Transporting the Clarkair CA-1 bulldozer

[sapper740]

I came upon some interesting pics of the Clarkair bulldozer while researching an article I'm writing for the Pintlehook newsletter. I thought I'd share them with everybody as it shows how the bulldozer was stowed in a Horsa glider (OP Market-Garden?) as well as some very interesting pics of an experimental trailer to allow the CA-1 to be towed by a Jeep. Quite a load for the doughty Jeep as the bulldozer alone weighs over 4,000 lbs!

[sapper740]

Originally posted by sapper740
I came upon some interesting pics of the Clarkair bulldozer while researching an article I'm writing for the Pintlehook newsletter. I thought I'd share them with everybody as it shows how the bulldozer was stowed in a Horsa glider (OP Market-Garden?) as well as some very interesting pics of an experimental trailer to allow the CA-1 to be towed by a Jeep. Quite a load for the doughty Jeep as the bulldozer alone weighs over 4,000 lbs!

Trailer identified as being manufactured by Winter Weiss.

[sapper740]

Originally posted by sapper740
Trailer identified as being manufactured by Winter Weiss.

Side view of the trailer. Apparently this was an experimental trailer tried by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

[sapper740]

Originally posted by sapper740
Side view of the trailer. Apparently this was an experimental trailer tried by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

This last pic shows the bulldozer stowed in a glider. I'd appreciate any further info and pics regarding the Clarkair for my article. Thanks, Derek.

[Phil Waterman]

At the same time that you were posting this thread about the Clark Airborne Dozer some one e-mailed me a link to this Airforce web site. Take a look at page 16.

http://www.afcesa.af.mil/shared/medi...070606-026.pdf

Cheers

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's Phil's picture by itself.

[Larry Hayward]

I remember reading that it was planned for the US 825th Aviation Engineer Bn to take some of these dozers by glider on Operation Market Garden in order to build an airstrip near Nijmegan, which was to be used by Allied fighters. I think their mission was scrubbed at the last moment.

[aj.lec]

heres a picture of just the dozer
I think its a clarkair

[sapper740]

Originally posted by Larry Hayward
I remember reading that it was planned for the US 825th Aviation Engineer Bn to take some of these dozers by glider on Operation Market Garden in order to build an airstrip near Nijmegan, which was to be used by Allied fighters. I think their mission was scrubbed at the last moment.

I'm sure you're right abut the 825th. There is scant reference to an "American Engineer unit" that was to be flown in to construct an airfield after members of the 261 Field Park Co. of the Royal Engineers used their Clarkair to clear the landing zone. Events overtook the troops in Arnhem and the Clarkair was never used

[sapper740]

Originally posted by aj.lec
heres a picture of just the dozer
I think its a clarkair

Thanks for the pic. Yep, it's definitely a Clarkair CA-1 and it's long ways from home. Any ideas how it ended up in Dubbo?

[aj.lec]

not really .It belongs to a private collector in the area . He owns somewhere between 40-50 old tractors and dozers of varied marque and description. Havent actually met him
It is possible however that he might have aquired it when the Dubbo RAAF stores depot closed and auctioned off some gear about 20 years ago. They had some interesting items there apparently

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's an interesting Clarkair photo towing a scraper. The caption read:Clark Airborne CA-1 towing a CAB-1 LaPlant Choate Pan Scraper —Burma in the Spring/Summer of 1944.

[sapper740]

Originally posted by cletrac
Here's an interesting Clarkair photo towing a scraper. The caption read:Clark Airborne CA-1 towing a CAB-1 LaPlant Choate Pan Scraper —Burma in the Spring/Summer of 1944.

Great pic Dave, thanks! With your permission, I'll use it in my article. Most of the pics I've downloaded from the 'net are quite small...15-16 kbyte range and don't enlarge well.
The very versatile CA-1 really got around as I've found pics of it in Burma, Guadalcanal, and N.W.E....as well as Oz (thanks aj). I'll upload some more pics:

here's the Clarkair in a C-47 at Ramsbury airfield preparatory to D Day.

[sapper740]

Here's an interesting shot of a Clarkair CA-1 after it was ejected from it's glider at landing zone "Broadway" during the night of April 5-6 1944. The bulldozer was undamaged and no injuries resulted from the unplanned ejection.

[sapper740]

...you can turn the Clarkair into it's own with the addition of stub axles.

[sapper740]

Originally posted by sapper740
...you can turn the Clarkair into it's own with the addition of stub axles.

Next pic shows the stub axles installed. If anyone has any further info on either the stub axles or experimental trailer, I'd be much obliged.

[sapper740]

This last pic is of the United States Forestry Service "Trail Tractor" which was the predecessor to the Clarkair CA-1. This picture was taken from the British Columbia provincial archives suggesting that the Trail Tractor saw service in B.C. I will investigate this connection further and ask for any info that any of you B.C.ers may be aware of.

