I found the picture shown below in Bellona's
Military Vehicle Data Number Four, and it is credited to the R.E.M.E. Museum. It seems to have been pictured in either the North African or Italian theatre. Why I have posted it here is because this Dodge T-110-L-4 3-ton 4x2 Stores Truck has a canvas-covered square roof hatch. The booklet mentioned also shows the same type of hatch on a Karrier K6 3-ton 4x4 GS truck in a desert paint scheme. I have also seen pictures of American half-ton Dodges in British service in North Africa fitted with these type of hatches.
It looks like a North African campaign modification, done at a time when most trucks were not yet delivered with factory-fitted roof hatches even though they were operated in vast, open areas without air superiority - in other words: urgent need for some crew member to keep an eye on the sky.
I have never seen any of these hatches on preserved trucks, although
Erwin's Dodge D15 probably used to have one fitted:
Question: who knows more about these square canvas-covered roof hatches? I suspect they were made as retrofit kits to be fitted by workshops in-theatre.
Thanks & regards,
Hanno