Dodge – Flying Control Conversion

Flying Control Conversion

Well known 8th USAAF historian and mv enthusiast, Steve A. Carr, likes to do something different and in this article Steve converts his Dodge to a scene that would have been a common sight on WWII airfields.

When first purchased by the previous owner, 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!