new web site & ID help please

[cliff]

Guys a friend gave me this link to 2500 hi-res photos of normandy in 1944.

http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archi...ndie/PhotosHD/

Unfortunately there is no thumbnails so each photo has to be opened to see what it is. This takes a lot of time as they are large photos. There are a lot of Canadian units shown and a lot are just photos of ruined towns etc but there is a lot of vehicle (both armor & softskins) in amongst them too including the odd CMP or two.

I am only about half way through viewing them myself but I found the photo below (neg p011460). It shows a GMC-CCKW tipper with dual front wheels fitted towing a roller that is laying what looks like plastic sheet.

What is this trailer type machine? Can anyone help with details of it? I may try and do a model of this as it is unusual but only if I can get more details on the trailer.

Cheers
Cliff

Bill & Les if you wait till I finish I will send you discs of the vehicle ones.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Cliff, this is not a new site, but merely the "back door" to http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archivesnormandie/
If you go to http://www.ceris-normandie.com/archi...andie/rech.php you can use key words to search to the type of pictures you're looking for. It requires some knowledge of French, so maybe using the back door is easier.

H.

[cliff]

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Cliff, this is not a new site, It requires some knowledge of French

Thanks Hanno I knew I should have taken more notice of my French teacher when I was at school years ago.

Cheers
Cliff

[Bill Murray]

Hi Cliff:
Since you are so far along, I will wait for the disc.

Regarding your photo, as I recall from a book I saw long ago, the trailer is laying a treated plastic sheeting over sand/coral prior to either paving or pouring concrete for an airfield runway.

I believe it was needed as the sand/coral was so porous that the paving materiel either would not adhere properly or would end up with sinkholes or something like that. I would imagine the dual wheels on the GMC were for extra flotation so it would not create ruts due to the heavy weight of the plastic rolls and the adhesive materiels in the barrels.

I do not have a better photo of the trailer but I would think you can scratchbuild something fairly close with that explanation.

Edit: These were probably SeaBees and if anyone has a history book or site on these guys you may find a better photo.

Cheers
Bill

[Bill Murray]

Apropos of nothing, but I found this photo while Googling SeaBee trucks. A really cute Willys Air Raid Truck in the state of Virginia.
Bill

[Ron Perry]

Hi Cliff

What you have is a P.B.S. Laying machine.
P.B.S. stands for Prefabricated Bituminous Surfacing and is a material very near to Roofing-felt/Rubberoid.

" As made in the U.K., it consist of Jute Hessian cloth 40 inch wide weighting approximately 9 ounces per square yard, impregnated with arelatively soft bitumen and and subsequently coated equally on each side with a mixture of oxidized bitumen of a harder grade and a fine mineral filler.
After being lightly dusted with a mineral flour, the material is cut into 80-yard lengths and rolled up on stout timber or steel formers "
(Book = Civil engineer in war)

I have for you some more pictures and some drawings how it was used.

It is not an underlayment for runways etc. but used as surfacing material for runways,roads, (94 miles of the Tamu-Kelawa Road), "Irish Bridges"(as a mudseal in a stream crossing over the river bed), as flooring in workshops, large capacity water storage tanks, even all weather volley-ball fields and tennis courts were made, and also used to the re-soling of boots.
It could take trafic of 7.00 to 8.000 vehicles per day and could land over 250 planes per day, including Super Fortresses

If you send me your E mail, I will mail te pictures to you.

Regards
Ron Perry
ron@perry.nl
www.wheelsofvictory.com