military bridging

[Les Freathy]

evening all

I put in a number of titles on bridging into the search with no results so guess there are no threads on this subject. Apart from the armoured types all of this type of equipment is carried by trucks of one description or another by most armies world wide. It is a facinating subject and one which i am sure will attract a good deal of responce.

To kick off i have included 3 photos of Albion 6x4 3 ton folding boat lorries
1. Crossing a stream in the Garigliano area in Italy as part of fifth army

[Les Freathy]

2nd Albion BY5 6x4 3ton

[Les Freathy]

3rd Two FBE carries during the crossing of the Rhine

[Steve Guthrie]

Hi there

I've posted some photos and data here:

http://milifax2003.tripod.com/milita...ng_part_1.html

Steve

[Les Freathy]

Here,s a interesting thought, i have a number of British bridge carrying truck photos taken in the western desert now why would they go to all the time and effort not to mention valuable shipping space to transport trucks to a zone that has no rivers and if there were they must have been minimal. This photo shows a Karrier F.B.E MK2. Hey Bill any 6x4 bridging photos in your collection
Les

[Les Freathy]

A couple more for the Bridging thread, first a 3 ton Folding Boat trailer MK1 1938 these certainly were used during the early part of WW2 a large number being lost in france

[Les Freathy]

Second shows a pontoon or ponton which ever, suspended on sky hooks, note the Studebaker semis in the background and our intrepid camera man underneath , better him than me

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

From my experience in Tunisia, there are loads of dried-up riverbeds and culverts that would require bridging over. It does of course rain in North Africa, and some on occasions! One night there was a torrential thunderstorm and the water that came down a wadhi washed half the beach away in one go!

[servicepub (RIP)]

From a British Army catalogue of service vehicles, dated 1931. The marking identifies the unit as the 17th Field Company, Royal Engineers. Census number is L19260

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Another bridging vehicle, in this case a CMP 6-wheeler - C60X by the looks of it.

I think this is in Burma, saw a pic of a similar truck there.

H.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Another bridging vehicle, in this case a CMP 6-wheeler - C60X by the looks of it.

I think this is in Burma, saw a pic of a similar truck there.

Hanno, this one maybe? (with the other truck in the background?)

source: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...ject/205205108

[Alex van de Wetering]

The first pictures seems to show a pontoon in use as a sled!

I am presuming these pontoons were plywood, which could be a reason you hardly see any surviving examples (?)

[Ed Storey]

Pontoons and Centre Sections were both the same size:

25 feet 9 inches by 2 feet 6 inches.

Surviving examples in Canada are very rare as the surplus pontoons were mostly all burned in the 1970s. The example on outdoor display in Petawawa is a post-War Extra Wide Bailey Bridge although the panels appear to be primarily wartime.

I managed to save one of the data plates off of the pontoons which were being burned.

IMG_5748 copy.jpg

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ed, I can see why you saved that data plate!

Thanks for your comment on a survivor in Petawawa. It looks rather nice and I agree that the Bailey section is the later type with the wider lower beams.
So far, I have just found one picture of the pontoons in Petawawa.
source: http://silverhawkauthor.com/royal-ca...s-rce_318.html

Is "2 feet 6 inches" the height from water level to the top of the pontoon? I am asking, because 2'6" seems a bit low for the full pontoon (?).

By the way, this time i am asking for a scale model.....I am not planning on making 1:1 repro pontoons (yet).

Alex

[Ed Storey]

I just checked my written source for those dimensions but I have not gone to a primary source to confirm.

Here are a few images of the CFB Petawawa Bailey Bridge. It was my Father who was behind saving the bridge back in the 1970s and the bay of bridging has been on outdoor display ever since. It is currently situated at 2 CER's Brennan Lake site. The pontoons have lost much of their originality as they have been rebuilt at least two times due to the deterioration from being outside for several decades. The pontoons were last reconstructed in 2018.

