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Long Range Desert Group (LRDG)
Chevrolet 1533x2 30-cwt Patrol Truck
Specifications
Country of Origin/Used by: | Great Britain |
First Produced/Service Dates: | 1942 |
Manufactured by: | General Motors of Canada with LRDG modifications |
Crew: | 3-4 |
Armament: | Multiple armament packages were fitted to vehicles depending on the unit mission and/or specific vehicle's role/function. Weapons that were mounted included the .303 Browning machine gun (aircraft), .303 Lewis MG, .303 Vickers MG, .303 Vickers "K" MG (air), .50 cal Browning HMG (air), .50 cal Vickers HMG. Some of these weapons were fitted to single and/or dual mounts, most notably the Vickers "K" MG's. Also, Captured Italian weapons were also employed, including the 7.92mm Breda MG and 20mm dual purpose 20/65 cannon. |
Engine: | 6 Cylinder Gasoline |
Miscellaneous Info: | The Chevrolet
1533x2 4x2 30 cwt (1 1/2 ton) Patrol Truck succeeded the Long Range
Range Desert Group's (LRDG)
Ford F30 Canadian Military Pattern (CMP)
30 cwt Patrol Trucks in early 1942. These 1941-1942 model Chevy trucks were
specially ordered Modified Conventional Pattern (MCP) vehicles, which
were upgraded civilian vehicles manufactured for military use at the
factory and then further modified by the LRDG after receipt.
Typical LRDG basic vehicle modifications were the the cutting down of the front-cabs, strengthening the suspension, fitting of sand tires, condenser cooling systems, cut down radiator grating, addition of un-ditching equipment (sand channels and pioneer tools) and the famous Bagnold sun compass. Furthermore, LRDG patrol trucks were also employed in specialized roles and equipped to accomplish those missions/tasks. Besides conducting basic patrols, some trucks acted as fittter's vehicles, "heavy" patrol vehicles, light artillery vehicles (including acting in the anti-tank role - the "scorpion's tail"), medical orderlies' vehicles and wireless/communications vehicles. The 1533x2 trucks were the most numerous patrol trucks employed by the LRDG throughout their short life and soldiered on until the unit's disbanding. |
Data Sheet Available: |
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Photos
Reference | Source/Provider |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30cwt Patrol Truck Photos | British War Office via the Imperial War Museum |
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British War Office via the Imperial War Museum |
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British War Office via the Imperial War Museum |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30cwt Patrol Truck Photos | Erik Johansen - South Shields, Tyne & Wear UK |
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Imperial War Museum |
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Imperial War Museum |
References Available
Online
Reference | Source/Provider |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30 cwt Patrol Truck Information & Photos | Engines of WW2 |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30 cwt Patrol Truck Information & Photos | Long Range Desert Group- Providence Their Guide |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30 cwt Patrol Truck Information & Photos | The LRDG, Long Range Desert Group |
Chevrolet 1533x2 30 cwt Patrol Truck Photos | Toadman's Tank Pictures |
"Long Range Desert Group Chevrolet Model 1533X2 30 cwt 4x2 Truck" by Paul Handel | Anzac Steel |
Long Range Desert Group Information & Photos | The Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society |
Printed
Reference | Author |
A Photo History of Armoured Cars In Two World Wars | George Forty |
"Desert Chevrolets: A Lone Long Range Desert Group Survivor and Its Contemporaries" | Wheels & Tracks: The International Review of Military Vehicles - Issue #8 |
Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces (1940-1943) - Osprey Battle Orders #23 | Andrea Molinari |
Long Range Desert Group In Action, The: 1940-1943 (Pen & Sword-Images of War) | Brendan O'Carroll |
Long Range Desert Group, The: 1940-1945 (Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard 32) | Robin Jenner & David List |
Long Range Desert Group, The: History &
Legacy (Helion & Company) Review by Dr. Chris Lloyd-Staples |
Karl-Gunnar Norén & Lars Gyllenhaal |
Long Range Desert Group Patrolmen: The Western Desert - 1940-43 (Osprey Publishing, Warrior 148) | Tim Moreman |
"LRDG Patrol Trucks: Desert Warfare"
(April 2006 Issue of Military Machines
International Magazine) |
John Blackman |
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Alejandro Mario Luchinelli |
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Dave Oliver |
"Piracy on the High Desert" (June 2020 Issue of Classic Military Vehicle Magazine) | Toby Savage |
SAS & LRDG In Detail: British WWII SAS & Long Range Desert Group Vehicles (Wings & Wheels Publications #R092) | James Baxter, Jan Willem de Boer & Frantisek Koran |
Special Forces Vehicles: 1940 to Present Day (Pen & Sword, Images of
War) |
Pat Ware |
Hobby Modeling
For a Full List of Model Kits and Accessories related to the LRDG Chevrolet Patrol Trucks (WA & 1533x2), you can check out Scalemates.
Model Photos
Reference | Source/Provider |
LRDG Chevrolet 30 cwt Patrol Truck Model Photos | Erik Johansen & Patrick Keenan |
SAS Jeep/ LRDG Chevrolet 30 cwt Truck Desert Diorama Photos | John Staehle - Deming, New Mexixo USA |