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  #1  
Old 10-01-05, 23:55
Keith Webb's Avatar
Keith Webb Keith Webb is offline
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Default Chevrolet C60X in Australian service

Mike Cecil has just written an excellent and detailed account of the C60X in Australian service which he has allowed me to put onto the Old CMP site.

If only we had this level of detail on all CMP models!

Have a look here.
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  #2  
Old 11-01-05, 00:07
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Hanno Spoelstra Hanno Spoelstra is offline
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Default Re: Chevrolet C60X in Australian service

Quote:
Originally posted by Keith Webb
Mike Cecil has just written an excellent and detailed account of the C60X in Australian service
Great stuff!
Thank you Mike and Keith (not all links at http://www.oldcmp.net/C60X_1.html work, though).

H.
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  #3  
Old 11-01-05, 00:24
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Default Links

I'll check them again, thanks for the alert, Hanno.
Some of the images hadn't been uploaded - they're there now.

Check out the PMG ex-No4 breakdown, or is it perhaps a "Truck, crane, 2000 pounds"?

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  #4  
Old 11-01-05, 06:40
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Tony Smith Tony Smith is offline
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Default C60X exhaust

Keith, have you or Mike found any reference to the RAAF refuellers having the exhaust re-routed (or originally specified)with the muffler behind the front bumper? I have been rold this was done to:
1. Keep the hot exhaust pipe away from the AVGAS, and
2. Keep the exhaust gas away from the operator who stood next to the truck while transferring fuel.
This was a design feature that was reputedly recommended for the ACCO after good results on the refeullers.
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  #5  
Old 11-01-05, 08:53
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David_Hayward (RIP) David_Hayward (RIP) is offline
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Default '42 BritishContract for Australia

S/M 2510 3-TON 6 X 6 160” W.B. 60 supplied by October 1942

Hope this helps.
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  #6  
Old 11-01-05, 10:17
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Default Another contract for C60X

I have a pic of a data plate of a R107 model, 866070143, contract SM-PE-211-16
The R107 was a GM-H code for a RAAF vehicle as opposed to WO (War Office) for army deliveries.
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  #7  
Old 12-01-05, 09:56
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Default 6x6 varieties

Somewhere in this stack of over a dozen vehicles that contains GMC Soft Cab CCKW's, GMC Hard Cab CCKW's and Studebaker US6's is a C60X ! Can you see it? Like a huge game of Ker-Plunk, could the Victorians pull it out without toppling the stack?
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  #8  
Old 12-01-05, 20:51
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Default Engine # prefix

Note the stamped [by Holden] 'PR' prefix to the US 270 engine number. 'PR' was of course a prefix applied to 1944 model Chevrolet CMP 216 engines, 'R' standing for right-hand drive. Never seen that before!

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Old 29-01-20, 07:17
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Default Article text

The link is dead, text copied here, pics may follow later?

Quote:
The C60X in Australian Service

By Mike Cecil

Ag Head, Military Heraldry and Technology, Australian War Memorial

The ‘big brother’ of the Canadian Military Pattern family of vehicles was the C60X on the model 8660 chassis. This was the only production 6x6 CMP (the Ford equivalent was a 6x4, that is, a 4x4 truck with a lazy, non-driven rear axle), and it was powered by the larger General Motors Corporation (GMC) model 270 overhead valve 6-cylinder in-line petrol engine.

The Australian Army first placed an order for 120 of these chassis in CKD form during 1942 under Contract Demand (CD) E5298, as well as a single pilot model chassis. These were for use as the basis for the Australian heavy armoured car. The pilot model chassis was despatched from Canada in June 1942 to enable work on the hull for the armoured car to proceed while awaiting the despatch of the 120 chassis much later in the year. The correspondence and the original order refer to these 121 chassis as being for ‘armoured cars’, as do the weekly reports from General Motors-Holdens (GMH: the company formed when GM Australia Pty Ltd acquired their sole motor body supplier in Australia, Holden’s Motor Body Builders Ltd, in March 1931) to the Army until the mid-September 1942 report, when they are referred to as being for ‘breakdown trucks’. This was due to the abandonment of the 6x6 chassis as the basis of the heavy armoured car, which then reverted to a design utilising the rear engined 4x4 Chevrolet model 8446 chassis.

