Flying Control Conversion
When first
purchased by Rupert, the Dodge was olive drab. Around the begining
of 2008, it received a checkered body, but that was about as far as the
conversion had gone, and it still had the canvas over the rear of the
truck.
Just after the Elvington Wheels & Wings show in 2008, I suggested I wooden rear body for the truck with an observation dome to make the truck more like the field conversions often seen on USAAF bases. In mid July, we spent a weekend building the main body of the truck, which Rupert completed over the next few days. The wooden boomerangs seen below right, were used as mounting points for the planking around the curved part of the roof. |
|
To aid
visibility when driving, the two side panels hinged down against the
side body. The lower parts of the sides were bolted to the frames behind
the seat back rests.
The doors on the rear of the truck had quick release pins in the hinges so that they could also be removed while driving. |
|
The dome
for the top of the truck is from an aircraft. It is an Avro Anson
astrodome, which came from a local aircraft museum. It needed to be
removable so the truck could fit the storage facility, and so was
mounted on a raised plinth to reduce the chance of water entering the
joint.
Once the dome mount was complete, out came the white paint, followed by the black checkers. The white looked a bit fresh, but once dry, an oily rag soon toned the paint down.
|
|
Inside the
truck, the bare wood received a number of stencils to make it look like
it was built from packing crates salvaged from the airfield.
The front bumper which had been checkered with Bomb Group markings on looked a bit cluttered, so was overpainted in black and received 'Flying Control' in white lettering. |
|
The
completed truck seen at Ingleton, North Yorkshire. The radios in the
back of the truck were not fastened in, and the display in the back of
the truck changed from show to show.
I am hoping to make a more permanent display in the back of the truck to reduce effort and set up time upon arrival at a show. I also want to add some glazing in the sides and rear doors. There are one or two other features I want to add to, but more of that when the time comes! |