Old WC's never die - they just move on! :-)

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

it's "Friday in the house" and I had a pretty good day at my Garage: the work on the 3 axles is now finished and I started the re-assembling. So the "flat top" carrier has now his six refurbished brake drum's and wheels back in place:



Then I started to make a new spare-wheel carrier as an replacement for the missing original one:



In addition has my colleague Ecki finished the work on the first two fixing-point's bracket's for the front end. So I will bring them on Monday to the galvanizing specialist to get them zinc coated before fitting them to the trailer.

So to say "just in time" because the weather is getting worse and temperatures are going down a bit more each day.

To be continued...

I wish all of you a relaxed weekend with your "steel-pet's",

Joakim

[superdave]

Are you going to paint the trailer with some olive drab

[12th Air Force]

Are you going to paint the trailer with some olive drab

That was my first idea.

- But in case of a respray it should be Navy-Grey - so it will fit to it's nick-name.
The sad thing is, that there is no space for a large 68 (CVN-68 Nimitz).



Plan C: I could paint on the platform a large H with a circle around - to convert it into a mobile helicopter landing platform.
That would be a classic: "oh yes, the trailer was cheap - but the additional Bell 47 was quite expensive..."
And then I need an additional trailer for the Dodge...

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

just to make the time up to next spring a bit shorter I decided to invite all WW2 Dodge owners & friends to my

2. WW2 Dodge Cometogether on the 5th of December 2015 at Maintal in our Garage.

BBQ from 2 p.m. with German Bratwurst, Glühwein and Applevine (German Cider -hot!) and Calvados.



Flyer download: http://www.steel-toys.com/Div/Flyer_2_D ... 2_2015.pdf

Feel free to join us!

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[vario]

... with German Bratwurst, Glühwein and Schnaps.

I'll be there.

Ulrich

[12th Air Force]

... with German Bratwurst, Glühwein and Schnaps.

I'll be there.

Ulrich

Great!

CU,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

the first two HD brackets for the cargo straps are back from the galvanizing specialist and fit nicely.



In addition the alloy sheet metal inforcement arrived for the "landing strip".



So next step is to order the new wooden replacement panels for the platform and to steam off all the dirt with the Kärcher, as soon as the front jack is back in place.

To be continued...

Have a great weekend folk's,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's

coming back to OD collectibles: I recieved this week my latest find - some WW2 items of Staff Sergeant Richard H. Huber, 88th Infantry Division, 350th Inf. inkl. a detailed book on the Po Valley campaign of his unit the "Blue Devils" and his Expert Infantryman Badge.





So he is one of the many that made it to North Africa at first and then took part in the landing operations in Italy.
The 88th had heavy losses (statistics: Days of combat: 317, Killed in Action: 2,137, Wounded in Action: 8,248, Missing in Action: 521, Captured: 379, Total Casualties: 11,258) so it seems nearly to be a miracle that he made it home.
For its four-day battle at Laiatico during the July push to the Arno River, the 3rd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment, was awarded a War Department Distinguished Unit Citation. A second Distinguished Unit Citation went to Huber's Unit the 2nd Battalion, 350th Infantry Regiment, for its stand on Mt. Battaglia.



As I could find out he was awarded with the Bronze Star and his impressive amount of qualification bars is the longest I have seen up to now.





I found a very detailed homepage on this unit on the www that I can recommend to all interested in:
http://www.mtmestas.com/



As I could find out was Huber born in 1926 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and passed away in 1998 at Coopersburg
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. R.I.P.

Have a relaxed weekend,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

sometimes strange things happen in life: at the latest MV Camp at Bockenau I gave one of my folding cot's to Oliver and he damaged by mistake one of the two wooden crossmembers when he tried to disassemble it. - But he is 11 years old and mistakes happen sometimes...

Yesterday I helped my girlfriend to bring a bookshelf to her attic space - that seemed not have'd been in use for ages.
Some old, rotten furniture was standing there and the rockwool isolation material hanging down at one spot. So I had the idea to hold it in place with a wooden part I found on the dusty floor wirthout having a closer look at it. When I lifted it up I recognized two typical holes drilled into it and an attached canvas stripe - it was an original WW2 beechwood cot crossmember!
It must have been there for min. 40 years or even more... ...waiting for me!

My girlfriend told me then, that the US Army had used the housing area once before - so that would explain how the part ended up here in her attic.
I had a quick serch at the www and found out that the area was up to 1945 an Wehrmacht training ground and shooting range with some buildings that the US Army occupied in the end of March 1945, when they liberated the City of Frankfurt and Bad Vilbel.
The Army had no real idea what to do with the are located between both cities and when in 1946 hundredthousands of displaced families came from the so called "Sudetenland" (area in Czechoslovakia with German minority) and others from the former east Prussia, the Military Government accepted the request of the local church to use the area as an housing area for the displaced persons. After all it became a new home for about 6,000 persons that had left all they had behind in the east.