The model 8660 chassis came standard from Canada with seven 10.50x20 tyres on single wheels. Included with each chassis were a range of items such as a set of tools, 2-gallon cans, tow chains and pioneer tools. The Australian purchase specification excluded several items from the standard manufacturer’s supply list, including square drive sockets, instrument, tail and inspection lamp bulbs, the first aid kit and bag, wire cutters, the machete and sheath, 1 gallon engine oil can, the Canadian log book, and the canvas winter front for the radiator. Unique to the Australian orders was a blackout kit consisting of a container for the blackout shields, a left and right blackout headlamp assembly, and an instruction sheet.

The Truck, Breakdown (Aust) No.4

The Army reallocated the 120 chassis purchased for heavy armoured cars for use as breakdown vehicles, utilising the body already in production and used to equip the Ford modified conventional truck fitted with a Marmon-Herrington 6x6 all wheel drive ‘kit’. This was the ‘Lorry, Breakdown (Aust) No.3A’ on a Ford 156-inch wheelbase chassis and shod with 10.50x18 inch tyres. The C60X chassis was slightly longer at 160 ½ inches, and utilised slightly larger radius tyres, so the breakdown body and its mounting was modified to suit these differences. As the MGO Equipment Memorandum of April 1943 states: ‘ Truck Breakdown (Aust) No.4 is mounted upon a GMC 6x6 chassis of 160 ½ inch wheelbase, carried on 10.50x20 tyres. Other than the slight differences necessitated by fitting to a different chassis, this vehicle corresponds with Lorry, Breakdown (Aust) No.3 in other respects’.

The GMH designation for the complete vehicle was WO85, and it utilised the standard style Cab 13 cabin with steel doors as produced by GMH prior to the 1944 redesign which is characterised by removable canvas doors.

The vehicles were equipped with a Servex type 15,000 pound drum winch with 200 feet of cable. An ‘I’ beam was mounted within the rear body and equipped with a 2-ton Dawn type winch with 50-feet of cable working over a travelling hoist trolley to a double-purchase block with a hook. The whole apparatus was capable of a maximum lift of 3 tons.

The Pilot Model Breakdown vehicle based on the C60X was built on chassis number 28660-10766. This chassis number is a single number that does not correspond with any of the other chassis number sequences of C60X chassis in Australia, and is therefore likely to be the pilot model cab-chassis truck sent to Australia in June 1942 for the armoured car project. The completed vehicle served until the end of the Second World War, when it was sold to the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

The Army order for 120 chassis was still pending in January 1943, with the first 48 chassis said to be en route from Canada. These were landed in Australia during February 1943. While the bulk of these were allocated to the Army order for breakdown trucks, the first allocation was actually to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), who received chassis numbers 8660M00001 to 8660M00011. The first breakdown trucks for the Army commenced at chassis number 8660M000013, and continued through to chassis number 8660M000120. The remainder of the Army’s order for 120 vehicles was made up of chassis in the 8660M68000 series. In total, the Army received 120 ‘Trucks Breakdown (Aust) No.4’, apparently delivered in small batches of 12 vehicles, except for two batches of 23 and 24 vehicles respectively, and the single pilot model vehicle. They were mostly delivered during 1943, and remained in service with Army workshop units during the post-war period. The last examples were disposed of in the mid-1960s.

The breakdown vehicle was the only body configuration operated by the Army on the C60X chassis during the Second World War. Examples of the maintenance manual M660-C1 for the C60X have been noted with an addition glued to the front page that states ‘M660-C1. This maintenance manual covers: Trucks Breakdown 3-ton (Aust) No.4. Note: Engine specifications are identical with GMC ‘CCKW’’.

There is a strong possibility that the Army also had a pilot model heavy artillery tractor built on a C60X, but unfortunately no details about the project have been located as yet. While pure conjecture on the author’s part, it is interesting to note that one chassis number, 28660M000012, is missing from an otherwise unbroken sequence. If that chassis was used as the basis for the experimental heavy artillery tractor, then Army would have received a total of 121 chassis, which is consistent with the order for the 120, plus the pilot model chassis.

During the post-war period, the Army received a refuelling tanker from the RAAF fleet for use as a bulk fuel truck. It was transferred to the Army in September 1947, and was designated a ‘Truck 3 ton Bulk Fuel’. It was finally written off in Korea in April 1954.

