My '44 Flying Control Dodge

[armyairforce]

September 22nd - Day 2

Tanfield day two started out nice and sunny again. I hoped it would stay that way, as with "Jessie" in Red Cross markings and using the olive drab roof canvas, "Hope" was roofless!





A few of the larger vehicles didn't come for the second day, but there were a few different Jeeps, Chris in his Dodge and more civilian cars, all on display in the field above Andrews House station.

[armyairforce]

Following a chat with the farmer, late morning three of us set off across the fields for some green laning. Actually more brown and straw coloured laning, but a good laugh until we got to a flood and a locked gate.





We'd sent Derek first as he was expendable if there'd been any land mines, so he ended up turning around in the flood and we made our way back to the show field.

[armyairforce]

Following my social media appeal for a second hand roof canvas, Bob came along on Sunday with a spare roof in fairly good condition. A deal was done and "Hope" now has a roof too.





The evacuees set off for the 1:30pm train again but this time I didn't follow them to the station. Instead I caught some photos from the bank overlooking Marley Hill signal box and spotted my daughter as she watched from the carriage window.

[armyairforce]

Some of the vehicles left soon after lunch but six of the remaining military vehicles had a small convoy down to East Tanfield station for coffee. Colin was singing inside the station building because of the predicted showers which didn't happen.



We had one idiot Audi driver ( always an Audi or BMW ) that forced his way through the convoy in a hurry to his grave. Fortunately he didn't take any of us out in his crazed overtaking. The day before, on the way home, another Audi overtook my Dodge on a blind corner. Every trip now, I encounter a selection of idiots on the road, always looking for the worst possible place to overtake!

[armyairforce]

We parked up the convoy against the trackside fence and stormed the cafe, which was taken without much resistance. It was nice to see both Jeeps out together, both looking a bit different to normal.









We convoyed back to Andrews House and displayed there a while longer before packing up to head home. Driving home, two or three eyes at the front of the new canvas popped off the studs on the screen. I'm going to have to try and get the canvas pulled tighter, or see if it fits better on "Jessie".

The Roof bows on "Hope" are slightly lopsided, which I discovered just recently. Where the pivot is for the front bow, the bracket had been welded onto the rear bow with about a quarter of an inch height difference compared to the other side. It must have been manufactured like this during the war as during the restoration, I only straightened the bends in the tubes. This may also be having an effect on getting the roof canvas tightened evenly.

We just got onto the drive when the promised rain came, and it didn't half chuck it down! I got the Jeeps away as quickly as possible and sat down to begin processing several hundred photos!

[Vista52]

Hi Steve, thank you for your report on your latest event. I always think your photos are a perfect complement to your storytelling. I appreciate you taking the time to also period appropriate some of the photos. Very nice!

I've always liked the big Diamond T's but that Scammel does look nice.

[armyairforce]

Thanks, I like telling stories and recording my history. Every so often, I read my vehicle threads from start to finish to remind myself of the journey I've been on. When I'm old and grey, I'm sure I'll still be reading over what I did, long after my physical ability to do it has passed.

[armyairforce]

I went  over to visit the Dodge this afternoon before the year is out. It's been three months since it ran on its trip out to Tanfield 1940's weekend. Even though it is still on a 6 volt electrical system, it burst into life after a good prime and a few presses of the starter to suck the prime through to the engine.

I warmed it through and checked the oil pressure, brakes and lights. I also moved it a couple of feet inside the container to avoid sitting on the same spot on the tyres all winter, then took the battery out until spring. The battery has been fed with a couple of acid tablets per cell and is now on a nice slow charge in my workshop.

[armyairforce]

March 21st - Putting Faith to Bed

With the coronavirus lock down only likely to become more severe and the 2020 MV events falling like dominos, we popped over to say good night to "Faith" for some time. I normally go every 6 weeks to 2 months to run the engine, exercise the clutch and brakes and turn the wheels if not being driven. The likelyhood is, Faith may not be out at all this year.

The battery has been out for the winter, but with the lock down and the possibility of not being able to visit, I went over and jacked up the truck to get the weight off the wheels to avoid tyre flat spots. The truck is now perched on some axle stands, an inch or so above the container floor.





Quite hard work to operate the jack at the back, where you have to be lying down to get the jack far enough under to reach the axles. The fuel tank then doesn't give much room to operate the jack. At least there's enough roof clearance in the container, even if the sides are a tight fit! The brakes were exercised and the handbrake released. The clutch was also operated and the clutch pedal was left in the disengaged position.





So the mileometer seems very unlikely to clock up much, if any mileage this year. Since the two Jeeps live at home in the garage, they are easier to maintain and check over in the event of a more serious lockdown being enforced.

[armyairforce]

April 24th - VE Day Preparations

With the loss of so many events already this year and particularly the Yorkshire Air Museum's "Against the Odds" V.E. 75 weekend event that I had planned to attend, I decided I needed to do something at home instead. So my VE Day preparations well underway now. While the Dodge lives in a container away from home and inaccessible due to the lockdown, both Jeeps are garaged at home.

I've got an order in with the quartermaster for some sandwiches and some red, white and blue cup cakes. My daughter wants Red, white and blue ice lollies too. I got a VE Day banner made across Thursday and Friday while also being class teacher to my daughter. Some bunting arrived on Saturday and some flags arriving any day now. I've just got to work out how to fit both Jeeps in the front garden.

Our garden party could be the biggest event of the year!!! For that matter, it's probably going to be the only event of the year!!!

[armyairforce]

With the Dodge shut away for the lockdown, doing a display in the garden was going to be a Jeep only affair. After lots of shuffling modern vehicles and trailers off the drive, we got our VE Day display finished, a little after 9am. We then went indoors to change into more period clothes. By mid morning, we were being noticed quite a bit, with exercise walkers stopping to take pictures, followed by drive by "shootings" ( with camera phones!! ). I have a feeling we'll be all over local social media.



The display brought the neighbours out to get some pictures, then they stayed out. The daughter of the guy over the road brought her music decks out and started playing music, a nice variety including some 1940's stuff. More and more neighbours joined us in the street, drinks started flowing, people brought their lunch out, then there was dancing. The social distancing conga was rather amusing. My wife and daughter finished icing the VE Day cupcakes with US roundels, RAF roundels, the Union flag and St George's flag.



Partying continued through the afternoon. Evening meals took place in front gardens and the partying carried on. We began packing up a little after 7pm and took both Jeeps for a victory parade around the block. Was the journey necessary? - ABSOLUTELY!!!



The street party finally finished at 1am!!

If it hadn't been for the lockdown, I think most normal families would have gone about the usual bank holiday shopping and DIY activities. However, being stuck at home probably resulted in more people taking the opportunity to let their hair down a bit and celebrate.

It may well be our only event of 2020, but it will certainly be a memorable one.

[Vista52]

Well done Steve. You really put 100% effort into all your displays. It appears to be correct what you were told about the flag. The States, represented by the Stars, should be on the viewers left when hanging vertically.

Thanks

[armyairforce]

July 28th 2020

Faith the Dodge has been patiently sleeping this year. Every event I was booked in for this year has cancelled due to the virus. We have been on a few Jeep drives and photoshoots around the local area after the lockdown was eased, but that's it for events.







Despite the loss events, Faith, our Flying Control Dodge is still amazing, especially for a 76 year old vehicle running on 6 volts. This became apparent today, with a visit to check on the Dodge. From my logs, it appears I last put some fuel in late June 2019. The last event for the Dodge was in September and then it was shut away in the container for the winter. The engine was run and warmed through on December 24th 2019 and then the battery removed for the winter. In March, two days before lockdown, I put the Dodge on axle stands to take the weight off the tyres, but it was still without a battery, so wasn't run.

Today, after 7 months of inactivity, and 13 months since any fresh fuel was added, I went to try and give it a run. With such old fuel, I had my doubts. Water and oil checked, fuel pump hand primed and then I turned the engine over a few seconds with the ignition off, to pump some oil around. The 6 volt starter seemed to turn so slow compared to the 24 volt Hotchkiss Jeep on Sunday!!

After the oil prime, the choke and hand throttle were set, then I pressed the starter again for a few seconds to spin the engine over and then turned the ignition on. VROOOM! Off it went to a fast idle. Oil pressure 50PSI, idling smoothly, temperature slowly came up - fantastic! The clutch was released to spin the wheels, gearbox and differential over, brakes and steering exercised and lights checked. Everything was fine.

So everything was shut down, battery removed again, clutch chocked in the released position and Faith left to sleep for a few more months. I might be tempted to go for a short drive in the Autumn before the real cold of the winter comes. It was a tad dark in the container and my torch has vanished somewhere, but thankfully I could use the torch on my phone to see to fit and remove the battery.

[armyairforce]

What's happened to all the pictures in my thread?

They are all hosted on my own webspace and are showing on my vehicle websites, but not here. They don't show on my Win 10 laptop or Android phone when viewing this thread.

[Don]

Might be something at your end. I'm seeing them on my laptop.