Chevrolet 1½-ton 4x4 truck in Commonwealth service

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Wheels & Tracks magazine no. 53, p.36 features a set of pictures from R.D.(Dick) Okill of Cornwall who served in the British Army throughout WWII.

This pic is captioned "Chevrolet and Bedfords all looking very smart in Possilipo, 'a posh area of Naples' in late 1943" and was taken when when Dick was serving with the 37th LAA. I cannot figure out the camouflage scheme, but it could be an unofficial one:

From Benghazi we went to Salerno and then on another landing at Castellammare for the assault on Naples. However, we stuck there for some time and liberated vast quantities of naval paint from the Italian Navy shipyard. We painted our troop vehicles, from sand pink, the green and dark blue and as I had two professional sign writers in my troop, they looked very smart with the camels on the divisional [signs] all wearing diferent facial expressions.

Does any else have pictures and/or info on Chevrolet 1½-ton 4x4 trucks in Commonwealth service?

Hanno

[cliff]

Hanno the RAAF Airfield Construction units used the tipper version both here in Australia and also in the Pacific. The AWM has some photos and if you like I will post them.

Cheers
Cliff

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by cliff
Hanno the RAAF Airfield Construction units used the tipper version both here in Australia and also in the Pacific. The AWM has some photos and if you like I will post them.

Cliff, Mike Kelly posted the following AWM pic in "Yankee Joe" truck. Do you have any more? Seems like they have locally produced tipper bodies. I wonder if these were refugee cargo Chevrolets, originally destined for the Netherlands East Indies Army? See Overvalwagen.com > Transport vehicles: 4x4 trucks

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here is a scan of the relevant pages from Data Book of Wheeled Vehicles: Army Transport 1939-1945. Turns out they were delivered under S.M. 2227, 2228 and 2229.


(click on image for large size scan)


From David H.'s British Chevrolet Contracts, we learn S.M.2229 was allocated census numbers L777093 to L777366. This means 274 Tippers were supplied to the British. Shown below is a restored Chevrolet Tipper, pictured a few years ago at Beltring. No idea if this was originally supplied under S.M.2229, though.


Source: Ferdinand Hejl's photo site

[cliff]

Hanno I have these ones from the AWM. Captions are not the original AWM ones and the neg. #'s are on the photos.

Cheers
Cliff

Pic 1: 1943-03-22. NORTHERN AUSTRALIA. THE RAAF BUILDS ITS OWN AERODROMES

Pic 2: 1943-03-22. NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

Pic 3: AITAPE, NORTH EAST NEW GUINEA. 1944-04-23. RAAF SUPPLIES AND STORES

Pic 4: Darwin area, NT. 11 March 1943. RAAF Mobile Works Squadron

Pic 5: NT. 4 May 1943. 18 Squadron RAAF (NT = Northern Territorys, Australia)

[cliff]

Pic 6: SOGERI, NEW GUINEA. 1943-11-20.01

Pic 7: SOGERI, NEW GUINEA. 1943-11-20.02

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks Cliff!

As far as as I can tell these most likely originated from the batch of 912 Chevrolets shipped to the Netherlands East Indies in 1942, of which 816 were diverted to Australia after the fall of the NEI (source).

H.

[Phil Waterman]

The last two pictures look like mud season here in New England. That wondrous season when frost is going out in the roads while everything on either side road is piled with melting snow result dirt roads that can swallow small cars.

[cliff]

There were the remains of two of these tippers in Ken Hughes collection at Kingaroy. One went quite early in the piece and the other later. I wonder where they ended up?

cheers
Cliff

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/...tarychevs.html

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Not in place here really (as it seems to be in US service), but interesting to note is this Chevrolet 1½-ton truck fitted with the so-called No.7 Wrecker Set. Until now I have only seen these fitted on GMC 2½-ton trucks.

Title: A one-and-a-half ton truck with wrecker mount pulling in a jeep during maneuvers somewhere in New Caledonia

Source: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
Digital ID: fsa 8e01243 Source: digital file from intermediary roll film
Reproduction Number: LC-USW33-027852-ZC (b&w film neg.)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540

[Jan Mostek]

Hi Hanno and other chevy fans,
the picture shown below is scanned down form old Bellona booklet, maybe it is not generally known. By the way, does anybody have picture of the fifth wheel on Chevy 4x4 semi tractor?

Greetings from Prague,
Jan Mostek.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Jan Mostek
the picture shown below is scanned down form old Bellona booklet, maybe it is not generally known.

Hi Jan, that is a new picture to me anyway. Do I read the census number L1326675 correctly? I cannot find a correlating number series in David Hayward's British Chevrolet Contracts...

Hanno

[Jan Mostek]

Hanno,
I guess you are correct. the picture below it probably the best the Photoshop could give me :-). The original booklet was issued in the 70s years so the quality of pictures there is not the best. But of course, those older books time to time offer some forgotten pictures.
Cheers,
Jan.