Indian Pattern HUP (was: Chevy Indian Backbody)

[Nigel Watson]

A veteran was showing me his photies when I spotted this which you may be interested in. Locally made he told me it was his vehicle in India post war.

[Bill Murray]

Nice photo.
Somewhere I have a stash of Burmese and Cambodian CMP busses etc which I will try to find and post here. I believe they were used up until 10-15 years ago and may still be around for all I know.
Bill

[Keith Webb]

http://www.oldcmp.net/Images/burma/kgw/rangoon_2.jpg

I was there in the 1970s for a week - what a fascinating place it was too.

I took the above pic in Mandalay.

more

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Nigel
Locally made he told me it was his vehicle in India post war.

An Indian Pattern CMP Woodie! Very interesting Nigel, thanks.

H.

P.S. here´s another Indian-built woodie:

linked from Bombay Chev

[Bill Murray]

Keith:

Your photos, and links, absolutely bury what I may have posted here so I wll not waste bandwith to upload what I have.

Nice to know, though, that my premise was correct and that there may still be CMPs still running around today in Burma.

Albeit, with Isuzu or Toyota or whomever's diesel motors.

I have not scanned very many of the photos I took in Peru in 1976-78 when I lived there,, and not many are military, but I will try to do so to show you all how old soldiers do soldier on.

One of my fondest memories of that time was making friends with a chap who owned a 1934 Ford 4 door convertible that was in daily operation as a taxi only some 28 years ago
Bill

[William Spence (RIP)]

I really enjoyed the pix of the Chevy India Pattern backbody but was wondering if anyone had a pic of the rear of the vehicle. Does it have a back door similar to the HUP's or is the back end closed in with a spare mounted on the back???

I have all the bits & pieces to build one of these & wud like to know what the back end looks like. Any help wud be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Bill Spence MacDuffPiper

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here are the pictures Bill is referring to:

Linked from Chevy Indian Backbody [edit: now merged with this thread]:


Linked from CMPs in Asian campaigns:

Originally Posted by Les Freathy

This a local bodied utility which i think was built on a 15cwt not the 8 cwt and used by the RAF in Burma. I do have a better photo somewhere depicting a side view with the lads, i will try and locate it

Originally Posted by Les Freathy

At last i have located the elusive CMP photo of i am now covinced is based on a 8cwt chassis with local body work, the shot was taken in Burma and it serves with the RAF
Cheers
Les

Hope this helps,
Hanno

[William Spence (RIP)]

Hanno,
Tks for reply & pix of above however I already have these.
What I need is a picture of the rear of this vehicle, not the front or the sides, I already have them. I want to know if the vehicle has a rear door (not an extra side door) similar to the rear door on HUP's or if the rear of the truck just has the spare wheel mount. Do you have any pix of the back of these trucks????

Bill Spence MacDuffPiper

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by William Spence
Tks for reply & pix of above however I already have these.

Yes I know, but I thought it would be handy to post them for the other MLU members to see what you are dreaming about.

What I need is a picture of the rear of this vehicle, not the front or the sides, I already have them. I want to know if the vehicle has a rear door (not an extra side door) similar to the rear door on HUP's or if the rear of the truck just has the spare wheel mount. Do you have any pix of the back of these trucks????

If a picture showing the rear does not show up you are free to make it as you want. I'd say it probably had two doors opening to the sides. Makes the most sense, given the "Woody" type construction of the body.

Good luck, sounds like a great project!

Hanno

[William Spence (RIP)]

Les: Do you have amy further pictures of the so-called India Pattern 8 cwt Chev CMPs that were used by the RAF in Burma for moving air crews from barracks to airdromes??? These were Chev CMP knock-downs, 8 cwts on HUP chassis, bumpers, fenders, running boards & gas tanks with a wooden back built on them that looks very similar to the old Ford Woody station wagons. I have copies of the 2 pix of them previously shown but am wondering if any more pix exists of them. I'm trying to create one of these but a few more pix wud help.

Cheers, Bill Spence

[Stuart Kirkham]

G'day Bill

Can you post a photo of the vehicle you are talking about as I am unsure of what it looks like. Maybe some members may recognise it and post some other photos.

[William Spence (RIP)]

Tommy K, Tks for reply re above, I'm no good at posting pics, but if you want to see the vehicle I mean, go to a posting by Les Freathey in the SOFT SKIN FORUM, his last picture in a long series of pics, it's found at www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7471

Hope you can find this & get it up.

Cheers, Bill Spence

[Stuart Kirkham]

G'day Bill

Try this Indian Military site. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/

and the website forum. http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/

Post the question on the forum and you should get some response.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by William Spence
Hope you can find this & get it up.

Bill, I have merged you renewed request with your earlier one in which I had grouped all known pictures together. Here's hoping more information will come to light!

