[electricflyer]

More military photos from MVPS. Photo of the contents of a Comm trailer. And one of the club members setting up a station which didn't stay up for long as liquid sunshine started to move in. Naturally one guy doing the work and the rest watching an giving advice. The convoy was being tracked by aprs. There were some ham operators active in the convoy. They were also on 146.55 simplex along the route.

During my stint in the Army I was licensed for 1/4 ton (jeep), 3/4 ton and 2 1/2 ton (deuce and a half). The Deuce and a half I drove had a 2 speed automatic that had killer upshifts and downshifts. Either slammed everyone against the tailgate on the upshifts and against the cab on the downshifts so passengers had better have a grip on something. It had a top speed of about 45mph. Drove that during summer camp and on the way back home for about 500 miles. Drove a 3/4 ton up to summer camp at Camp McCoy (I believe it is now Fort McCoy) in Wisconsin for that 500 mile trek. The town of La Crosse was just outside the gate and on the weekend we had off everyone (nearly) got polluted on Wisconsin beer. Wisconsin at that time allowed 18 year olds to have 3.2 beer and there were taverns that only served 3.2 beer but if you were 21 or older you could get 5% beer at other establishments. Never saw anything like it. There were guys passed out in the gutters, over the hoods of cars, in doorways, just about everywhere. Loved it.

Just another thought, I had a friend when I lived on the north side of Dayton (about a mile from Hara Arena) that used to enter in the Great American Car Race every year. He bought a brand new 3/4 ton military truck, either a 1938 or 39, I believe it was a Dodge and was going to use it in the race. For a backup he bought 3 additional engines, original, still packed in cosmoline. I don't think he ever put it in a race but resold it and the engines. He did race Marmon automobiles in the Great American Car Race (it was actually a rally) for many years and seemed to have a different one each year. The last time I saw him was about 8 years ago and at that time he had acquired 12 Marmons, but what the hell, if you got 60-70 million dollars go for it. He's to old to do those races any more. I think about the last race he was in was the Bejing to Paris race which had a $30,000 entry fee. He broke an axle the first day and had to drop out.