One for the WIX brain trust - seeking equipment help!

[sandiego89]

Yes that is correct -those are "Thin man" prototypes.
The photo is a bit of a challenge though! It is labeled as being Wendover, and if you have a high res copy you can tell they are actually sitting in a large pit or something with huge revetments - something that large we have not ever seen evidence of at Wendover. Not that it isn't here its just if there was something like that it has been very well concealed. One thought is that since the thin man design was eliminated very early on this photo MIGHT actually be at Inyokern - but I have nothing to offer to back that up.

Tom P.

I agree it might have been Inyokern/China Lake- lots of deep revetments there.

Can you tell us more about the pits at Wendover, Wendover Tom? from google maps, it looks there are three pits, two just north of the eastern end of runway 26 and one south. Did they all have the hydraulic loading ram like those on Tinian?

Any loading pits at China lake still?

https://goo.gl/maps/6CuxiFGQmLeCNbH66

[wendovertom]

Yes that is correct -those are "Thin man" prototypes.
The photo is a bit of a challenge though! It is labeled as being Wendover, and if you have a high res copy you can tell they are actually sitting in a large pit or something with huge revetments - something that large we have not ever seen evidence of at Wendover. Not that it isn't here its just if there was something like that it has been very well concealed. One thought is that since the thin man design was eliminated very early on this photo MIGHT actually be at Inyokern - but I have nothing to offer to back that up.

Tom P.

I agree it might have been Inyokern/China Lake- lots of deep revetments there.

Can you tell us more about the pits at Wendover, Wendover Tom? from google maps, it looks there are three pits, two just north of the eastern end of runway 26 and one south. Did they all have the hydraulic loading ram like those on Tinian?

Any loading pits at China lake still?

https://goo.gl/maps/6CuxiFGQmLeCNbH66

Sure - I am at work and don't have access to the photos but here is a video we produced on the loading pits:

https://youtu.be/YR2T8TD-tBs

Briefly - no as far as we can tell only the pit on the north side of the runway had hydraulics in it - the others seem to very early attempts at figuring out how to perfect the "pit" and the system of loading it.

As far as I know, only the pits at Wendover and Tinian are in existence. China Lake and Kirtland are long gone. Although records exist that show a even more developed pit system. This allowed a pilot to put the B-29s left main gear on a turn table then use thrust from the right side to "swing" the plane into position over the pit to be loaded. Again these are long gone. We have heard from folks as far away as England that are researching the existence of pits at USAF overseas bases but none of them has escaped being filled in and paved over.

I can't resist inviting everyone to make a stop at the Wendover museum and check it out first hand! All the best and happy new year!

Tom P.

[maxum96]

Anyway, now I just need to convince someone to build one for the museum

How about approaching Utility Trailer? They are one of the biggest manufacturers of semi trailers today. It could showcase their involvement in helping to win the war while displaying some of their heritage.

[Noha307]

In a atomic bomb loading manual from the post war era - 1946 anyway - the manual calls for and provides drawings for a bomb trailer made by, wait for it. . . . Utility Trailer manufacturing! The reason I say they probably had no idea what the trailer was for at the time is that on the drawing the trailer is called a "Cal-tech lowboy trailer"

Thanks for being specific with the identification!

By the way, I looked into the type of truck tractor that is visible in a few of the photographs (1, 2) from Tinian the other day in the hope that it might help identify the trailer. It didn't, but I am pretty sure I was able to identify the truck as a Federal 94x43A (G-513). Two additional notes:

• There's also a very similar looking Autocar U7144-T (G-510), but that version has a flat, vertical grill and lacks the bump-outs for the windshield wipers that appear on the truck in the photographs.
• The truck on Tinian has to be an "A" variant, as the 94x43B and 94x43C both had open top, canvas covered rooves. One of the links above claims that the former "was based on commercial tooling" while the latter were "military models". However, a military manual depicting the hardtop version is available on eBay.

I'm not sure if you're interested in portraying the conditions on Tinian or just at Wendover, but, if you want some added realism, find someone who owns one you could use to pull it for reenactments.

How about approaching Utility Trailer? They are one of the biggest manufacturers of semi trailers today. It could showcase their involvement in helping to win the war while displaying some of their heritage.

Seconded as a good idea!

[wendovertom]

Here you go for your infotainment! Anyone want to build Historic Wendover Airfield a trailer?! I am planning on reaching out to Utility Trailer about this. I hope they are excited about it and not "put off" by the association with the atomic bomb. As I know you all know, it can still be a very divisive topic.

Side note - most of the equipment that the 509th received while in Wendover and Tinian was "Trans-shipped" to hide the final destination from a shipper or manufacturer. For those that do not know (I was one of them) "trans-shipped" means the builder located in say, Chicago, builds and ships to Bartlesville Oklahoma. When it arrives there someone else repacks it removing the origin info and ships it to a final destination as if it only ever was in Bartlesville.

One thing I am assuming based on the end product as seen in the photos and this drawing - the 1st Ordnance Squadron with the 509th CG must have been responsible for making the final modifications to the trailer for the actual bomb cradle.



Tom P.