The M151 motherlode - in England!

a place to discuss anything of interest to owners of M151 jeeps

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Challenger2
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The M151 motherlode - in England!

Unread post by Challenger2 » April 21st, 2020, 2:25 pm

Hi guys,
Calling from the United Kingdom.
It isn't often I post something here that isn't an appeal for help with my 76-77 A2 restoration, but I saw the attached (see link below) this week and just had to share it with forum members.
I have been looking into the story of Burtonwood a WW2 RAF airfield in the north west of England. In 1942 It was taken over by the USAAF to prepare US aircraft for all the Air Forces operating in the ETO. Aircraft would fly in from across the Atlantic or be reassembled after arriving by ship at Liverpool and at its height it was the largest airfield in Europe with hundreds of aircraft passing through at any one time.

After the war and as the Cold War descended over Europe the base with acres of covered storage was taken over by the US Army to house vehicles, spares, stores, rations, uniforms - you name it and it was stored there on a massive scale, to be used in case the Cold War got hot. Burtonwood supported US Army Europe right up to the 1990/1991 Gulf War when, as part of the general drawdown of US forces overseas following the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was emptied and eventually closed. A motorway now runs across part of it and the rest has become housing and a logistics hub.

Stories about what vehicles were held in the almost 4 million square feet of warehousing have fascinated UK MV enthusiasts ever since with stories of brand new M35s, Humvees, 5 tonners, Dodges, Chevy CUCVs, trailers and M151s gathering dust. But apart from a few grainy pictures on the net, taken at a rare public Open Day in 1989, it has remained pretty much unrecorded - until now.

This month a local history website in the Burtonwood area showed off some of the photos taken by the official base photographer Eddie Whitham and all of the stories of endless lines of trucks were true! The link below is to the website with some of the images and a text which gives a history of the base, and we have to forgive the description of the massed M151s as 'Willys' Jeeps (as all jeep-like vehicles are of course Willys!). At the bottom of the web page is a link to a Flickr site with more pics.

As far as I know the majority of the M151s went to Malta and some other friendly countries as part of the MAP - but one of my contacts suggested some could have been sold on uncut to some European dealers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did (especially in these grim times) and I look forward to your comments. :D

Link to Warrington Worldwide website: https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/ ... rettyPhoto

mike_v
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Re: The M151 motherlode - in England!

Unread post by mike_v » April 22nd, 2020, 2:42 am

Thanks for sharing that - pretty interesting photos at the link.
1974 M151A2 w/ ROPS, heater, radios and M416 trailer

1986 M925 w/w 5 ton

2x M1008 CUCVs
3x M1009 CUCVs + 1x CUCV II
1x M1010 + 1x M1031 CUCV

1990 M101A2 .75 ton trailer (Kasel)
1992 M101A3 .75 ton trailer (Kasel)
1992 M149A2 "Water Buffalo" (Aero)
1995 M105A3 1.5 ton trailer (Pribbs)
2005 M1082 LMTV 2.5 ton trailer (Stewart & Stevenson)

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m3a1
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Re: The M151 motherlode - in England!

Unread post by m3a1 » April 22nd, 2020, 1:04 pm

I agree. Pretty cool stuff.

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