The RAAF Connection

The RAAF received the majority of the C60X vehicles imported into Australia. During early 1943, the RAAF commenced work on two body designs to suit the C60X truck. These were a heavy recovery crane, and an aircraft refueller.

The RAAF Refueller Truck

Chassis number 8660M00001 was used as the basis for the development of the refueller truck, with the tank and pumping bodywork manufactured by Engineering Products of Burnley, Victoria, more commonly known by their trademark ‘EPEX’ or just ‘EP’ The development and manufacture took some considerable time, however, as the first of these were not accepted for RAAF service until December 1944. In all, three ‘batches’ totalling 337 refueller trucks were taken on charge by the RAAF. Except for the pilot model on chassis 8660M00001, all the others were on chassis in the range 8660M68000 to 8660M70143. The first batch of 83 vehicles was delivered in December 1944, the second batch of 235 vehicles between December 1944 and the middle of 1945, while the third batch of just 19 vehicles was delivered just after the end of the war in the Pacific between August and December 1945.

The official RAAF wartime nomenclature for the vehicle was most likely ‘Trucks, Refuelling, 900 gallons, CWO 8660 (6X6)’, but there were a number of ways in which the RAAF referred to the truck in official publications and correspondence. Such variations as ‘Tanker, Refuelling’ and ‘Tanker, Refuel 850 gallons’ have been noted. The GMH design nomenclature for the complete vehicle was R107.

The vehicles were built on standard C60X chassis imported CKD from Canada. The cabs appear to be mainly 1944 pattern GMH built cabs, characterised by modified door openings and removable canvas doors. This cabin design was common to most of the CMP vehicles built up in Australia in the latter part of the war, and was developed in response to user comments about excessive cabin temperatures when working in tropical and inland climates. The rear body was purpose built with a 900 imperial gallon tank occupying the forward part of the body, with equipment lockers nested below the shape of the tank at the forward end. A short enclosed section at the rear housed the pumping unit, hoses, gauges and nozzles, and was accessed by two swing doors spanning the full width of the body.

During the war, the vehicles were all painted in the standard Khaki Green Number 3 camouflage colour, with markings in white. This was progressively changed in the post-war period to overall bright yellow with black markings.

The vehicle was used extensively in the post-war period, with the last examples being disposed of in the late 1960s. During this time, the RAAF’s aircraft types were upgraded and modernised, and this is in part reflected in the changes to the names applied to the C60X refueller fleet. Many were modified for other aircraft fuel types, so names such as ‘Truck, Tanker, AVGAS, 900 gallons’, ‘Truck, Refuel, Kerosene’, and ‘Tanker, AVTUR’ appear. At least three refueller trucks were reconfigured as insecticide sprayers.

Many of the refueller fleet remained in RAAF service up until the mid to late 1960s. While the majority were disposed of by write off and public auction, some were transferred to other government agencies such as the Department of Supply and Development, the Royal Australian Navy and the Post Master General’s Department.

The RAAF Heavy Recovery Crane

While chassis 8660M00001 was allocated for the development of the refueller, the RAAF also received chassis numbers 8660M00002 to 8660M00011 for use as crane trucks. This was a twin-boom crane truck designed by GH Olding and Sons Pty Ltd to an RAAF specification. The nomenclature is variously listed in RAAF documents as ‘Trucks M/T Salvage’, ‘Truck, Heavy, Crane’, ‘Crane, Mobile 10 ton’, and ‘Crane, Truck Mounted, 20000 pounds’ and a few other similar variations (in fact, almost as many name variations as there were trucks!).

To the rear of the standard truck cabin was a tool box and spare tyre carrier, and immediately behind that was the crane, consisting of a vertical structure incorporating a large 5 ton capacity Dawn winch. From the base of each side of this structure extended a 14-foot long boom crane. Luffing was controlled by Dawn hand winches, while lifting was possibly by a power operated winch. The 14-foot long booms allowed lifting directly over the rear of the chassis, or could be pivoted for lifting to the side of the vehicle. Between the crane structure and the rear of the chassis was a full width, 106-inch long flat hardwood deck for general cargo. The vehicle was equipped with standard 10.50x20 tyres on single wheels. Similar crane trucks on Federal and GMC CCKW chasses were also used by the RAAF.