[Phil Waterman]

Originally posted by cletrac
Here's an interesting Clarkair photo towing a scraper. The caption read:Clark Airborne CA-1 towing a CAB-1 LaPlant Choate Pan Scraper —Burma in the Spring/Summer of 1944.

Here is a unit that was at the Aberdeen, Maryland show in the spring of 07

[sapper740]

Originally posted by Phil Waterman
Here is a unit that was at the Aberdeen, Maryland show in the spring of 07

Thanks for the pics Phil. That particular Clarkair looks like the one from Rhinebeck, N.Y.

[sapper740]

The post "Bulldozer question" resurrected my interest in the ClarkAir dozer. I knew I had seen the stub axle that was shown in the picture in my earlier post before. A lengthy search led me to a picture I had archived about LSTs. There on the shore is a piece of unidentified kit which looks like it has the same stub axles as installed on the CA-1. Can anyone identify what is shown in the picture? It looks like a piece of Engineer kit to me. Thanks, Derek.

[Kent Aist]

The picture you have is of a road grader, a grading blade with fine adjustments mounted between the front pair of stearing wheels and a quad set of power wheels under the engine. The driver is just ahead of the engine so he can control the blade.

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Kent Aist

The picture you have is of a road grader, a grading blade with fine adjustments mounted between the front pair of stearing wheels and a quad set of power wheels under the engine. The driver is just ahead of the engine so he can control the blade.

As Homer Simpson is wont to say, "DOH!" There I was thinking I was looking at some unknown tractor with a scraper in tow. I missed the front wheel completely. I'm a wee bit of a berk tonight! Thanks Kent.

[austin tilly]

This picture was taken last year in The Liberation Park at Overloon, The Netherlands.


Cheers,
Arjan

[Bodston]

Here is a shot of a Clarkair with British markings on the top of a Horsa ramp. It was taken at the RE Museum at Chatham.

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Bodston

Here is a shot of a Clarkair with British markings on the top of a Horsa ramp. It was taken at the RE Museum at Chatham.

Great picture Boddie, thank you! Did it mention anything about the units that used that Clark-Air? I know the 286th Field Park Co., R.E. landed in Normandy at 0335 hours with two dozers and proceeded to clear the LZ of crashed gliders and other impedimentia so as to allow the 6th Airlanding Brigade and their Divisional troops access. Derek.

[Bodston]

Originally Posted by sapper740

Great picture Boddie, thank you! Did it mention anything about the units that used that Clark-Air? I know the 286th Field Park Co., R.E. landed in Normandy at 0335 hours with two dozers and proceeded to clear the LZ of crashed gliders and other impedimentia so as to allow the 6th Airlanding Brigade and their Divisional troops access. Derek.

No mate, no mention of units. That Horsa Mk I is a training mock-up fuselage I think, not an operational glider. I have seen other similar pictures of it being used to test loading weights and other physical sizing issues.

Edit: link added: http://www.remuseum.org.uk/campaign/...aign_6adiv.htm

[wim sikkelbein]

The 261 field park company used one clarkair in operation market garden. it was brought in by glider and driven a few miles into oosterbeek were it was parked by a fence at 9th field company hq never to be used again, it's hydraulics were demolished when the sappers withdrew over the rhine.

i'm not sure about the next bit but if i understand it correctly then the clarkair currently on display in the airbornemuseum hartenstein in oosterbeek is the original bulldozer that was left behind there.

Wim

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by wim sikkelbein

i'm not sure about the next bit but if i understand it correctly then the clarkair currently on display in the airbornemuseum hartenstein in oosterbeek is the original bulldozer that was left behind there.

Wim, I don't believe the bulldozer in the museum is the same as the one that arrrived on Landing Zone "Z" on Monday, Sept. 18, 1944. The one in the Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein' was bought in 1999 from a seller in Belgium and as far as I know has never been presented as such. Interestingly, the original Clark-air is shown in a German newsreel taken in Oosterbeek after the germans re-occupied the town. Derek.

[wim sikkelbein]

Hello Derek,

New information in the form of fellow KTR-member henk minne has come to light. The clarkair of the airbornemuseum is actually purchased from a belgium scrap-dealer and is not the original arnhem example.

Wim

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by wim sikkelbein

New information in the form of fellow KTR-member henk minne has come to light. The clarkair of the airbornemuseum is actually purchased from a belgium scrap-dealer and is not the original arnhem example.

Here is Henk's intriguing story which he asked me to post on the MLU Forum:

From: Henk Minne
To: Hanno Spoelstra
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 5:25 PM
Subject: Clarkair CA-1

Let me make it clear that any abuse against the King's (nowadays Queens) language done by me is not by malice but sprouts from a foreigner’s knowledge of the British tongues and traditions.

The Clark CA1 airdozer which is now residing at the Hartenstein museum comes from a Belgian collector.

