WIGRAMS own Tilly

[Ian Warren]

Fact is , Its called 'The Crawler', look carefully you can see 'National Airways Corporation' Logo on the rear, It was pointed out to me that under the red paint one can still see its military heritage, still showing and old NZ Army number, this bulldozer was used in the Pacific during WWII , it did get around , only a couple months back Air NZ gifted the unit to the Wigram Museum , putting a a Goblin engine into a Vampire one said how are we going to do this , one bright spark said what about 'The Crawler' , Sam told me it started like it was brand new and proved itself again 80 years later lifting the engine and putting it into the Vampire ! .

[tbf25o4]

The "Clee Tracks" were used by the flying boat squadrons to haul Catalinas and Sunderlands up the ramps both at Hobsonville and overseas

[Ian Warren]

Thanks for that info, I never thought in that direction, one off my first observations was how smooth the tracks were and asking Sam about damage to the paved surface, he pointed out and show me nothing at all on a painted hangar floor but for a little dirt... A real Caterpillar .

[Dave Homewood]

Cletracs were also used by the Ventura Servicing Units to tow aircraft around and do other heavy work. It's great to see that Wigram has secured one of them.

[oj]

Fascinating! I have never seen this before. What stirling service it has given. What brand is it?
Send a link to the manufacturer; they would likely be interested.

[avenger]

The 'crawler' is an International I suspect, probably a TD 6 (1940 - 1956), could be the larger and more powerful TD 9. Should be easy to I/D.
Also Cletrack another US manufactured tractor for civil or military use. Some were available here around very late 1940's/very early 50's.

[Dave Homewood]

Ian where did you get the name Tilly from in the thread title? In the RAF the Tilly was an Austin ute type vehicle. I'm not sure if the RNZAF ever acquired any of them.

[avenger]

Apologies for at least slghtly anticipating a reply from Ian -

" Tilly (from "Utility") was the name given to a number of British military vehicles produced during World War II from civilian car designs and used by all of the armed forces in most theatres of that conflict."

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks. Learnt something today.

[denysjones]

I'll stand correction but I'd say that this beast was with NAC at Harewood and then passed to the RNZAF Museum.

If I'm right then we used it in the disassembly of the Viscount to take to Ferrymead in 1975. At that time NAC personnel told us that it was ex US Marines and had been brought back to NZ post war by the RNZAF and passed to NAC for use in C47 conversion work.

hth

[denysjones]

Just one other thing I omitted.

I've never heard of the beastie being called a "Tilly", in my dealings with it at NAC it was universally referred to as "the cherrypicker" by both NAC personnel and RNZAF ones working with us on the Viscount and other occasions we used it.

Of course now days that "cherrypicker" term is used in reference to aerial work platforms.

cheers

[Ian Warren]

May 7, 2015 16:28:23 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Ian where did you get the name Tilly from in the thread title? In the RAF the Tilly was an Austin ute type vehicle. I'm not sure if the RNZAF ever acquired any of them.

'Tilly' this is also a very well known name for the crane on US Navy carriers, used for everything and the nick-name still sticks today, I guess it needed to get a better name than the 'Crawler' after the job it did I stuck with 'Tilly' ... maybe it was watching the movie "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" too many times gives you a better description

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Ian. I have never seen that film by the way.

[Ian Warren]

May 8, 2015 14:03:14 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Thanks Ian. I have never seen that film by the way.

CRIKEY Dave , Its to the local warehouse store, a 1954 release .. Mr William Holden and Ms Grace Kelly, some great footage , great movie from the period , Panthers, Skyraiders , Carriers and course Tilly

[shorty]

Also the scene of the final attack on the bridges was the inspiration for the attack on the battle star in the first Star Wars movie. Watch the two and it's easy to notice.

Ian, you forgot to mention Mr Mickey Rooney as the S-51 pilot

Dave, hang your head in shame!!

[Dave Homewood]

Why? Not my fault I have never seen it.

[Ian Warren]

May 8, 2015 20:40:21 GMT 12 shorty said:

Ian, you forgot to mention Mr Mickey Rooney as the S-51 pilot

I'm also hanging my head in shame dragging me chin along the ground

[Ian Warren]

Here you go Dave, a shortened preview to the movie





Never got around to getting 'Tilly' on screen ... maybe part three

[denysjones]

More than a tad of thread creap here methinks from some NZ history to Hollywood rubbish!

[davidd]

Just a small point, but the name of the "other" tractor dragged into this discussion was spelled "Cletrac" (a contraction of Cleveland Tractor Company), an organisation dating back to 1916 and a very large procucer of crawler tractors for the world market for many decades. The Cletrac model most used by the wartime RNZAF was the "High speed tractor" designed for the US Army for towing heavy artillery, known s the MG-2. This was the one with the track and suspension layout very similar to an armoured fighting vehicle, and often seen in photos of our Catalinas at various locations, used for moving them about the ramp and into or out of the sea. Cletrac still exists, although now known as Cletrac and Oliver.
David D