can anyone id these kiwi quads in italy?

kiwiquad · #1 01-06-09, 07:43

these are 6 field battery E troop 48 battery 6bde 2 nzef quads most blokes are from christchurch, the photographer was gunner / quad driver jim smythe from christchurch, the colour at the bottom of the triangle should be yellow for E battery though quad 1 and two look to be different colours going by the shade,are these fords or chevs?

Mike Kelly · #2 01-06-09, 08:22

That pic is similar to the header pic I used on the VMVC web site , the crew are kiwis I believe .

http://www.geocities.com/vmvc1au/index.html

kiwiquad · #3 01-06-09, 08:40

[IMG]http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5143/29882341.jpg gday mike, it does doesnt it, its the one im using on my quad site yet to be finished, yeah they seem to like storage on their vehicles, most of them in the photos i have show boxes on the top rear of the front guards,ive got a rear shot to show too,notice the E1 E2 E3 E4 etc gun numbers on the triangles on the doors, i wonder what colour they were? is it red and blue for artillery?

this photo is the end of the war piss up, the bloke on the far right is my grandfather, notice also the markings and the abundant "jerry" cans on the top rack.

Mike Kelly · #4 01-06-09, 09:08

Yes I did notice the sequence of numbers .Would that be gun number 1 2 3 belonging to E battery .. the devices on the front guards are scotches I think ... thay appear to be Chevs .

The latest pic you posted would be similar to the annual MLU gathering weekend in Canada I would think.

Mike

cliff · #5 01-06-09, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwiquad

these are 6 field battery E troop quads most blokes from christchurch, the photographer was gunner jim smythe from christchurch, are these fords or chevs?

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2205/65533316.jpg

They are Chevrolet Gun Tractors judging by the round vents either side of the grill clearly seen on the second one back. Wonder where the trucks all are now?

Keith Webb · #6 01-06-09, 11:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliff

They are Chevrolet Gun Tractors judging by the round vents either side of the grill clairly seen on the second one back. Wonder where the trucks all are now?

The second is a Chev (as is the third) but the front one is a Ford. Look at the diff and the narrow spring bumper.

Rip snorter of an image by the way.

cliff · #7 01-06-09, 12:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

The second is a Chev (as is the third) but the front one is a Ford. Look at the diff and the narrow spring bumper

you are right Keith but all the other trucks shown, including the 3 tonner at the back look like Chev's when I enlarge the photo as they all appear to have round vents. The Ford also does not appear to have a spare mounted on the rear either. Wonder where the Kiwi's scored the Ford from?

kiwiquad · #8 01-06-09, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliff

They are Chevrolet Gun Tractors judging by the round vents either side of the grill clearly seen on the second one back. Wonder where the trucks all are now?

thanks for that info cliff, what engine would they have a side valve v8 then?

i have a side profile drawn by one of the crew which ill scan, it might shed a bit of light on these. i think the guy was a draftsman or something as it is a very good example.

kiwiquad · #9 02-06-09, 00:34

this was drawn by one of the crew im assuming it was of quad 4, these vehicles apparently went back to nz at the end of the war, jim smythe mentions that during their time in italy they picked up a lot of american tools which came in handy,at wars end the quads were only allowed to be shipped home with the contents they arrived with so the tools went down a well where they are probably still. his journey throughout the war is well documented in his diaries and photos, each town was written down in order and ive been to italy a couple of times and followed the same route, interesting when you read of them bombarding the "teds" then driving through the ruins and wreckage afterwards. if i had a quad i'd take it to italy and do the same trip as them and make a documentary for the discovery channel,imagine the locals amazement .
how do i post this picture below on the forum so you dont have to click on it to view it?.
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/5338/4quad.jpg

cliff · #10 02-06-09, 01:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwiquad

thanks for that info cliff, what engine would they have a side valve v8 then?

i have a side profile drawn by one of the crew which ill scan, it might shed a bit of light on these. i think the guy was a draftsman or something as it is a very good example.

The Ford's had a side valve V8 but the Chev's had an Over Head Valve 6 cyl. engine.

Keith Webb · #11 02-06-09, 08:15

Hi Mike

When pictures are externally hosted you can use the little icon which looks like an envelope but is in fact some sort of a representation of hills and sun.

Click on that and past in your link.

kiwiquad · #12 02-06-09, 10:02

thanks for that keith. on my new imac that arrived today that image is huge and clear.

Rob Beale · #13 02-06-09, 10:43

must have included a lot of vehicles brought back from Italy.

On a course I remember an instructor telling us that a full divisional artillery train was assembled in Waiouru in the 1950's and headed out onto the "Desert Road" (State Highway 1) and travelled all the way around the 3 Volcanoes (Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe and Tongariro) and back to Waiouru. And as the lead vehicles approached camp, the tail was just leaving!

In those days 4(NZ) Div was a reality, with men from Compulsory Military Training, and the equipment on the ground.

In future years the paper organisation of 4(NZ) Div included exotic stuff that never materialised, except in the imaginations of people on TEWTs.

