back, "Jessie" the Follow Me Jeep in the middle and "Hope" the Station Photo Jeep at the front.


I bought my first vehicle in 2005, however prior to this, I had never planned to own a military vehicle as a hobby. My early years were spent model railroading, something I still dabble with now and again, modelling UK and US railroads in N scale, often with a military theme. Since 1983, I'd been heavily involved in flying radio controlled model aircraft. These started out as the normal club sized, four to five feet wingspan, sports-aerobatic types. As my skills grew, so did the model sizes. My first large scale model was a 1/6 scale P-47D Thunderbolt in 1994 and along with a friend's P-51 Mustang, formed the nucleus of a display team. I started building a B-17G Fortress later that year.

My P-47D Thunderbolt at Elvington airfield in North Yorkshire.


The B-17, which first flew in 1995, was copied from a 100th Bomb Group B-17 named "Hang The Expense", flown by 2nd Lt Frank E. Valesh. This aircraft, which had been on the raid to attack the German's "Heavy Water" plant in Norway, was lost at its home base in a take off crash in November 1943, as a result of mechanical failure. The pilots were taking two Red Cross girls for a joy ride when the tail wheel lock broke, swinging the aircraft off the runway, through two trees, before crashing into a barn. The three crew and two passengers all escaped with minor injuries, but the plane was written off. My interest in Frank and the crew of "Hang The Expense" began after reading the story in the "Mighty Eighth War Diary" by Roger A. Freeman. This started a long interest in the 100th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ). The model carried a piece of the original aircraft in its nose, that was recovered from the crash site.

My B-17 flying over the former USAAF base at Seething. The crew of "HTE" made an emergency landing here after one mission.


This shot gives an idea of the size.

[sjalbert]

Your aircraft are impressive. Welcome to the G503 Forum.

[armyairforce]

Thank you.

Several friends joined the team resulting in quite a collection of aircraft. We had a B-17, B-24, C-47, several P-47's and P-51's, a P-38 Lightning, a T-6 Texan, an A-35B Vengeance, A-24 Banshee, Norseman, Spitfire and Tiger Moth. We had a decade of great airshows, displaying in the UK and Europe, with a fun social side in the evenings after flying finished.

Some of the team's aircraft at Duxford.


Another group shot at the former RAF Elvington in Yorkshire.


Then in 2004, I got a severe chest infection which brought on Asthma and a wood dust allergy. This forced a break from the model building and also put me out of work as a college art department technician. I had looked after the woodwork workshop for the art department, but a brief return to work made me seriously ill again, ending that line of work. Needing a long or perhaps permanent break away from wood dust at home and at work, I had to rethink my hobbies.

I was on the edge of swapping olive drab wings for olive drab wheels.

Introduction part 2 - Enter the Jeep

Growing up in the 1970s and '80s, I had a rich diet of Airfix, Revell and Matchbox models, war films and episodes of M*A*S*H. Added to this was a passion for World War 2 history and it didn't take long for my mind to wander in the direction of military vehicles as a new hobby. A seed had probably been planted back in 1998, while at the 100th Bomb Group Veterans Reunion, where I had our aircraft on display. While there, I met Steve Bloomer, who gave my wife and I a drive of his Jeep up and down the airfield perimeter track.

Here I am in 1998, in Steve's Jeep at the 100th Bomb Group Museum.


A search in early 2005 found a 1958 Hotchkiss M201 Jeep at a dealer up in Scotland, untouched since being released from the French surplus auctions. M201's were closer to my budget than MB's or GPW's. My wife and I had a long weekend break up in Scotland to check out the vehicle and after a bit of phoning around other dealers, concluded the price was fair. It still wore the green/brown/black French camo and had been converted to a radio Jeep; then in the late 1980s or early 1990s, went into long term storage. All the engine bay components were coated in a sticky wax cloth to keep out moisture and it sat there, sleeping.

It was sold at auction from Toulouse in the year 2000, and was viewable at the Army Camp at Muret, prior to the sale. It may or may not have served with the Army at Muret, but is most likely to have served in that general area. It was lot number 79 at the sale on 27th of January. Along with other M201's, it was taken to William Bone's garage ( WHB Jeeps ) in Scotland and was the last one he had.

As found in Scotland.


That's where I'm going to leave the story for the moment so I don't swamp the forum with my posts. It's a 15 year long story so far, so no need to rush it - though I have abbreviated it somewhat!

[Joe Gopan]

Welcome to G503. I am envious.

[armyairforce]

We paid a deposit and asked for the Jeep to be painted in overall olive drab, plus we wanted some new canvasses to replace the Hotchkiss plastic roof and seats and to have the vehicle put on the UK vehicle register. This would make the vehicle immediately presentable for the 60th VE Anniversary year. The Jeep was ready to collect in mid April 2005. It was a 135 mile drive home through the country lanes of Scotland and Northumberland, which took four and a half hours, including a few stops for food, coffee and thawing out!

A few miles down the road on the way home.


