Thursday, July 11, 2019

Friday, July 11, 1919: The 1919 Motor Transport Corps Convoy goes from Greensburg to Sewickley PA. 43 miles in 10 hours.

We've been seeing some of the vehicles mentioned in these posts, and we can see that today one that having problems was a G.M.C. ambulance. 

That ambulance was almost certain a G.M.C. AA model truck in the ambulance configuration. They were a common World War One era military ambulance.  Indeed the 3/4 ton AA was most commonly used by the Army in the ambulance configuration.

The truck provided yeoman ambulance service during the Great War, but it was a truck of its era. At this point, it had driven over 100 miles in varying conditions and weather, and the brakes needed adjustment.  And by brakes, we mean mechanical brakes.

Brakes of this era still worked more or less like wagon brakes. They provided friction to drums, but the braking power was provided mechanically without hydraulic assistance.  Something was going wrong with the ambulance's brake adjustments on this day.

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