*** Astounding documentary on making US petrol cans WWII ***

[General Apathy]

6 hours ago, Powerhouse said:

 

The lack of jerrycans was very problematic at one point that french peoples and especially the children were encouraged to collect all the abandoned jerrycans.  Advertisements were made in the French press  and a special diploma was awarded by the SHAEF at the best contributors.

 

 

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Bienvenue Powerhouse.

 

Thanks for adding the leaflet in French requesting the return of Jerrycans.

 

Here's another request for the return of Jerrycans, possibly Belgium, Holland or Germany ????

 

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Regards lewis.

 

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[General Apathy]

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A bit of a mystery for me . . . . . . . .

 

Well we started this thread with the video and fact that a US company set up a factory in the UK manufacturing US style Ameri-cans, and manufactured over two and a half million cans, which one would have thought would have fulfilled the U.S Forces needs. 

 

However back in 2016 I bought two unmarked ' British ' style Jerrycans from an older gentleman in Ste Mere Eglise.   I questioned him where they had come from and he responded with his father had taken them from the American Air Landing Ground ( ALG A-6 ) airfield at La Londe on the outskirts of Ste Mere Eglise at the end of WWII.  This seemed strange the un-marked cans to me until I started researching the A-6 La Londe airfield and discovered photographs of American troops at La Londe unloading hundreds of un-marked cans, ( note both sides are evident and both sides un-marked. )

 

last two photos show aerial photos of the La Londe airfield outside Ste Mere Eglise, in the very bottom left hand corner can be seen the dark roof of the church and a pale coloured Quonset hut next to it. An enlarged image of the church and the Quonset hut can be seen for comparison.

 

The quest for an answer goes on . . . . .

 

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regards lewis

 

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[robinb]

I can't help with the mystery.  

[robinb]

At 9:45 you can see the TEX marking on the can, just like my example. It may take a couple viewings to see it as it's small and goes by fast. 

[General Apathy]

12 hours ago, robinb said:

At 9:45 you can see the TEX marking on the can, just like my example. It may take a couple viewings to see it as it's small and goes by fast. 

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Hi Robin,

 

Tried to screen grab it between 9.44 / 9.45 / 9.46 but didn't succeed  . . . . . . . . . 

 

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Cheers lewis.

 

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[robinb]

I can see it in your last photo. It's hard to see but once you do it's obvious.

[General Apathy]

On 1/15/2022 at 6:15 PM, robinb said:

I can see it in your last photo. It's hard to see but once you do it's obvious.

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Hi Robin,

 

Just catching up with this thread again, yes I caught it after you mentioned it . . . . 

 

Rather than design a totally different can as the Americans did as it suited their American manufacturing processes, British industry copied the German style almost exactly in two pressed halves.  

 

The attached photo looks like a reversed image when you look at the embossed lettering but the woman welding is attaching the spout / cap pourer to the one half, before joining the second half.  Note the embossed pressing is towards the camera, also note just above the letters WD is the breather tube from the spout into the body allowing ingress of air whilst pouring.  

 

Image the sheer boredom of sitting welding several hundred cans together every day, what effect it possibly had on the welders eyesight one has to wonder.

 

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Cheers lewis.

 

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[General Apathy]

On 1/10/2022 at 11:01 AM, General Apathy said:

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one of the most amazing documentary film clips to come out of WWII.

 

This half hour film shows the UK factory that made US ' American-cans ' ( Jerrycans ) during WWII, a complete factory of US machinery was set up in the UK to receive flat steel and parts to stamp, fold, weld and paint to final finish American petrol cans, every part of the process is shown in detail.

 

If only every other manufacturing process had been filmed like this it would have been an unparalleled documentation of WWII manufacturing, Oh how I would love to have seen the production of Jeeps filmed like this . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

 

Regards lewis 

 

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Hi Forum members,

 

I posted the above video link two years ago in 2022 showing a wartime documentary of a British Company in WWII making American Jerrycans in the UK from machinery and materials shipped over from the USA.

 

This evening I wondered if the wartime factory building still existed and was pleased to find this website run by the Magnatex Company and now simply called Tex manufacturing and the factory and buildings are reportedly still operational in 2024, in Witney,  Oxfordshire, twelve miles from Oxford City.

 

https://texautomotive.com/about-us/