Soon after I started for home, I realised the speedo didn't work. I later found out that the Hotchkiss Km speedo used a different cable to the Willys and Ford and it was missing a 90 degree adapter that would connect it to the transmission. It wasn't a problem as I would be replacing it with a MPH speedo and new cable. I did have to watch out for speed cameras though, as there were some in 30mph sections of the trip and being unfamiliar with the vehicle, had no sense of the speed I was doing.



Both the drive home and garaging the Jeep was an act of faith. It was a long trip on an untried, old vehicle and when I got home, I couldn't be sure it was going to fit the garage due to my large aircraft trailer. A second floor extension to the house in 2004 also resulted in the garage being lengthened by around 4 feet. This was done before any thoughts of a Jeep. While the shorter garage wouldn't have stopped me getting the Jeep in, it would make a difference a few years later for my next purchase. The floor of the garage hadn't been finished by the time the Jeep arrived.

Before buying the Jeep, I built a 1/35 scale Italeri Jeep to measure to check the sizes. I'd found some measurements on the internet, but wasn't sure if that included the handles on the tub. The plastic model helped to confirm the sizes as I didn't know of any Jeeps locally to check. The model suggested I'd have around two inches clearance each side!! When I finally got the Jeep tucked away in the garage, I had one and a half inches clearance, so I can't fault Italeri's research and tool making!

It was a squeeze, but it fitted.


So the Jeep was finally home with three weeks before the 60th Anniversary VE Day celebrations. Of course, there was plenty to do before then.

[armyairforce]

The Story Begins

I've had the M201 for 15 years now, so don't have the time to tell its full story, but I'll briefly touch on some key points of its life and how it came to be joined by a 1944 Dodge WC51 and a 1943 Ford GPW in the years that followed. I'm sure the purists would cringe, but due to my interest in WW2 history, I converted the M201 Jeep to more closely resemble a 100th Bomb Group Willys MB. This was based on a handful of photos of the 351st Bomb Squadron Engineering Officer's Jeep seen below. The Hotchkiss parts that came off the Jeep all went to New Zealand to a guy converting back the other way.

Two years later, I was able to take my Jeep to Thorpe Abbotts, home to the 100th BG and re-create the wartime picture taken from the top of the control tower. My wife was taking the picture and didn't quite direct me into a matching position, but it is still pretty close and was a nice connection with the past. The control tower and associated buildings form the 100th Bombardment Group Memorial Museum, probably the oldest 8th Air Force museum in the UK.



As time passed and I looked into the differences between the M201, MB and GPW, I found more and more MB and GPW parts on the M201! It was built in December 1958 and was originally 6 volt like the Willys before it. At some point between manufacture and 1966, it was upgraded to 12 volts, by the addition of a second 6 volt battery between the two front seats. The mounting holes and battery cable hole are still there in the floor. In 1966, the Jeep underwent a factory rebuild and was upgraded to 24 volts. At an unknown time, it picked up a sand coloured paint job and some Sahara Jeep fittings, but isn't a full Sahara specification. During the rebuild, it got a mix of Willys, Ford and Hotchkiss parts. The transmission has a rebuild plate of 1969 and the skid plate turned out to be an 'f' marked Ford part. That eventually went into my GPW rebuild. The engine is a 1944 Willys block, cast August 18th and was factory rebuilt by the French in 1987.

In our first year, we towed the Jeep over to Normandy and drove 700 miles around the beaches and memorials. We had a great time until the master brake cylinder failed on the last day of the trip. Fortunately we were only about 10 miles from the camp site and managed to get back ok.

This Churchill tank stands near the liberation monument at Graye-sur-mere, just in the dunes behind Juno Beach.

[Fernmelder]

Noticed the 1, 2, 3, 4 on your spare tire. What is the significance of that ?

[armyairforce]

When the French had Jeeps in long term storage, they had the tyres painted. Every three months, the wheels would be turned to avoid flat spots. This spare must have been on a vehicle axle at some point as there would be little need to paint it in the spare position.

[armyairforce]

Throughout 2005, '06 and '07, the Jeep remained in this standard 100th BG scheme. In 2007, we also bought a Jeep trailer for our camping gear. This was made possible as a result of the garage extension some three years earlier, before even thinking about buying a Jeep. Due to the space restrictions because of my aircraft trailer, there wasn't much room. If I was clever with the parking arrangement and a bit lucky, a Jeep trailer should fit. Out came the Italeri plastic kit again to see how short I could make the combination when parked in different positions. Measurements of the model suggested this unusual parking arrangement should work for the length I had in the garage.



So off we went with a bag full of cash and our fingers crossed that Italeri's research on the trailer was as good as it had been on the Jeep model. The trailer was located around 35 miles away and it was a pleasant drive out to collect it; though a bit cold. Our trailer isn't a wartime version, but a very similar Dutch version by the Roset company. I could have looked for a wartime version, but the price of the copy was too good to pass.

[armyairforce]

Here's a couple of additional pictures of the trailer showing the slight differences. The front and rear panels have rectangle swaging to stiffen them, rather than the usual slots. There are also three metal supports to hold the canvas top from sagging and filling with rain.



The spring hangers aren't perforated like the wartime trailers and the handbrake isn't the push button type.



