Great illustration from the website http://lrdgroutesrevistited.blogspot.com
Matt found this interesting blog about a couple of guys who wanted to revisit some of the adventures of the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa. They restored two jeeps and planned to cover 1200 miles.
They wrote, “For two weeks we shall re-enact many of the daring escapades of the legendary Long Range Desert Group in a pair of original 1943, World War Two, Jeeps. Our expedition, limited to just eight people, will drive through the stunning dunes of the Great Sand Sea. Explore the Gilf el Kebir, a plateau the size of Switzerland. Camp under the stars a million miles from the nearest town. Stand in the Cave of the Swimmers, immortalised in the film, The English Patient. Live for that Ice Cold in Alex moment as we celebrate in exactly the same bar as they did 70 years ago. This is no cruise along the Mediterranean coast, but the real thing, sweat, steam and fatique, but with a fully equipped logistics team on hand to cook, wash up and guide us through some of the most beautiful desert scenery on the planet. “
This is the very beginning of the posts: http://lrdgroutesrevistited.blogspot.com/2010/09/grand-plan.html
looks like radial tires
All the logistics involved, must have been fun to do.
Wrote a paper on the LRDG in grad school; lost it when my computer crashed. What a group!
History paper?
There was a rather extensive article on this trip in the OverLand Journal last year. Very interesting trip and the Jeeps performed brilliantly. IIRC, the two vehicles used were a GPW and an Willys MB. Back issues can be obtained from the OverLand Journal. Google it!
Your post reminded me of a fraternity brother who once mentioned the LRDG. He flew a P-38 in North Africa, 50 missions. Best part is he just celebrated his 98 birthday last week and he is as right-as-rain and shoots 18 holes most days. Here’s a nice article about him and his brother who was also a P-38 pilot and his wing man.
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2012/jun/12/wwii-veteran-hattendorf-recalls-airborne/
Mike: Thanks for that information. Here’s the link to the summary of the back issue: http://overlandjournal.com/journal/back_issues/2013_summer/
Brian: Great story. I know where 101 is in Olympia, but can’t picture where a landing strip was that required a stop light (lol).