ARMY WEAPON DISPLAY

Evening Star, Issue 24277, 19 August 1942, Page 4

ARMY WEAPON DISPLAY

EXHIBIT IN THE OCTAGON “ JEEP ” TO BE INCLUDED For the purpose of Jetting the genera! public see some of the latest equipment in use by the Array arrangements are in hand for the holding of a special display of weapons in the Octagon to-morrow and on Friday between the hours of noon and 2 p.m. The display will be in the northwestern corner, between George st and Harrop st. It is proposed that instructors shall be present who will give details of the weapons and who will also arrange demonstrations. In conjunction with the display Government war bonds will be on sale, and donations may be made to the patriotic funds, so that the exhibit will actually serve a dual purpose. It is intended to show a Bofors anti-air-craft gun, a 25-pounder quickfiring gun, an anti-tank gun, and a Sin trench mortar. In addition, and this should prove the piece de resistance of the exhibit, there will be'shown a “jeep.” Jeeps have only recently come to form part of the equipment of the New Zealand Forces—in fact, it was only last year that they were introduced into the American army, since when they have proved an outstanding success. Jeeps are squat in appearance, possessing flat-topped bonnets and mudguards, and heavy-duty tyres. They are built to carry three men and an all-angle machine gun. They can drag light field guns or carry a 37mm anti-tank gun or mortar. At a pinch a jeep can carry six men. Jeeps have 15 horse-power four-cylinder motors, which give a top speed of 65 miles an hour, but in tests they have done up to 75 miles. They save six speeds forward, giving power to cross rough country and to carry heavy loads. In tests jeeps have climbed grades of one in one and a-half. ‘ Time, the well-known American news magazine, has written- of jeeps: "The jeep positively will not fly, but there is a widespread notion in the army that it can do anything else.” The same article states that a jeep is steady under the recoil of a 37mm anti-tank gun. Apart from its speed and power, the jeep is manoeuvrable. It , has a wheel base of only 80in, about the' same as that of a seven or eight horse-power car, and it is shorter than 10 horse-power cars. Its turning radius is about half that of a small car. Tho steel body of a jeep, a cross between the body of a touring car and a Bren gnu carrier, is of tough construction. For ordinary use only the rear wheel drive, ns in an ordinary car, propels the jeep, the front wheels being driven only when some obstacle has to be overcome. United States Army officers have been loud in their praise of the jeep. One has said that transportation in ihe U.S. Army is at least 50 _ per cent, better than that of any army in the world, and that the jeep can grab a big share of the glory, while another has declared the jeep to be the most useful vehicle the army has ever had.