Dodge Command Truck?

JD Baillie · #1 08-01-04, 09:18

Recently have seen two examples of a Dodge M series van with a roof raised well above that of a standard M43/152. It was apparrantly a command van of some kind. Does anyone know what the Mseries number for this was? SuperDave sent me a picture of one in Edmonton.

JD
Vic BC

JD Baillie · #2 13-01-04, 09:10

Here's a picture that Dave took of the Command truck. Dave said that the data plate says M152 and that it was modified by workshop 202.
I've seen two of these. Anyone know how many would have been modified? Were they an Bde or Div level unit?

Jon seen this one?

JD

Bill Mulholland · #3 14-01-04, 03:14

Hi JD; I did a recovery on one of these veh in Pet a long life- time ago, it fell over. The veh in question was used as a mobile photo dark room and processor unit to develop air-ground photos, according to my somewhat advanced age and a bad case of CRS. Note the hole behind the storage rack top front, IIRC that was for an air conditioner or a de-humidifier unit. There weren't very many of these modified by 202. Hope this doesn't muddy things too much.
Cheers, Bill

Snowtractor · #4 14-01-04, 05:06

The vehicle pictured above was the even more rare "Hover" version as you can see. Its from this vehicle that the majority of UFO's reports came from.

JD Baillie · #5 14-01-04, 09:08

Bill,
Thanks. Didn't muddy anything beyond the usual. Kind of figured the thing to be a bit top heavy. The normal 152s tipped over easily enough without that extra height. Should've stuck with the 211 ops vans for dark rooms.

Snowtractor,
Did you notice the alien reflected in the front window? Like on Xfiles, you can only see their reflection. They must be stuck here still hanging around the old wreck.
Do you think Avro still has a pattent on this one?

JD

Snowtractor · #6 14-01-04, 09:30

I am sure WORLD NEWS or the inquirer would pay for the photo. "CANADA, IN LEAGUE WITH ALIEN RACE, DEVELOPE FLEETS OF HOVER TRUCKS FOR IMPENDING U.S. INVASION"

JD Baillie · #7 14-01-04, 12:32

Absolutely. And for anything, don't mention the advanced antenna array on top of the cab. That'll really set the spooks going!

JD

Robert Dabkowski · #8 03-02-04, 20:28

JD, I think that your friend Dave has found another of the (6) M152/43 that were converted by Workshop 202/Montreal into mobile field darkrooms.

Each truck was attached to a 25pdr. field gun battery and would develop air recon photos taken by Cessna L19 "Birddog" spoting aircraft. The film canister was dropped via a small parachute and allowed a "shoot" within 15 minutes of the film being taken instead of the usual 1 day taken to fly back to base, develop the film, analyze the photos and finally radio the targety location to the gun battery.

If you look at the right side photo of his "hovertruck" you see a rectangular rust mark about 6'x4' which is the trace of a bottom hinged worktable bolted to the side of the darkroom truck. High on the rain gutter rail are two clips used to attach blackout tent frames to the side of the truck thus prviding photo analysis workspace. The rear box of the truck was indeed airconditioned and mounted two of the Southwind 978 heaters instead of the usual one under the storage box behind the passenger's seast. (continued)

Robert Dabkowski · #9 03-02-04, 20:41

I own truck #3 of 6 and found truck #2 of 6 lying on its side in a muddy field in Georgia. Salvaged its darkroom fittings and hope to restore my truck someday.

Tell Dave that I have a few poor quality photos of a darkroom truck sitting in a base parking lot that show the exterior appearance and will happily trade copies of same to him in exchange for some interior box phots of his truck. Should be able to tell by the bolt hole patterns if it REALLY is an ex-darkroom van. Also need a photo of the rear of his truck as the darkroom van had distinctive air intake and exhaust louvres for ventilation purposes.

Other raised roof uses were command, radio and emergency airfield controll tower trucks. Robert in Toronto

JD Baillie · #10 04-02-04, 01:57

Robert,
There are two of these darkroom trucks in Edmonton. I've seen one and Dave has seen/photoed the other. I'll point Dave to this thread. He's an MLU member. The one I saw had been camperized before parting out and abandoning. So that's four accounted for, I wonder where the other two ended up?

JD

super dave · #11 04-02-04, 05:19

The truck that is in the photo is a m152 as on the data plate.I beleive this truck is a radio unit as it has ant mount on it,I don't recall it having but only 1 heater,and did not see where a a/c unit would have been used.