MLU FORUM - British GMC CCKW?

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Did I write this?

CCKW-352 under test at the WVEE (Wheeled Vehicle Experimental Establishment) with single 10.50-20 tyres.

According to my information:

Government Contract No. W-398-QM-9095 1941 2 1/2 ton 145 inch wheelbase- 1574 Cab - Budd Cargo body - Less Winch, either CCKW352-A2 or A1, serial numbers 440270 - 449519, i.e. with either Banjo or Split-type axles.

Hi Hanno:
That photo may have appeared somewhere before but I sure do not remember it and I thank you for it. Most unusual to say the least.
Also a very awkward looking setup. Almost like some of the toys I sell in my shop. Not much room between the tyres I think.
Bill

L 4957953 to 4957958 ex-USA Lorry 2½ ton 6 x 6 GS ???

Thanks for that excellent photo!

Australians watching the "Winston Churchill Bodyguard" series on TV would have noticed last Sunday, Churchill arriving in the Middle East prior to Alamein and a 3 ton Blitz followed by a hard cab GMC driving past. Looked like a standard transport unit not an artillery unit.

As an aside there was good German footage of a Panzer unit travelling across the desert with a 15cwt Bedford "speeding" along beside the tanks. Several other bits of German footage showed Chevrolet and Austin trucks mixed up with German vehicles.

Lang

I am sorry but I only have a list of Census Numbers and known contracts. My book on Pearsons of Liverpool has post-war shots of trucks just acquired for rebuild but there are no markings on them.

The wartime movie THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COLONEL BLIMP has three or so Canadian CCK-353 G/S trucks in it.

I remember Tom Bewick once had a British GMC , it had several modifications , like a strengtenned bonnet , extra indicator (mechanical) , etc.
Maybe somebody knows were it went?

Does anyone know what Canadian units used the CCW
I would like to do Canadian Engineers or Artillary WW2.
I know in Korea The Canadians used the CCKW to pull the field guns

GMC CCKW-353 in RAF use somewhere in the Middle East, 1942.

H.

The trucks in post #17 photo belonging to the Carpathian Lancers, headquarters company, workshop platoon are GMCs.

The difference between GMC and Studebaker 6x6 when looking from the rear is the style of bumperette. The GMC bumperette has a tail extending below the chassis line whist the Stude ones are flat across the bottom in line with the lower edge of the chassis as per Chev G506.

David

A link to a webpage featuring an usual GMC - Royal Navy Mobile Met Unit, see http://cloudobservers.co.uk/memories/ashore/rn-mmu/

Quote:

Royal Navy Mobile Met Unit

Attachment 88282

Although Mobile Met Units still exist today, they are a very different animal to that which first came to prominence during the latter part of World War Two. Whereas today they are part of the Met Office and are staffed by their own people and RAF Reservists, originally it appears to have been an integral part of the RN Met Branch and used as a stand-alone unit. It was established in a converted US lend/lease communications lorry – converted yet again to become something similar to the Met Office on board an aircraft Carrier.

Once fitted out the lorry was staffed by two officers and three ratings. As far as possible the ratings had to be trained in WT and capable of receiving their own messages, as the office was also fitted with a receiver. Research has not been able to discover that there was ever more than one unit and the photographic evidence available is of the same lorry which seems to confirm this.

There is documentary evidence that there was an MMU operating in Europe in 1944/45. This appears in a document written by the first Director of the Branch, L G Garbett, who recorded that on 1 February 1945, a mobile met unit returned to the UK from Brussels. The role played by this MMU is unspecified, but, what we do know is that the unit reached Brussels from Rouen via Calais before returning to the UK.

It appears to have been established as a unit in 1944, possibly at Lee-on-Solent, but whether as a single unit or as one of many is uncertain. What is known is that the lend/lease lorries came over from the US in 1943 and that the MMU or Mobile Met Van was an established entity by May 1944. It is on record that “Lt Fulford’s met lorry visited Naval Met Branch (NMB)” on 9 May 1944. On 31 May of that same year a series of photographs were taken at Lee-on-Solent.
It has proved impossible to trace the reason for the trip to Western Europe, and too much speculation may only give a false impression. It is possible that a reference to a description of a Mobile Naval Met Van in a Periodical Letter – forerunner of the Directorate newsletters – may yield further information. Sadly, despite extensive searches and enquiries, issue 1944b has proved to be elusive, so the full story may never be known.

Photographs –
Capt Dick Abram for the original photograph which started the trail.
Fleet Air Arm Archives, Yeovilton for the four subsequent photographs

Attachment 88278 Attachment 88279 Attachment 88280 Attachment 88281

The RCAF used K53 Weather Vans as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra (Post 50471)

Sadly the Data Book of Wheeled Vehicles: Army Transport 1939-1945 does not mention S.M. numbers for the GMCs.

Hi Hanno,
I realise it's a bit of an old thread, and you may well have this information via other means, but the Databook of RAF Vehicles (AP2782 Vol.1) gives the S.M. number for the GMCs they used.
I believe 51 MT Company (later Squadron) used them in North Africa and the Middle East.

One of the CCKW Met bodies just turned up

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra (Post 233948)

A link to a webpage featuring an usual GMC - Royal Navy Mobile Met Unit, see http://cloudobservers.co.uk/memories/ashore/rn-mmu/

On the Steelsoldiers web forum one of these Met bodies for a CCKW recently turned up if you are interested in this particular truck bodies you might want to take a look. https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...ound-(May-2018)

Cheers Phil

Fifth army : Anzio bridgehead observer story

GMC CCKW with WD census number L-4189253 in use in Italy to pull a cable digging device:

Attachment 117096

“Original wartime caption: The machine towed behind the truck, with the cable feeding from the ordinary signal drums in the back of the truck.”

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...ject/205528119