Like all fairytales this Clark airdozer was discovered at an old Belgian paper factory where it was used, since the Fifties, once a week to shift paper waste into big containers. When the factory was closed down it stayed outside for some time until the buildings were sold and were demolished and all parts went into recycling. The scrap handler told the dozer story to some people who started a shared negotiation and the dozer was sold for scrap iron value as soon as the correct weight was known (4000 lbs or 1820 kg’s). The Clark suffered a steering problem because the right steering brake lining did not work properly. After a hastily done paint job it was showed a couple of occasions at displays.

How the Airborne museum got the Clark is a long story.
It started a over 20 years ago in Oosterbeek during one of the September vehicle parades when an elderly British gentlemen, mr Mervyn "Gilly" Potter from Clevedon, asked if someone had knowledge of American Engineer equipment. All fingers pointed towards me so he told me his story.

He had landed on day two, Monday 18 September 1944, on landing zone "X” with a bulldozer, one of the two that was given by the Americans to the British Airborne Division. His officer commanding had told him to take one to the Netherlands because it was a land of dykes (the ones that keep water in) and ditches so it could be convenient to have a machine that could move some soil. He did not know what make or type it had been but would be very interested in knowing what he had brought over.

He was very sure about the fact that it was a Horsa glider he had flown because he had the floor re-enforced with railway sleepers to prevent the bulldozer from breaking the airframe floor. He had told the pilot to be gentle when landing for although he had secured the machine as best as possible "the risk for the pilot of having a bulldozer up on his arse was still eminent" as he phrased it.

So the investigations began.

With the help of Bart Vanderveen the Clark airdozer CA1 was found as being the one in question.

The CA-1 was developed specially for the Airborne troops to clear and egalise the area where gliders and planes could land for later operations.

Mervyn Potter made a telephone call, immediately after receiving three different pictures of bulldozers, telling it was number two. So the Clark was the one to be.

Propaganda Kompagnie Wochenschau
In the Wochenschau of early November 1944 was a shot of the bulldozer ¾ left rear view. A still was generated and presented to mr Potter including the Wochenschau tape. He said that it was where they had left it because they engineers never used it after parking. The spot was near the house called de Sonnenberg.

All consulted airborne "experts " told that there was no Market Garden glider loading list stating "bulldozer". Besides they stated "the British Airborne troops never had a bulldozer, all bulldozers are Caterpillar and the weight starts with 4 ton (8000 lbs for D-4) so no Horsa "

Later investigations proofed that most of the loading list were earlier dated because the former plannings were overhauled by time. (About 17 attempted operations before Market Garden. All they needed to do was changing the chalk numbers for the planes on the sheets for the next operation)

Luuk Buist who is very knowledgeable about the Army Air Corps and Glider Pilot Regiment called me .He had done a query asking the pilots about the gliders and their loads and told he had a response of a glider pilot who transferred 3 men , a Tractor, Crawler, 20DBHP, w/Bulldozer,-AMM/Clark CA1, a motorcycle (Matchless) .

It was a Horsa HG 916 serial number B27 ! The glider was flown by Lt. P.J. Brazier (K.I.A.) and Staff Sergeant M. Hibbert (Crossed Rhine). Take off was from Down Ampney.

Luuk Buist also had an aerial photograph of the landing zone "X" alongside the Telefoonweg in Renkum showing all gliders directing to the railroad except one. That one was pointing in the opposite direction.

Mervyn Potter had told once that they were shot at from the woods on the right hand side but we were unable to understand that, because to us there were no woods for we had not seen the aerial photo.

His story was that when the glider arrived at the landing zone the Germans opened fire, the glider pilot disengaged from the towing plane and forgot the load, dived and found he had to much speed to land as all other glider facing the railroad. Doing so he sure would have had a crash landing amidst all landed gliders. So he made a 180 degree turn, landed with tailwind , had a skid mark about twice as long as normal and was shot at from the right-hand side.

So the glider on the photograph is surely the one Lance Sergeant Potter and the Clark used that day.

All clamps and other closures did not work properly to split the glider so it was decided to blow up the landing gear with explosives which was not so difficult being an engineer. After the explosion the bulldozer was fired up and drove away at eleven o’clock through the glider fuselage.

The motorcycles followed. Arriving at the Utrechtseweg they were told to dig in at Sonnenberg so they left the dozer and started digging.

It was decided to keep an eye open to find such a bulldozer and in 1998 the Belgian connection worked. The owner was very cooperative so the Clark was trailered to the Netherlands, put in a GMC tipper ( sorry none of our British vehicles was available) and united with mr Potter for a happy day. The story was told to the newspapers .

Mervyn was very happy for after 54 years he was able to show his story was for real.

The Clark owner sold the Clark airdozer to the Vrienden van Hartenstein who gave it to the Museum for display purposes.