Rather than the long towing eye of the original, the Dutch version is shorter and is on a bracket that raises its height. This also shows the tight fit in the garage! It is more usual for me to park the Jeep with the hood open so I can access the fuel pump primer and charge the batteries.



Markings complete and canvas on. I hand cut the shipping details stencil which took around three hours to cut with a scalpel and 30 seconds to paint!

[armyairforce]

After a couple of years, I contemplated buying a winter door kit as we drive the Jeep in all weathers. The cost was a bit eye watering, so I quickly moved on from that idea. It did get me thinking however and my attention returned to the wartime photo from the control tower. Closer inspection suggested that this Jeep wasn't fitted with canvas sides, but wooden field-mod doors. This was a typical modification on 8th Air Force airfield Jeeps to make life a little more tolerable on the cold, damp, windswept airfields of East Anglia. There were all sorts of conversions performed, but copying this one looked fairly straight forwards.

So in February '07, I made a trip to the hardware store and came back with £75.00 of plywood, strip wood and clear plastic. That was a price tag I could live with! I'm not saying I'm tight, but if I break wind, only dogs and bats can hear!! I didn't want to significantly modify the Jeep to make the doors work, so decided the doors would be hinged from the rear rather than the front like a normal car. This would mean I didn't need to modify the screen frame to accommodate hinges. Instead, the door would be hinged at the rear, hung from the rear wooden panel. This in turn would be attached to the roof bows and front bow stowage bracket by three machine screws, making them quick to remove.



While there's no heater in the Jeep, having the doors on allows the exhaust and transmission heat to rise up through the floor and warm the cab. It's never going to be tropical in there, but it does warm up and keeps the rain off on those English Summer days!



When the doors are removed, the only signs of the modification are three small bolt holes in the bows and bow bracket.

[armyairforce]

The doors were designed with removable hinge pins, allowing the doors to be easily removed on warmer days, but quick to refit if it starts raining ( this is England after all! ). If not fitted, they lay on top of each other in the back of the Jeep or would lie on top of all my camping gear if I had the trailer with me. The doors were just tall enough to slide under the roof canvas when closed to keep any rain running down the outside. There's one latch that also forms the door handle. When closed, it hooks around the door eye to keep the lower part of the door shut.



Another latch at the top of the door, hooks into the screen frame to stop the top from flapping about.



I made the front windows slightly larger than in the wartime picture to give better visibility, particularly important when driving a left hand drive vehicle on UK roads. With the door windows, the rear panel windows, the gap between the rear panel and the roof canvas and the window in the canvas itself; all round visibility is fairly good once you get used to where to look.

[Frank USMC]

Okay. I am following this thread! Great story!
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

[armyairforce]

Thanks. Before getting the Jeep, I had no interest in vehicle maintenance at all. A car was just a tool to get form one place to another quickly. Once I got the Jeep, it all changed. This was partly due to the simplicity of the Jeep design and that you can actually get in under the hood and reach parts, unlike a modern vehicle where there's no room under the hood to do anything! But a large part of the interest came from the history behind these vehicles and walking in the footsteps of the greatest generation.

[armyairforce]

The "Follow Me" Conversion

In 2008, I began to convert the Jeep into a "Follow Me" Jeep, after meeting another guy who had an interest in the 100th Bomb Group. He had bought his Dodge WC51 about the same time as I bought my Jeep, importing it from Norway. In fact it was bought so "almost exactly" at the same time, the registration paperwork for both vehicles was probably on the same desk at the DVLA, as the vehicle registrations are only 4 digits different. Anyway, he also had an interest in the 100th Bomb Group and had recently painted his Dodge in black and white checks to resemble an airfield "Flying Control" vehicle. We decided to try and visit events together to put on a 100th BG display. Here's his Dodge seen early in 2008. Basically a standard WC51 but with the checkered body. He had various display items such as a telephone, typewriter and signal lamps that could be set up on a bench in the back.



My Jeep conversion began soon after seeing the Dodge that April. The first job was to paint "Flying Control" across the screen and I added a checkered flag for more visibility. Our next event was on the first May Bank Holiday, a seven hour trip towing the Jeep to Ramsbury, just south of Swindon, for the 'Route to Victory' event. The Kennet Valley MVT organised a three day event focused around the village of Ramsbury. Two of the days were for convoys of vehicles visiting bases involved in the 'Market Garden' operation, while the third day was a static display in the show field in Ramsbury. The Jeep made its first appearance at this event while undergoing its transformation. Just for the event, it received some temporary 9th Air Force, 437th Troop Carrier Group markings, as the 437th TCG were based at Ramsbury airfield.

The convoy visited places where US Airborne troops, and the British XXX Corps amongst others, were stationed and trained. Around 60 vehicles were in the convoy which at times must have extended for 2 miles. Six motorcycle outriders stopped modern day traffic to allow the convoy through the many junctions on the trip and to keep everyone on the correct route. This picture was taken at Netheravon airfield where we had a C-47 fly in to meet the MV convoy. I'm on the left and Rupert, the Dodge owner, on the right.