Vehicle ID Request

[Bill Murray]

Hi All:

A friend from other Forums passed this one on to me a week or so ago and try as I might, I can find no information about this Ford truck.

It appears to be a factory or military installation "beauty shot" along with some sort of numerical ID numbers at the bottom of the photo.

I know that it is a 1942 Ford 1 1/2 ton truck, presumably 4 wheel drive and with LHD. I assume it is a prototype Bomb Service Truck that might have been considered as an addition to or replacement for the 1 1/2 ton 4x4 Chevrolet M6 that was already in service. Ford only had the smaller 4x2 M1 in service on an earlier chassis.

It may have also been a British Commonwealth only proposal.

Any new information would be much appreciated.

Bill

[jack neville]

It is only two wheel drive and interesting that the side lights look to be blanked off.

[Bill Murray]

Hi Jack:

Thanks for the correction on 4x2 vs. 4x4. I was not sure from the angle of the photo whether you could see the front differential or not but now I see the straight axle much better.

Regarding the blanked off side lights, this seemed to be fairly common on these wartime conversions. I found several photos on Hanno's MH site and other sites when I was looking for a 4x4 answer that had them blanked off in a similar manner.

Bill

[Bob Carriere]

The outline of the front beam axle is visible......

Look similar to all the stripped down orchard trucks used in the Niagara area...... sure could lift some heavy peaches!!!!!

[Ian Mastin]

Nice looking truck, so Jack is that our next project

[Niels V]

well Nigel watson has a good starting point for sale http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread...Ford-11T-Truck

[Rob Beale]

This is a bomb service truck, used on states-side aerodromes which were all hard surfaced.

The Pacific Campaign showed the need for 4x4 to cope with jungle conditions around newly built island air strips, so the Chev M6 and Ford GTB were developed.

Rob

[Rob Beale]

Ford GTB in service. Not sure where I found this sorry.
Rob

[PaKlo]

Photos from service of these Bomb Service Trucks are in LIFE archive - photo from December 1942.

[Bill Murray]

Hi PaKlo:

I cannot thank you enough for the new photos and I think we are very close to a solution. Rob Beale had the right idea, they are based in the Continental United States.

I found a reference to one of your photos on Google and it stated one of the photos was taken in California. It mentioned Chula Vista, a town outside San Diego, where the Rohr Corporation built engines and such and did some assembling of Navy bomber aircraft for Douglas amongst others. There was also a Naval Station Air Base on North Island in San Diego.

I am posting another photo I found a while ago and it too has the camouflage netting over the parking area and this was a feature found around the many aircraft factories in California in WWII. I should mention that I lived in San Diego 1940-1944 and saw them almost every day.

Finally, your photo of the front end of one of these trucks shows very clearly a California registration/license plate so we can be sure I think that all of them were taken in California.

I am just starting to research the photo archives of the Rohr Corporation, Chula Vista, San Diego and the Naval Station Air Base on North Island for that time period to see if I can find any more photos.

To close this post, I think the reason I and others could not find any photos of this "civilian" Bomb Service truck in our military research materials is that while they may have belonged to "the government", they were assigned to the manufacturers of aircraft and components for development and training and were not assigned to the Navy, Marine Corps or Army Air Corps.

As Rob pointed out, they did not need all terrain capabilities on the hard surfaced areas that they were used in.

Thanks again.

Bill

[Bill Murray]

The photo below has nothing to do with the subject of MLU vehicles but I found it while researching some of the archives I mentioned earlier and thought it might be of general interest.

Bill

[PaKlo]

Hi Bill, I am happy that I can help a little. But I am not 100% sure with all your conclusions. On the front photo blue US hood number is visible. So these trucks were probably somehow added to "army inventory".

[PaKlo]

I checked again the original photo and hood number is most probably USN 16014 or 18014.

[Bill Murray]

Thank you again, PaKlo for your most welcome comments and contributions.

We are now a step further I think. I found an old catalogue of Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks vehicles in my library and even though it was from 1950, it did contain a photo of the 1942 Ford G8T so they were used by both the Army and the Navy. The photo shows a vehicle supplied as chassis and cab, not chassis and cowl with windscreen that our truck was but it is still very close.

I could not find your photos on the Web yet so I could not get the good resolution of your last photo but it definitely shows a US Navy registration number. Now, I have to figure out what the 'US" California plate means.

