Kludges, jury-rigs, makeshifts ...

One of my favourite websites for amusement is There I Fixed It, which has photos and discussion about ridiculous-looking solutions to mechanical problems. Many of these are the products of lack of resources and/or desperation.

A recent post there got me thinking: There must have been a lot of strange, amusing and occasionally alarming "fixes" to problems in World War II. However, I can't think of any at the moment.

Do you have any WWII kludges to share? Note: I'm not in any way affiliated with the Cheezburger Network, I just enjoy their funny pictures.

 

I was lent a book by a vet of 8th Airforce written by a member of his group which had a photo, in filght, of a B-17 that was actualy two damaged B-17's put together to form one. What made it strange was the fusalage from the wings forward was one color (olive drab I believe) and silver aft. The vet, John Sheffield a waist gunner passed about 4 years ago

 

Sorry to be facetious, but I did a double take on the title. A cludgie in Scotland is a toilet!
Ok...leaving now....

 

Did you mean something like this?



or this



J_S

 

I was always amused at the many ways the GIs would try to "up armor" their Shermans, tying railroad tracks and ties to the fronts, extra track sections, sand bags, and other attempts to make them a bit less vulnerable to penetrating shots.

 

You can't mention jury-rigs without mentioning Hobart's Funnies, using tanks in various roles, from attaching rotating drum-flails to the front to explode anti-personnel mines, to the hedgecutters with the iron wedges welded on to break through the built-up hedgerows, tanks with enormous bundles of wood that were dropped into tanktraps to "fill them in" and provide a place for other tanks/tracked vehicles to drive across. There were the bridge-layer tanks, and at one point on the Normandy beaches, a tank got stuck in a crater....a bridge-builder dropped his span, resting one side on the trapped tank's turrent, then another drove across this, dropped his bridge using the trapped tank as a support, and were thus able to bridge the large crater. I can't remember if that was on the beaches, up on the bluff, or in the water, but it was still a pretty genius idea.

 

The Funnies were rather more thought out than I believe the OP intended, but they certainly are clever!

 

Be hard to come up with a better one than the hedge row cutters they made and welded on the Shermans.

 

I don't know the German's had a whole range of crossbreeds.

 

Another effective device was the wire cutting bar/post whatever put on the front of jeeps.

 

What about the 2 pounder portees the Commonwealth forces used in North Africa?
Portee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Sherman Track Armor


German Track Armor


Cromwell w Bocage cutters

J_S

 

I know the Overlord planners didn't have a clue how dense/tall the hedgerows were, assuming that they were similar to those found in England, which a Sherman would have no trouble climbing over and troops would not be hampered in any way. So, the cutters on the front were sort of an on-the-fly improvisation, whereas the bridges and flails had some forethought put into them. Still, pretty dang innovative!

 

Some great examples here! Thinking about it, a lot of German mobile guns consisted of any available artillery bolted to any available chassis, so they would be marginal kludges - but the ones posted by Johnny Sideburns would take the cake.

Also, a special mention goes to the wooden supplementary armour on the Finnish StuG III.



... with the special wooden side hatch!

 

"As A Means Of Saving Full Jettisonable Tanks From Damage On Removal, S/Sgt. Granville Fannion, Paintsville, Ky, Built This Hydraulically Operated Drop Tank Remover From A Spitfire, A P-40 And Salvage Parts At His 15Th Af Base In Italy."

 

"Invention Made By The Men Of The 535Th Bomb Squadron For Changing Boeing B-17 Tires. 381St Bomb Group, England. 16 March 1945."

 

Hope the patient was administered Valium...

"Hawaii - The world's fastest ambulance, a 7th AAF Lockheed P-38 Lightning with belly fuel tanks modified to carry personnel. Flight nurse, 2nd Lt. Beulah Farmer, Wilson, North Carolina, helps slide a litter patient into the container. The litter fastens on hooks inside the twelve foot tank; the tail section, held by the pilot, Major Donald J. Borsesamlee, Palo Alto, Calif., is locked in place when the patient is secure. Looking from this angle the plexiglass nose can be seen. A similar tank is fastened on the other side of the cockpit. S/Sgt. William H. Ragan, Indianapolis, Indiana, assists Lt. Farmer in placing the patient in the container during the experiment."

 

Oh quit being a wussy!

 

Flying feet first would "piss me off", if the plexiglass cover was on the FRONT, and I got to watch a P-38's flight from that other position. I would love it, even if I was flat on my back! What a thrill.