H.

[William Spence (RIP)]

Hanno: Tks for your help re locating more pix re above. Hope it turns up more help for different views of vehicle I'm looking for.

Cheers, Bill Spence

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by William Spence
Hope it turns up more help for different views of vehicle I'm looking for.

Bill, here's another view. Source: HMVF - Burma pictures

I know, not the rear view you are looking for. Undoubtedly, one will turn up one day.

H.

[JohnSchade]

It's been a while - sorry ! In fact several years......

But hey, I'm alive and kicking and I guess this thread is as good as any to post a few questions about Burma vehicles in WWII.

I know the British troops used Canadian and US MV's to a large degree in the "forgotten war" - I even have some footage on VHS shoving several CMP's in SE Asia, but it seems they were largely unmarked except for maybe some (white?) letters/numbers on the front bumper or doors, if any at all.

I see in this thread and the posted links that some vehicles also sported white stars on the cab doors or body.

What I'd like to know is if there is a good source for markings on these SE Asian MV's, or do I just have to study the pics in this thread/links and use my common sense and vivid imagination?


My reason for asking is that I'm doing a Burma C-15A scale model using the Italeri kit and chopping off the cab top. I'm using Mike Starmers mix for a Jungle Green SCC 13 (thanks Mike), but I'm in doubt about what markings - if any - to use.

Any good advice?

I'd also like to know if it would be all wrong to use the 2H1 composite body that comes with the kit. Or did they use locally built bodies exclusively? (I know they got CKD vehicles from GM in Canada, but I'm uncertain about the bodies). So far nobody has been able to enlighten me on this topic.

Thanks!

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by William Spence

Hanno: Tks for your help re locating more pix re above. Hope it turns up more help for different views of vehicle I'm looking for.

Bill,

What about a survivor?!?

See http://www.canadianregister.co.uk/

HTH,
Hanno

[Keith Webb]

This time evidently as part of BCOF. I found this pic in a photo album.

http://gallery.me.com/oldcmp.net/100...7-0025/web.jpg

And a closer view:

http://gallery.me.com/oldcmp.net/100...7-0026/web.jpg

[Keith Orpin]

Guys,
Just found this interesting shot in my Dad's old photo album. This was taken in India during 1945, when he was in the Royal Signals and shows an Indian bodied Chev (I think the front of a Standard is also just in shot) and several WC 52 's, oh, and a jeep trailer.
Keith

[servicepub (RIP)]

Any ideas on this. I believe that it is in India but may be in the Far East. Sorry for the picture quality.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Clive,

Nice pics, what's the story behind them?

As far as we know this is an "Indian pattern" Heavy Utility, Personnel. Based on a C8A chassis/cab.

See http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9502 and http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...Indian+pattern

Hanno

[servicepub (RIP)]

Hanno,
No story unfortunately. I found these at LAC, uncaptioned and no reference to a file. DND often received information on vehicles from the UK and Australia but rarely from India.
C

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

As far as we know this is an "Indian pattern" Heavy Utility, Personnel. Based on a C8A chassis/cab.

See http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9502 and http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...Indian+pattern

Threads now merged.

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Found a couple more pictures:

Problem Solving In The Far East 1944

Les Bradby - Burma.jpeg

[Nigel Watson]

Enjoying this revitalised thread and would like to know if anyone can help me with details of the backbody on these vehicles. Dimensions and anymore photos. Construction details with type of wood used, and where was this vehicle used, apart from Burma.
You guessed, am considering building backbody!

[servicepub (RIP)]

Nigel,
PM me your e-mail address and I will send you hi-res versions of the photos I posted above.
Clive

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Nigel Watson

Enjoying this revitalised thread and would like to know if anyone can help me with details of the backbody on these vehicles. Dimensions and anymore photos. Construction details with type of wood used, and where was this vehicle used, apart from Burma.
You guessed, am considering building backbody!

Hello Nigel,

Good to hear about you are considering building an "Indian Pattern Heavy Utility", for lack of a proper / official designation.

As for dimensions, I would contact Mr. Manmohan Sahani in India via the Canadian Register as he owns the (sole?) surviving example - see my posting above.

Also contact William Spence (see top of this thread) as he built a replica.

Seeing the body was built in Asia, I reckon it was built using tropical hardwoods.

PS: maybe Keith could help by digging out the pictures in his posting of which the link no longer works - all the more reason to attach pictures to one's postings

HTH,
Hanno

[Nigel Watson]

Hi Hanno
Thanks for info, will contact these guys and see what they have.
Nigel

[Nigel Watson]

Silly question maybe but are those angle straps on the curved part of the roof edge tensioner straps for a canvas sheet roof on this body? So perhaps there is no solid roof which would make sense.