[TR] winter storage

[John Macartney]

Randall Reihing wrote:

I have two WW II US Army five gallon cans that were originally on a WW II US
Army tank and at 75 years old they are still good, do not leak, are not
rusty inside or outside, and hold fuel for as long as I need them to, which
is a lot less than 20-30 years.  

 

Snap! They knew how to make them in WW2. I've still got a 25 litre German
jerrican in German field grey stamped, "Wehrmacht. Afrika Korps 1942 - fur
Kubelwagen". Presumably it was designed to clip on to the open-topped VW
used by the likes of Rommel and friends?

 

How this can made it back to England is anyone's guess, especially as it has
two approx. 5 inch diameter patches painted olive green welded to either
face equally stamped on the patches "British Fifth Army LRDG" which LRDG
means Long Range Desert Group. These were the guys who penetrated far behind
enemy lines and made a nuisance of themselves by blowing up supply lines and
indulging in other unco-operative initiatives. Dad used the can for years
afterwards for kerosene to keep the kero heater in our greenhouse at home
going in the winter. It's still good for use and while it takes up a lot of
space in my tiny workshop, I can't bring myself to be rid of it:) It's
strange how the Germans and the Allies used such a familiar design. Who
copied who or was it two like minds on different sides coming up with the
same idea and concept?

 

Jonmac



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/triumphs/attachments/20160503/f0222139/attachment.html>