1 FD ENGR SQN - An Engineer Monument - MWO Ralph Storey - Petawawa Post copy.jpg

C13-2 W.jpg IMG_0388 copy.jpg IMG_1249 Bailey Bridge [1] copy.jpg

[Stefan Leegwater]

Hi Hanno,

Is it maybe a F60H, if you look at the rear end that looks like a timken bogie with the wishbones, and the location of the rearview mirror?

What do you think?

Cheers,

Stefan

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Stefan Leegwater
Is it maybe a F60H, if you look at the rear end that looks like a timken bogie with the wishbones, and the location of the rearview mirror?

What do you think?

I think you could be right, I wasn't sure when I first posted the photo (that is why I wrote CMP 6-wheeler). What made me think it could be a C60X was the shape of the front hub.

But I'm sure you will now run out of the house and take pictures of Lwd's F60H to teach us all about it's intricate details!

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Personnel of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Bridging Troop, Royal Canadian Engineers (R.C.E.), constructing a pontoon bridge across the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Meppen, Germany, 8 April 1945

Credit: Capt. Alexander M. Stirton / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-159176

[Anneke Dubash]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Personnel of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Bridging Troop, Royal Canadian Engineers (R.C.E.), constructing a pontoon bridge across the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Meppen, Germany, 8 April 1945

Credit: Capt. Alexander M. Stirton / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-159176

The man at the controls of the crane is my Dad, SPR Soli Dubash. D-127262.

[Les Freathy]

Nice photo Hanno, i would say that is a Diamond T with the Coles crane fitted. I have ahand book on the crane that shows a illustration of the truck and will post as soon as i can locate it
Les
How do you find these good photos on the canadian archives i get to it but do not seem to be able to find this type of material

[Les Freathy]

Folding boat equipment in use as a raft, looks to me as if it is being handballed across

[Les Freathy]

Pontoon bridge section being rowed across to link up with other sections , training in the UK circa 1941/2

[David Potter]

Originally posted by Les Freathy
3rd Two FBE carries during the crossing of the Rhine

Les,

You have a wonderful photo library!

These look like early Albion BY1 or BY3 with open cabs. VERY unusual to see them late war since more usual chassis was BY5 with deeper front panel and windscreen (as per your other photos).

I am still getting over a heart attack and resultant surgery and have yet to complete purchase of Geoff Hargrave's BY5N FBE. (I am having trouble attaching photos - instruction that photo must be less than 700x0 ?!)

If you have any more 44-45 era photos of FBE or Bailey pontoon lorries, I would love to see them!

David

[cliff]

Originally posted by David Potter

I am still getting over a heart attack and resultant surgery and have yet to complete purchase of Geoff Hargrave's BY5N FBE. (I am having trouble attaching photos - instruction that photo must be less than 700x0 ?!)

David

Photos must be a maximum of 700 pixels wide. I normally put mine through photoshop and resize them to 700 wide and medium sized Jpeg images before posting.

[David Potter]

Right, here are the images I tried to put up last week!

Sorry for quality (lack of!) they were taken with my mobile phone on a foggy day. Somehow did not occur to me to take a camera when inspecting a vehicle for purchase!

[Les Freathy]

David thats a cracker, did you buy the truck must admit i have not come across that restored vehicle before. Currently sorting out some pics as you requested trust you are feeling a lot better now Cheers
Les

[Les Freathy]

David thought you might like this shot of a FBE dump prior to the nomandy landings
Les

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

1944 pam, if you ever want to put one up.

[David Potter]

Les,

Geoff was restoring the BY north of Skipton until his retirement forced "altenative storage" (on a farm!). I saw it last October and put down a deposit on the spot (this is only complete FBE in existance - unless someone here can tell me otherwise!); following heart attack I have yet to make it back to UK but things are on the mend and I hope to complete purchase and move it south before the summer is out!

David

[Les Freathy]

To keep the thread lively heres a Albion small box girder superstruture
cheers
Les