Wiles Junior Cooker

[jack neville]

I took my Wiles Junior Cooker to the Battle of Bannockburn day at Bannockburn, Victoria, last weekend as part of the Geelong Miltary Re-enactment Group display. I had it operating for two days just making steam and nothing more than heating pies. It was amazing how much interest it created with people walking all around it and fascinated with the boiler works. I met three old blokes who all used these cookers in their time with 2/10 Medium Regiment. This was an artillery reserve unit based in Geelong, and each battery was issued with a cooker to take to the field with their guns. One bloke told me the cooker was still being used by him in 1975. Does anyone know how long they had use for? The big four wheel cookers were still going into the 80's I believe. I have another of these Juniors and at some stage I will rebuild one very good cooker out of the two. I would love to know if anyone has any advice on how to get the steam bins replated. I think they are tinned, not galvanised. Is there a food grade quality process that would be required?

[Mike Cecil]

Cecil & Co in Bayswater, Vic made a replica set for the AWM (after I had left the AWM) for the 4wh Wiles. Don't know if they supplied them tinned or galvanized: talk to Chris Cecil about it, he may remember (it was a few years ago).

Mike C

[Dave Mills]

Hello Jack, I too worked as a dixxy basher around the kitchens with these cookers from 1978 to at least 1985 whilst pulled out of the gun line to help the cooks and stay out of the way of the WO caterer but never in 2/10 Medium Regiment. I think these blokes may have been confused as in 1975 they would have been in 10 Medium Regiment Army Reserve based at Geelong and Colac with 2/15 Field Regiment Army Reserve based out of Batman Avenue (HQ) Dandenong (2 Fd Battery) and Frankston (23 Field Battery). The Regiments had been merged as 2/10 medium regiment in 1991, I was the Battery Guide of the new 22 Field Battery, interesting, in the field we often deployed with mixed ordinance on the ground the 155mm and the 105mm.

I can recall deploying with the Regimental kitchen in the bush and setting up and refueling, with standard fuel, the choofas to boil the kitchen water, a total of 15, 60 litre steel rubbish bins all with a drop of petrol dripping onto a hot plate causing the drip of fuel to ignite and hence heated the water and hence the term Choofa as all you could hear was the Choof, Choof, Choof of the heating units. The field kitchens you are speaking about fed at least 400 troops 3 times a day and the gun lines got their meals delivered by the Q staff in hot boxes run by at least 6 cooks including the WO CAT and Catering Sgt. They also used a petrol powered oven which pressurized the fuel and heated the oven much the same as a Tilley light works.

Great to hear that you have one back up working, I cannot tell you if boilers had been lined but I know they did the lot, onion bags with 400 eggs in them immersed to hard boil them, stews and those delightful curries at 1am in the morning, food cold but still burning the lining of your tummy. It would be great to have a Choofa and one of those ovens also in your display, then you would have the complete field kitchen and of course the metre wide plate BBQ as the final piece.

Boy, I hated being in the dixxy bashing crew left to pack up the kitchens into the back of a 6x6 F1 for the trip home, a gun crew could pack up and move in 3 mins a field kitchen took hour upon blasted hour, oh well it was the army and we hurried up and waited quite a lot.

Hope I have not bored you too much.

Cheers,

Dave.

[jack neville]

Thanks Dave. They might have been referring to the regiment as its last designation perhaps. For some reason I can't load a photo of the cooker.

Thanks for the tip Mike. The bins I have are actually in reasonable condition except a bit too rusty in the bottom. I could remove the handles and fittings and have them replated if I knew what the process was. I possibly could have the rust sandblasted and then just keep the bare steel coated with cooking oil when not in use but every time I use the steamers I think the rust would start again. Better if I can have them stripped and replated.

[Mike Cecil]

Not sure anyone does hot-dipped tinning anymore: I don't think there is a call for it. Try a chrome plating company: they would know if anyone else in their sector still does it.

Champion Electro-Plating in Bridge Road Richmond are long, long gone ... its now a car yard, I think.

Mike C

[Tony Mathers]

Try Preston Plate, in Thomastown. They might do it themselves or know someone who can. - 9466 2700

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

Been reading the thread and waiting for someone to post a picture. For those of us not familiar with a Wiles Jr how about a picture along with some of the kit that goes with it. Was there a Wiles Sr.?

Cheers Phil

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi

Been reading the thread and waiting for someone to post a picture.

Cheers Phil

You've been waiting long enough, Phil.

Here are some photos from the online catalog of an auction held today. The Wiles Junior cooker had an in-date boiler certificate and was certified to 100psi, seller claimed that it was one of only 3 such certified boilers, but I suspect that may have been Victoria only.

For those interested, the Cooker made AU$9000 plus buyer's fees. I know there were at least 2 MLU'ers interested in the bidding, but don't who got it.

[Tony Smith]

The same auction also has the remains of a second cooker.

It still retains it ARN plate, reading 162998.

Looking at the AWN 126 listings, there is a Copperplate notation next to this batch of numbers. Can anyone decipher it?

[Mike Cecil]

'Allotted to ORD2 for Trailers Cooker'

Did the auction happen to list the boiler numbers, Tony?

Mike

[Tony Smith]

I don't think the 2nd cooker included the boiler, it was not visible in the pics.

Neither item description included a boiler number, but the boiler certificate shows 2 numbers: 2632 and BIA B19078. Do either of them sound like the original format?