Morris CS8 2 Pounder Portee

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks for the write up, Tobin! Hope to see you in one of your Morris-Commercial trucks in 2024 again.

Meanwhile, this thread may be of interest to you: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5655

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by T17E1

By this time the 2 pdr. was obsolete against German armour and so they were given (sold?) to the NZ and Aussie troops who took them home

Thanks for that interesting article.

The Australian Morris C8/AT Portees are listed in the Aust. army register books AWM126 (around 30), a batch of them are listed among the 'refugee' vehicles. These British army WD vehicles arrived here in Australia as refugee cargo, they were aboard ships that were sailing for ports in Japanese occupied regions, the Dutch East indies or Malaya.

A friend of mine had two of these unusual trucks, both without any of the original A/T bodywork, he passed them onto a club member who sold them and their present whereabouts are unknown to me. A collector up in NSW had the remains of two or three of these trucks and was selling them ( I have pics somewhere), this was around 20 years ago. A guy turned up at Corowa with the radiator from one of these trucks. Hughes , the surplus dealers out in Sydney road, Coburg, had a few spares for these vehicles including a NOS engine that my friend purchased. I helped in the recovery of a C8 A/T, a club member, Peter G, helped out with his F15A and we flat towed the vehicle to Yarra Glen . Attempts at tow starting the C8 A/T proved to be fruitless.

Here is a partial list I found in the register books. NSW L/C = Line of Command ? G54 (50) ? The British WD reg. numbers are listed. I don't know how or where the Aust. army used these 'refugee' Portees , maybe they were used for training only. After being boarded, or declared for disposal, a number of them were disposed/sold to the Nuffield agencies in Australia i.e. Lanes Motors were in Melbourne and York Motors were in Sydney.

Not sure about the Middle East and if any Morris Portees were brought back but this pic is likely to be a location in Syria with Australians checking out a Morris Portee, I would say it is a Vichy French airfield.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_...Force#Aircraft

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by T17E1

MKII carriage 17 Pdrs. had Warner electric trailer brakes fitted and the Portees pulling them were fitted with a brake activating handle beside the steering column and a trailer power connector and cable.

The Mk II carriage for 17 pdr was the 25 pdr carriage, AKA, the Pheasant. The electric brake conversion was simply called the Mk IW. It was the intention to convert all Mk I carriages to Mk IW and it was stated that the Mk I would become non existent. This did not fully happen until post war. It did not occur to the guns that had left British Army service either.

[Mike Cecil]

L/C = Lines of Communication.