Great photos Mike

Keith Webb · #14 02-06-09, 11:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwiquad

thanks for that keith. on my new imac that arrived today that image is huge and clear.

WAY TO GO, MIKE!

kiwiquad · #15 03-06-09, 04:56

note these are scans of the original 3x2 's

kiwiquad · #16 03-06-09, 07:51

kiwiquad · #17 03-06-09, 08:03

kiwiquad · #18 03-06-09, 08:07

K713 · #19 04-06-09, 00:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwiquad

Wow very nice photo !!!!

threadbear · #20 11-06-09, 10:31

A couple of questions regarding the great photograph of the Quads lined up.

1:- Are these Quads towing 6pdrs as thet dont appear to be towing the limbers associated with the 25lber?

2:- The "2E" triangle on the cab door appears to be in 3 colours. Based on books I have, would that marking be red, blue and underlined white?

3:- Would these trucks have any Arm of Service markings? I imagine that it would involve the New Zealnd fern?

Thanks for any information.

Incidentally I hopefully will be posting a photo sometime in the future of one of my Uncles with his CMP(?) in North Africa.

Regards

Grahame

cliff · #21 11-06-09, 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by threadbear

A couple of questions regarding the great photograph of the Quads lined up.

1:- Are these Quads towing 6pdrs as thet dont appear to be towing the limbers associated with the 25lber?

Regards

Grahame

Graham if you look at the 5th post up from yours you can clearly see in that photo that they are towing limbers and the guns are 25 lber's.

kiwiquad · #22 12-06-09, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by threadbear

A couple of questions regarding the great photograph of the Quads lined up.

1:- Are these Quads towing 6pdrs as thet dont appear to be towing the limbers associated with the 25lber?

2:- The "2E" triangle on the cab door appears to be in 3 colours. Based on books I have, would that marking be red, blue and underlined white?

3:- Would these trucks have any Arm of Service markings? I imagine that it would involve the New Zealnd fern?

Thanks for any information.

Incidentally I hopefully will be posting a photo sometime in the future of one of my Uncles with his CMP(?) in North Africa.

Regards

Grahame

gday Grahame,
id say there would be markings on the rear such as that photo with the beer bottles, going by kiwi photos ive seen in books there could be the number with the fernleaf on the right rear i think, its hard as the photos i have are usually from a distance, some close ups would have been good,even taken while driving, im sure there were more but over time they disappear, i was given some more recently from my dad who found them in a lot of gear my grandmother had, some of these of which i put on the site. mike, yeah the colurs i think are correct as you stated..

Tony Smith · #23 12-06-09, 04:02

6 Field Regiment was composed of a HQ and three Batteries of 2 Troops each:

RHQ
29 Bty (A and C Troops)
30 Bty (D and F Troops)
48 Bty (B and E Troops)

6 Fd Regt was attached to 6 Bde of 2 NZ Div.

The Arm of Service sign was a triangle with Red over Blue (AoS colours for Arty) with the number 53. The Formation sign for 2 NZ Div was a white "Silver fern" on a black background.

Tony Smith · #24 12-06-09, 04:47

To distinguish each Battery within the Regiment, signs featured a 1" coloured strip along the bottom of the AoS:

29 Bty: Red
30 Bty: Green
48 Bty: Yellow

kiwiquad · #25 12-06-09, 05:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

To distinguish each Battery within the Regiment, signs featured a 1" coloured strip along the bottom of the AoS:

29 Bty: Red
30 Bty: Green
48 Bty: Yellow

thanks tony thats helped me out immensely , so far the closest i can get to one of these is my tamiya ford which is still in the box, at least ill be able to paint it up etc as my grandfathers was, all i need now is the paint scheme for italy, going by the photos i posted it looks like khaki but i could be wrong, i heard they went green for the european theatre. cheers again tony mike

threadbear · #26 17-06-09, 15:43

Sorry for the delay to replying but thank you for the information regarding the markings of the Quads.

Regards

Grahame

kiwiquad · #27 28-08-09, 03:22

i recently found Clem Ragg who served as a gunner in f troop, he told me their quads were chevs and were painted khaki brown whilst in italy, he was friends with my grandfather who was in e troop. Clem reckons he is the only surviving member of the gunners he served with.i hope to meet up with him later this year in nz.

Michael Turner · #28 29-08-09, 02:52

Is this pattern the same as the old Tamiya and Italeria (Perless) kits?

Thank you.

Michael

cliff · #29 29-08-09, 05:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Turner

Is this pattern the same as the old Tamiya and Italeria (Perless) kits?

Thank you.

Michael

it is the same as the Tamiya Quad kit, but the Tamiya kit is a cab 12 Ford where as most of the photos here show the cab 12 Chev version.

The Italeri/Peerless kits were the later 13 cab Gun Tractors.

Michael Turner · #30 01-09-09, 01:57

Thank you Cliff for the information. I was wondering then if the Italeria (Perless) kit was also a Ford or a Chevrolet and I assume that this is also a CMP vehicle as well?

I am still trying to learn all of the different CMP patterns which can be a daunting task like learning the various M4 Sherman’s or T-34 production plant versions!

Thank you again.

Michael