I will continue to look for more information.

Bill

[PaKlo]

Here are the links to original photos on LIFE archive (some photos are mirrored!):

http://images.google.com/hosted/life...3d19630fb.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...54c94b7ca.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...e9188bdad.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...5a24ea579.html

Another US Navy trucks from the same base shows civil registration plate again and U.S. NAVY marking on the rear edge of body (probably the same position was used for the Bomb Service Trucks, my friend's Ford GTBC has the same solution) :
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...81cf98f36.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...d8eeba3ae.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...3385b45b4.html

[Niels V]

Here is another pic of one of these Fords

[Bill Murray]

Thank you very much PaKlo and Niels!!

Niels photo is in the Navy archives and indicates that the vehicle was used in the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador servicing aircraft that were protection for the shipping lanes to the Panama Canal. Very interesting!!!

I still think that PaKlo's photos were taken in California but it is now obvious that they were to be found elsewhere also.

I am about to put the photos up on some Ford truck enthusiast forums and see if they can help.

Bill

[Ivan Podgornov]

Hi!
Is it the same construction as used on Chevrolet M6 or just similar ?
It's may be you have some reference with details and dimensions ?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

A list of U. S. military vehicles by supply catalog designation compiled from S.N.L. No.G-1 contains the following Bomb Service Trucks:

• G085, Bomb Service truck:
  • M1 Yellow truck & coach AC-25 (1942)
  • M1 1½-Ton, 4×4, Ford 19-Y
  • M1 Diamond T, 201 3S
  • M6 1½-Ton, 4×4, Chevrolet
• G109 M1 Bomb service Truck, Ford, model 19F
• G110 M1 Bomb service truck, Diamond T model 201-BS
• G115 M6 Bomb service truck, Chevrolet
• G508 M27/27B1 Bomb service, GMC CCKW, truck, 2½-Ton, 6×6
• G622, Truck, 1½ Ton, 4×4, Ford USN-GTB
  • GTBS Truck Bomb Service 1T 4×4 w Single Rear Tires
  • GTBC Truck Bomb Service 1 1-2T 4×4 w Rear Dual Tire

Truck, Bomb Service, M1 (Ford):

http://www.fordclub.eu/graphics/gall...mb-service.jpg

Truck, 1½ Ton, 4×4, Ford USN-GTB:

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Could this be the M1 Yellow truck & coach AC-25?

[Bill Murray]

Hi Hanno:

That one is a Diamond T 201 Bomb Service Truck.
50 built in 1942.

bill

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Hello Bill,

Ah yes, so all that's left is to find a picture of the Yellow truck & coach AC-25 version and then we have the full set of bomb trucks complete.

H.

[Bill Murray]

Ask And Ye Shall Receive...........

Bill

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bill Murray

Ask And Ye Shall Receive...........

Excellent Bill!

H.

[motto]

Observation :- In the photo on post 23, that is a large bomb or a small truck & trailer.
Question:- The nomenclature went from Bomb Service Truck M1 to M6. What happened to M2, M3, M4 and M5 ?

Maybe there is no known answer but I wonder about such things.

David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by motto

Maybe there is no known answer but I wonder about such things.

Same here!

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

M1 Bomb service truck, 19-Y 1½-Ton, 4×4, Ford

Interestingly, according to Ford specs the model 19Y is a 1941 model-year 1-Ton Truck with 8-cyl 100hp engine and a 122" wb. chassis.

A picture of the same type as pictured in S.N.L. G-1 is listed in the ½-Ton section in Crismon's book, and it is a 4x2, not 4x4.

Bill's picture shows a 1942 model 1½-Ton 4×2 chassis, so clearly there was some evolution in Ford's 4x2 Bomb Truck.

Also did they switch to the 4x4 GTB version later on, or were the 4x2 and 4x4 versions produced concurrently?

H.

[Bill Murray]

Hi All:

I will come back in a few minutes with some observations about the various Bomb Service Trucks but for now, the bomb on the GMC is an M-34 2000 lb BlockBuster bomb.

One of many variations that were given that name.

Edit: I just noticed my photo was misidentified and I show a 10000 lb bomb. Anyway, same concept just a bit smaller, I will try to find the correct photo.

Correct photo now posted.

Bill