The designs were finalised in late April 1944, and the 10 vehicles taken on RAAF charge during August and September of that year. They remained in RAAF service until as late as the mid-1960s.

The RAAF’s Runway Cleaner

An interesting post-war conversion of an RAAF refuelling tanker was what appears to be a runway cleaner. This was a refueller with the cabin roof and the rear body removed, the latter being replaced with a flat deck and two large rectangular fuel tanks behind the cabin. Mounted on the rear of the chassis was a Rolls Royce centrifugal flow turbojet engine from a Gloster Meteor fighter, with a flattened outlet that directed the jet thrust downwards over a broad area behind the truck. Christened ‘Mott Meteor’, it was painted yellow overall, as were all of the RAAF’s airfield equipment vehicles in the post-war period. The vehicle was disposed of in 1962.

The C60X In Service

The C60X was the least common of all the CMP vehicles built by Canada during the Second World War, with the 2,710 chasses produced accounting for just 0.31% of total Canadian vehicle production. The Australian military received a significant 17.3% of the total production of the C60X, and made long-lasting use of them in three main configurations, and a smaller number of conversions (See Table 1). First entering service in 1943, the type remained with both the Army and the RAAF until the mid-1960s, giving an impressive 25 years or more of continuous service.

Table 1: Configurations of C60X Trucks in Australian Service

Nomenclature

Total Number

Service Arm

Truck, 3 ton Breakdown (Aust) No.4

120

Army

Truck, 3 ton, Bulk Refuel

(1)

Army (ex-RAAF vehicle on transfer)

Tractor, Heavy Artillery

1?

Truck Refueller, 900 gallons

(various aircraft fuels)

337

RAAF

Truck, Crane, 20000 pounds

10

RAAF

Truck, Insecticide Sprayer

(3)

RAAF. Converted Refueller vehicles.

Truck, Runway Cleaner, Jet Powered

(1)

RAAF converted refueller

TOTAL of vehicles in Service:

468

Total does not include inter-service transfers or conversions

Note: as far as is known, the RAN did not receive any C60X based vehicles directly which would add to the above mentioned total of 468. The RAN received at least two refueller trucks on transfer from the RAAF during the post-war period."
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  #10  
Old 29-01-20, 07:37
Mike Cecil Mike Cecil is offline
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Default Long time ago!

Was it really 15 - 16 years ago I wrote that article?? Time flies when we are having fun, eh?

Much has happened since then, of course. I retired from the AWM ten years ago, so the title 'Acting Head MHT' is well and truly in the past - just so current readers don't get confused.

Best regards

Mike
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  #11  
Old 02-07-20, 00:25
Goncalo Mendes Goncalo Mendes is offline
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Default

On the article is refered the C60X twin boom RAAF crane, but a larger recovery crane isn't mentioned (also used with other base trucks, like the gmc353). Was it a unlisted conversion, or is civil origin machine?
I have researched this from a long time, some photos have appeared, but technical information almost nothing, only that have a 10ton rate.


There are some posts about it:

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9160

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=14112

image source: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...2&postcount=75

Cheers!
G_Mendes
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Last edited by Goncalo Mendes; 02-07-20 at 00:37. Reason: images, grammar
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  #12  
Old 09-08-20, 11:06
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra View Post
The link is dead, text copied here, pics may follow later?
"Nomenclature | Total Number | Service Arm
Truck, 3 ton Breakdown (Aust) No.4 | 120 | Army"


Click image for larger version

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Pic courtesy of Keith Webb
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  #13  
Old 11-08-20, 12:08
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Default Pt Cook

Back in the 1970s, used to be a yellow C60X fueller at the Pt Cook RAAF museum complex, in its early days . Don't know what became of that vehicle . Also there was a nice Austin K6 at Essendon airport ... Where are these vehicles today ?
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  #14  
Old 11-08-20, 12:24
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Default Yellow C60X

I think that might be the one which wound up in a yard in Alexandra in an extremely rusty condition. I believe it was eventually scrapped. Of course they would have had more than one when they were in service so perhaps it is tucked away in one of the hangers. They have quite a few vehicles there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Kelly View Post
Back in the 1970s, used to be a yellow C60X fueller at the Pt Cook RAAF museum complex, in its early days . Don't know what became of that vehicle . Also there was a nice Austin K6 at Essendon airport ... Where are these vehicles today ?
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