Singapore April 1941

[m606paz]

Singapor - Date taken: April 1941 - Photographer: Carl Mydans

[Lynn Eades]

I was with NZ workshops in Singapore from May 75 to 77 . One of the locals with the workshop had worked for the Brits before the war and for the Japanese during their occupation (he told me about removing a white hand from the track gear of a tank) He worked for the Brits again after the war, then the Austrtalians, and then the Kiwi's. I think the Aussies pulled out in 74, and the Brits closed their workshop, (in Kangor) and left maybe late 75 or early 76. while I was there.
The whole point of this is that one or more of those locals, could have worked with or for me.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Great pictures, again!

Thanks,
Hanno

[Lynn Eades]

Yes they are Hanno. Who can I.D. the truck chassis with the wooden boxes. The brake and clutch pedals tell me they are Fords of some sort. If I remember correctly, the Japanese signed the surrender at the head office of the Ford motor company, which may not have been very far from where that photo was taken.
Is that a P14 on the bike?
Look at the smiles on the faces of those guys in the last picture. They didnt know what was to come. You have to wonder how they fared.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Yes they are Hanno. Who can I.D. the truck chassis with the wooden boxes. The brake and clutch pedals tell me they are Fords of some sort.

Lynn,

They are Fords indeed. Look at the flathead V8's and the stencilling on the wooden boxes. They are right-hand drive and have tyres with off-road tread, so most likely for local military customers. Looks like 1½ Ton Truck 134" w.b. chassis/cabs delivered as assembled chassis plus drive lines - note the engine crated on the chassis! I cannot see cowls or cabs, but often cargo bodywork and details would be of local manufacture.

Hanno

Originally Posted by m606paz

Singapor - Date taken: April 1941 - Photographer: Carl Mydans

[m606paz]

More pics

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by m606paz

More pics

Great; and do not forget the rest! ;D

Originally Posted by m606paz

:nut:

[m606paz]

Hanno









See this link Hanno http://www.google.com.ar/images?hl=e...w=1280&bih=709

Cheers

[Keith Webb]

Here's one of a Wirraway

[Keith Webb]

This one is printed backwards as are at least one of the others I've seen. It has an interesting history:

Pilot FLTLT John Christopher Ramshaw 552 (KIA)
Co-Pilot FLGOFF Donald Alexander Dowi (POW)
WAG SGT Garet Sidney White, 407309 (KIA)
WAG SGT Jeffrey Cyril Coldrey, 3382 (KIA)
Shot Down December 8, 1941

Aircraft History
This Hudson spotted the Japanese invasion convoy approaching northern Malay on December 6, 1941.

Mission History
When the Japanese landed at Kota Bharu, this Hudson attacked in the early hours of December 8, 1941. Two Hudson were lost, becoming the first Australians aircraft shot down during the Pacific war, and first Australians killed in the Pacific. Only one crew member survived, but was taken POW and spent the duration of the war in Singapore.

Display
One engine is on display at Australian War Memorial in Bradbury Aircraft Hall (as part of the Air Power in the Pacific 1941-63 exhibits). The engine (with bent props) was trawled off the seabed of Kota Bharu in 1976 and returned to Australia the following year.

Link

[Keith Webb]

Here it is flipped.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_...007-11-05.html

I am not sure about a GM plant .... there must have been a dealer but all weere probably sourced from GM in Batavia, NEI.

[m606paz]

Anothers pics , but IN COLOR!!!

[Mike Cecil]

Gents,

Now I know this thread has been dormant for a while, but some additional info that might be of interest. A couple of images show Australian Chevrolet Modified Conventional vehicles with visible Australian Imperial Force (AIF)registrations.

AIF-V-5202 is a Chev 15cwt GS 'van'. The arms visible in this pic are a 'Rifle,.303 inch,No.1 Mk.3*' (a model of SMLE) mounted on the bicycle, and poking out from the rear canopy is a Light Machine Gun, .303 inch, BREN Mk.1. The Mk.1 had a very distinctive barrel, whereas the later Mk.2 and Mk.3 (and the Mk.1/1) had the shorter barrel and fabricated flash eliminator.

AIF-L-9638 and AIF-L-9043 are both 'Lorry, 3 ton, GS'. Both are, of course, Chevrolets (as are the rest in the line).

The 15cwt van was issued in Sydney, and the two 3 tonners were issued in Melbourne. They were all issued at about the same time (28 Jan 1941, and 22 January 1941 respectively) and all carried to Malaya aboard the same ship, the Montferland. Needless to say, they became the property of the Imperial Japanese Army just a year later!

These are a great set of images: thanks for putting them up on the site.

Mike C

[Mike Kelly]

Great pics and of particular interest to me are the GS Vans pictured . I have the remains of two 1940 chevy utes .

It's so easy to get confused as the AIF had on issue both 15 cwt and 1 ton variants ..outwardly, they appear pretty much identical but there are differences .

The 15 cwt Van is built on what Nth. Americans call a 113" 1/2 ton pickup chassis, whereas the 1 tonner is built on the 123" chassis .

The 15 cwt version has: 2 tilt hoops , sits on modified 16" car type rims ( widened to take 7.50 -16 tyres ) , has running boards that extend all the way to the rear guards .

The 1 Tonner has: 3 tilt hoops, sits on unique 17" split rims and the running boards stop just at the cab rear corner.

The vehicle which shows the bike is actually 1 Ton GS Van

Both of my wrecks somehow escaped military service , possibly they were sold to essential civvy users ? farmers maybe . The GMH data plates show Jan. 1940 assembly . The cab body numbers are only 2 apart ! They were both painted in GMH Port Red . One survived with its GMH wooden framed ute tub, but its mostly gone . Both have the CFA logo on the doors ..possible clue ! One came from Maryborough near Ballarat, the other near Colac . The Chevy is a long term project that will likely never be done as I've two Morris Commercials waiting in line and I spend my time playing with a lathe and a milling machine ..if we only had 40 hour long days

Mike

[SonnySy]

Quite happy to stumble to this thread. As part of a scale modeling Airfix group build aiming to replicate Kallang Airport (in Singapore) as appeared in 1941; I've been tasked to build some ground support vehicles and air defense weapons. Trying to gather as much info as I can before starting, so hopefully someone might be able help:

I. Bren Carriers - judging from the photos in the thread (and the timeline of 1941); would it be safe to assume that there were only Universal Carrier No. 1 Mk 1 in Singapore 1941? Also, knowing that the Mk 1 were not manufactured towing attachements, would it possible that they were field modified to tow equipment? we wanted to show it towing a 40mm bofors anti-aircraft gun.
Also - I'm assuming they were painted Middle Bronze Green (Khaki Green No.3), or was there evidence to the contrary?

II. Bofors gun - did they have them in Singapore? Would they have been painted in Middle Bronze Green (Khaki Green No.3) as well?

III. David Brown Tractor - did the RAF have these in Singapore 1941? would they have painted in the RAF Blue-Grey colour along with the bomb trolleys?
Would it be accurate to have a yellow hood painted as well like in this photo:

IMHO, the tractor in the photo seems to be a later model tractor and obviously the photo is post WW2 as evidenced by the jet fighter in the background.

[Dianaa]

I don't think the David Brown tractor would appeal to other DB enthusiasts (Aston Martin - DB5 etc)