15-CWT, 2K1, WIRE 5 Body Details

[Robert Bergeron]

Gents,moderators

I think this whole discussion is wireless oriented now and should be moved to that room as to not crowd Richard's excellent restoration thread.

Sincerlely.

Robert

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

Strange that they would use metal tool bins on an aluminium body that was devised to save weight ? But if they were standard on Chev trucks , standard goes a long way in production savings.

11- Blackout kill switch. On modern trucks there are kill switches that dim or shut off the interior lights when the access door is opened when in blackout mode . That was to prevent lighthing up the night and revealing your position to the ennemy .Was that in use in the 2K1 body ?

That pretty much sums it up for me. 2K1 bodies are pretty much the same i imagine as M-152 trucks of the 50's and CUCV radio trucks of the 70's and 80's for the routine of operation by personel. Shifts , maintenance, filling the generators, extending the aerials , telephone wire.

Then there is camouflage of the unit , remote antennae in order to prevent homing on the transmitter, command post , CO, and getting direct artillery hits.Sentinels, guard duty around the bivouac and shell trenches have to be dug.

I do not think that a single shovel and pick axe in the front of the body would be sufficent for those purposes . That is why i think that there was a lot of stuff carried on top of the box strapped to the rails. Camouflage nets ( a necessity in war ) , extra shovels , picks , buckets for water ( firefighting in the bivouac.)

You should see the amount of equipment carried by a modern signals unit to sustain itself in a campaign.

Q. What would our beloved canadian soldiers have used for heat in the box ?

There was winter in NWE during the 44-45 campaign.

[David Dunlop]

From what I have read on the wartime 15-cwt metal wireless bodies, even with the complaints directly from the Army about the excessive weight issues with earlier versions, it took some serious arm twisting to get approval to use any aluminium at all for vehicle construction, since it was so critically needed in the aviation sector. What weight could be saved from the body skin change alone was enough to get approval.

Yes, two blackout switches are used in the 2K1 bodies. One is mounted on the inside rear door frame, upper left corner, viewed from the outside of the vehicle. The square ceiling lights/ventilation fan wiring channel extends back to the door to loop this switch into the circuit.

A second blackout switch was also installed on the inside door frame of the gen box in the upper right corner, when facing the door. I cannot recall the wiring run for it at the moment, but it was needed if the generators were running at night as the two ventilation doors in the right rear corner of the vehicle would be open and as you mentioned, if somebody opened the gen box door from inside the body to check something, it would not be a good thing.

I would love to find photos or film clips with these vehicles on the road during the war to see what they looked like. There was very likely some sort of 'official standard kit' they all carried, but signals equipment options above and beyond that are enormous and like you, I wonder how the crew dealt with that? On their own, support vehicles or what?

It would be interesting to run a wireless set inside a fully restored 2K1 and test for the amount of radiated signal produced and detectable from outside. One of the first things I noticed on the outside of mine was the amazing number of grounding straps installed between the body of the truck, the frame and the cab. It was nuts! And then, when I pulled out the interior plywood, I could not get over the number of copper grounding clips used when the aluminium skin was riveted to the steel frame. When I finally got around to restoring the window assemblies I discovered the screens on all the windows were copper wire, not the steel wire I had expected. Showed it all to an electrical engineering friend of mine who has worked all his life in commercial and amateur radio and he said it was the closest thing to a Faraday Cage he had seen. Emissions were probably very low.

Cheers for now. Have to go and cook up a big pot of home made chilli for dinner!

David

[Robert Bergeron]

Here David, ask and you will get.

Hope it works, the upload of wartime pictures.

[Robert Bergeron]

Left Photo taken in Bergen Zoom The Netherlands.

I think it is the early version of the C-15 Wireless truck because i see the Chevrolet emblem in the grill but the observer hatch is square.

That box would be metal. Also, i note all the handrails on top are either absent or were removed.

I see a tent or penthouse behind the cab , on top and at least an antennae base.

I see Recce vehicles , some armoured all around the square. So , an armoured recce regiment with it's wireless / radio unit ( the box ) stationed in a town in Holland .

No other outside stores apart from the tent.

Comments, ideas ?

[Robert Bergeron]

Observed in the square ; A lot of Jeeps, many CMP trucks, a Lynx , at least one Stuart tank and a Skink or AA armoured vehicle. What is that tank , broadside in the middle rear of the picture ?

But at the front definitely a C-15 Wireless truck .

[Robert Bergeron]

David, Bruce

Picture 1-Here is the mystery bracket on the outside of the generator compartment.

Picture 2- The 12 VDC outlet for the outside of the box as seen from the inside.

Picture 3- A 2 Chorehorse installation.