XXX Corps event: Liberation Task Force | 13-22 September 2014, Holland

[Alex van de Wetering]

I was in Weert today, very briefly. The "staging area" was not open to public, but I did see several vehicles parked on the other side of the fence; Austin K6, C15A, several Bedford QL's and MWD's.
Lowloaders of the Dutch army were supplying more vehicles....I think I saw Andy's F30, an Austin K2/Y, Bedford QLD, Hillman Tilly, and a Matador on the open road. Lovely vehicles!

[Hanno Spoelstra]

A quick update: event is going very well, with some hiccups and confusion along the way - just like 70 years ago!

Mike Calnan was riding with me yesterday, this was the first time we met in person after corresponding for many years (since before the internet....).

Search YouTube for footage, e.g.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg7crwT1N0s
Spot the CMPs - I am at the very end of the column.

Look up "Bailey Bridge Son", there should be some footage of that crossing too.

More later when I get back,
Regards,
Hanno

[Alex van de Wetering]

Attached are some pictures from last tuesday...
5 MLU forum members

Adrian's Sherman V with Original Multibank, Tim's Phantom Scout car, Hanno's F15A, Maurice's spotless Matador and Andy's F30.

And moving vehicles in Aalst:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aas9KXvvoyw

[Tim Bell]

Hope everyone got home safely.

Great to meet a few members of this forum - had an excellent time - no doubt the excellent weather helped.

Had one break-down - distributor came loose - outside an Italian Ice Cream parlour... the manager of which then invited everyone to have a free ice-cream... very nice it was too... will have to "plan" break-downs on the next trip!

Cheers

Tim

[carrierbarry]

Did any carriers take part in the 30 Corp drive this year?
Where there any carriers at Arnham ?
Any pictures ?

Barry
MKII

[Ben]

Three Mk2's and a MK1 did the trip. Another MK1 started but only lasted a day due to tech issues.

Very good event and we had a fantastic time. The reaction from the Dutch people was incredible and it was a humbling experience, I'm very glad I was able to take part.

More later..... Lots of pictures to follow.

Ben

[Alex van de Wetering]

Where there any carriers at Arnham ?

no HD unfortunately, but here is a vid of the Race to the Bridge of last Saterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOO6m...iw3TXaRBhMcW9A

Alex

[Hendrik van Oorspronk]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

no HD unfortunately, but here is a vid of the Race to the Bridge of last Saterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOO6m...iw3TXaRBhMcW9A

Alex

There were 4 carriers in the Race to the Bridge, in this video the 4th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnK2BOn8pJ4

Hendrik

[RichardT10829]

Was going to say... I was in a carrier for the majority of the event and we went everywhere . By the end of the event, the remaining four carriers made a small carrier section and went everywhere together which was awesome. ! The people clearly had a soft spot for them as the cameras all came out as we passed, flowers and cakes thrown into the vehicle... An awesome experience ! On the race to the bridge we deviated from the column and spent the day at Driell before stopping at our LUP at John Frost bridge.... Which ultimately put us first in the column and first over the bridge.

The plod blocked us in and one Sherman got past, but Marc and I squeezed by and made a run for it. Just as Adrian had a tech issue pulling over (and blocking Shaun's carrier in) I think it was Adrian anyway.... I didn't look back for fear of 28tonne death.

[tankbarrell]

I couldn't believe it, just as I tried to pull in, a brace of carriers decided to formate on my inside!

By the way, that's a 30 ton death, I'll have you know.

[RichardT10829]

Yeah... I bet ! I thought I was getting the signal to move out into lane 1 by Marc's commander, I began the move off and looked left to see a knarly big sprocket and Ben shouting "right right right" so I dropped a cog and nailed it away from impending death.

Did you get her sorted in the end mate ?

[tankbarrell]

Well that's the thing, it's hard to find anything to sort!

She would do about 10 to 12 miles absolutely perfectly and then suddenly lose power and surge a little. It would idle fine and when cooled down, be back to normal.

I feel it must be fuel but quite in what way is hard to say.

[RichardT10829]

Vapour lock ? Blocked fuel tank vent ? Sounds like she is waiting until she is good and hot

[Lynn Eades]

Sounds like a great experience you guys have had. Watching the various video clips I was feeling a bit envious about it all. I kept wondering if the guy sitting high on the Dingo was going to get thrown out and run over.
Fantastic to see all that machinery looking so very smart! I have to change my views on dressing up in the period gear. it definitely adds a bit of class to the whole thing.
Adrian, what is the ignition set up on your tank like? Maybe it's a coil or condenser breaking down when hot? I suppose the multibank (Is that the one you're talking about?)has 5 or 6 of each?
Rich, did you take your trusty torch?

[Tim Bell]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

Well that's the thing, it's hard to find anything to sort!