So that's the story behind an 70 years old part of an cot, found at my girlfriends attic...

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

our second Dodge Cometogether yesterday was a pretty nice "mid-winter surprise" with about 40 "plus" MV owners and 5 MV in place. Beside of the "usual suspects" as Uli's Ambo and Andi's Mutt we had Kurt's WW2 Jeep and a nice refurbished CJ3A-Nekaf in place.



Many others kept their beauties at home but showed up in civilian vehicles (as Smart's ) - but it was the first time since many years, that so many MV owners from our area had been in one place together.



Esp. the core of the "first generation" MV collectors, that supported the 3AD Museum at Friedberg until the installation was closed in 2007, was in place and had the chance to meet with the many "newcomers".

The (quite low) temperatures supported the "fuel consumption" and in the end 8 l. Gluehwein and 5 l. hot Applevine, 2 boxes beer and some litres "hard stuff" + 75 sausages from the grill had "disappeared" and "fired up" the party.





So hopefully we have the chance to proceed with those new and old "ties" to our joint hobby in the upcoming 2016 season and to organize some larger local US MV Events together in the future.

Find some photos here: http://www.steel-toys.com/DC15/

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[Skyrookie]

looked like a nice party .... sorry i couldn't make it buddy

[vario]

looked like a nice party .... sorry i couldn't make it buddy

Yes it really was, thanks for the invitation Joakim.
I managed to fight against the low temperature with the Glühwein and the Bratwurst.

Greetings

Uli

[12th Air Force]

Hi Uli,

next issue in 2016 - maybe then in summertime with more beer and less Gluehwein.

Hopefully the brickstone castle in Belgium is then finished so that Mr. D from S. can join us.

Have a relaxed weekend,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folks,

this is my latest find from eBay wonderland. It's a BC M65 Telescope (or the remainings of it).
But it was cheap and looks nice in my collection.

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's

X-Mas is "in full gear" and in the States it's traditionally the time for a brief reflexion of the year that has passed.

The "private side" of 2015 was not the best because of several losses: my aunt and my "nearly" brother-in-law have passed away. She with 75 after fightingh 1 1/2 years agains her lung cancer, he after 5 months with cancer of the colon. He passed away 2 weeks ago at the age of 48, having three kids (19, 17 and 4). Very bitter. Life is sometimes not fair.
Last week I have been with my mom at the funeral of one of the oldest friends of my dad. He died of a heart attack in front of his PC at the age of 73. All friends of him have been at the funeral and we had a nice evening with them with cooking together and lot's of wine and beer. A really good and relaxed "old school" party. He would have loved it.
Otherwise more knock down's in a row: I lost my job in July and my "nearly" wife moved out of our flat in late October.
So I'm solo again after nearly nine years of the damned best relationship I've ever had up to now.

On the positive side there are many very nice MV Events and new great friends that share the same hobby.
The year started with the fantastic liberation Festival at the Museum Stammheim and it's re-enactment with original WW2 Tank's in place.



The first time that Stefan and Michael from the USMVC, Michael, Oli and my oldest buddy Florian have been together at an MV Event and became immediately a great team, that shared throughout the year then many other MV Events in our area and ended up with an article and and an photo in the German Bild newspaper.



Tanks in Town was another highlight as the USMC autum Camp at Bockenau - that ended with signing the USMVC membership formsheet in October. So I'm the first time since many years no longer a "lone wolf" and member of a MV Club.



Other new contacts are Andi and Beate, proud owners of an fantastic Mutt in "like new" condition, Lothar with a nice WW2 Jeep, and several others with nice MV.



Most of them have been at our second December "Dodge Cometogether" with overall about 40 MV and US-Car owners in place.
So it's a growing loose "Band of Brothers" from our area that I could tie together a bit during the last years and that are sharing the local Events with their MV without beeing a stiff "Club something".



So - seen that way - 2015 was for me a year of many "heavy losses" on one side, but I'm glad that I could find some new friends as well, that know how to party and that are as well at hand when you really need them.

From that point of view I'm keen on starting the 2016 MV season and to take part in as many MV Events with those fantastic buddies as in 2015. Maybe with even some more Events with the new trailer for the Dodge, that is making logistics for me much easier than before.

So I wish all of you a happy New Year and a - hopefully - better year 2016!

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim