WW1 pics

Some pics of military trucks serving with Australians in WW1.

www.awm.gov.au/collection/C969739
www.awm.gov.au/collection/C214565

 
 

How did those Leylands ever make a mile on those skinny little tyres!!!

Hard Rubber?????

Brocky is correct, they were solid rubber tyres. Pneumatics, if they were around then, certainly had not been made for, or fitted to, trucks,

Many restored 1920's and 1930's vehicles are now fitted far wider tyres than they would have originally had.

My 1926 and 1928 Morris Commercials were originally supplied with 4.40 x 23inch tyres but I fitted 5.00's because the only 4.40's available were motorbike tyres and the tread shape was not suitable.

Morris.

We have come a long way in a little over 100 years

Paul

It's a wonder with the muddy terrible roads, how they managed to haul any cargo. The engines were low powered . The guys restoring these vehicles are amazing, they make patterns and have the unobtainable parts cast , then machine the castings. 

The AWM in Canberra  have a Leyland . More info:  hmvf.co.uk/topic/44620-awm-raf-leyland/#comment-517743

We did the Anzac day march in 1979, I was allocated the Australian Flying Corps . The old chap in my jeep was a pilot in France, he told me he flew RE8 aircraft and most of the aircrews only lasted  on average 6 weeks. 

 

Horses and troops put to work dragging them through the quagmires.
Bit of hay and a few bob a day.

Many more pics

www.hcvc.com.au/forum/OldTruck/17995-australian-ww1-transport



 

The first motor vehicle used in the Australian Army was a (1908 model from memory) Tarrant brand car owned by Colonel Harley Tarrant. He owned the Company that made them.

As we have been told by many people, many of the roads in battlefields were nothing more than muddy tracks.
A long time ago, I read a story that is probably true about a World War One Officer who put the driver of every vehicle that slid off the road on a charge. (for those who do not know, that means they were punished)
One day, he ordered the driver of the car he was in to stop. The Officer got out and slammed the door behind him. That small jolt caused the car to slide sideways into a ditch. The Officer then realized that it was not always the driver's fault when a vehicle slid off the road.