She would do about 10 to 12 miles absolutely perfectly and then suddenly lose power and surge a little. It would idle fine and when cooled down, be back to normal.

I feel it must be fuel but quite in what way is hard to say.

Fuel is a possibility.

Some of the DR riders had issues with the fuel supplied by the Dutch army... they spent the first day after fueling stripping their bikes down - you may have seen them... we ended up with a Jerry can full of petrol drained from their tanks.

I was told the octane level we had from the Army was slightly different to that available to the man on the street... exactly what it was am not sure.

It didnt cause me any issues with the WSC though... mine were simply caused the distributor locking nut coming loose... but then these were the first 300 miles since rebuild.


Tim

[RichardT10829]

We clocked about 220 miles during the trip... So you got 80ish left ;-)

[Tim Bell]

Leaving Valkenswaard, there was one convoy which went via Asten, Duerne and Helmond to get to Son... did you have that pleasure, or were you on one of the other convoys which did half the mileage?

Tim

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Adrian, what is the ignition set up on your tank like? Maybe it's a coil or condenser breaking down when hot? I suppose the multibank (Is that the one you're talking about?)has 5 or 6 of each?

Yes, five distributors so unlikely to be an ignition issue as getting five to break down at the same time and all repair themselves would be a heck of a coincidence!

I was interested in the 'additive' that our fuel had but nobody seemed to be able to say what it was......

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

I was interested in the 'additive' that our fuel had but nobody seemed to be able to say what it was......

One soldier told me it was "kerosine", and it did have that smell about it.

Just looked up military fuels on the NATO site (http://www.nato.int/docu/logi-en/1997/lo-15a.htm); I reckon it was F-57, a "low leaded gasoline (...) interchangeable with commercial gasoline automotive (98 RON)".

H.

[tankbarrell]

It certainly didn't smell like petrol, it was very yellow too. I was told it had an additive just for the tour. To be fair, most people seemed to have no problems.

[Hendrik van Oorspronk]

I was interested in the 'additive' that our fuel had but nobody seemed to be able to say what it was......

It is possible it was "winter" fuel, its vapor point is lower than "summer" fuel, so vapor lock could well be possible, or vacuum in the tank, after a while idling there is again enough air in the tank and it will move again, had that with an Austin Ambulance were the breather pipe of 1 feultank was stuck with paint idling was no problem, but driving was a problem, you can test it by driving some distance and then open de fuel cap, when it opens with a "plop" you found the problem.

Groetn

Hendrik

[Hendrik van Oorspronk]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

It certainly didn't smell like petrol, it was very yellow too. I was told it had an additive just for the tour. To be fair, most people seemed to have no problems.

The smell I can't explain, but the yellow color is "euromarker", has something to do with taxes, in earlier days it was red colored, so you could see there were no taxes paid.

Groetn

Hendrik

[Hanno Spoelstra]

These maps shows the route of XXX Corps in 1944, the event followed this route as far as practicable. It will help identifying where the various pictures and movies were shot.



I will be posting links to Youtube movies as I come across them.

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

70 Jaar Market Garden Herdenking Valkenswaard
http://youtu.be/mQ1WESL3hMU

Spot my CMP @ 0:54 min

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Sunday 22-09:

Vehicles pulling out of the car park after a static show at the premises of the to-be established war museum at Nijmegen

Liberation Task Force: Nijmegen
1) http://youtu.be/AGYG2kFyZcI?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
2) http://youtu.be/TxZPL8AW5I0?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
3) http://youtu.be/8qbopFLKbco?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
4) http://youtu.be/lSj29kct6BY?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
5) http://youtu.be/ykiSb8csBts?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
6) http://youtu.be/1_-q4LKLR8M?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA
7) http://youtu.be/oKVRQ2yKVhE?list=UUb...ekQTE3Uqj395fA

Enjoy!
Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

I will be posting links to Youtube movies as I come across them.

I have made a "Market Garden 2014" playlist here, comprising of both my own and other's videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...Wm65KSROgJWFmY

H.

[svdwal]

Luckily the Tilly i drove had no problems with the fuel, and did the tour succesfully. Really enjoyed the week.

To clearify the fuel, it was regular army fuel with a additive to lower the influences of the 10 percent bio ethanol. This additive has some influence on the ignition so this may be altered a bit, especially motorbikes have this issue.

Nice to meet some forum members and to finally have some faces with names :-)

Rgds,

Sjoerd

[RichardT10829]

The carriers were also ok with fuel.... Except one occasion

[ajmac]

From reading through this thread it certainly looks like you all had a jolly good time! Even breaking down is part of the experience, although I bet it didn't feel like it at the time. Sorry that I couldn't make it along. I have missed so much this year I should just add it to my signature

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

The carriers were also ok with fuel.... Except one occasion

Was it you who tried to torch himself?!?

H.