Still Going Strong

Further tales of the FWD Model B truck– this month in British Army service

The majority of FWDs in British Army service were assigned to the Royal Field Artillery for hauling artillery such as this howitzer
pictures Tim Gosling and archive

In mid-1915 the British War Department (WD) received its first delivery of 40 trucks from the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company (FWD) of Clintonville, Wisconsin. This delivery was the first instalment of a larger order of 288 trucks and once the WD had calculated their anticipated requirement as 80 trucks a month further deliveries soon arrived.

The purchase and despatch of these trucks was arranged through the well-established American exporting Company of Gaston, Williams and Wigmore. This organisation, apparently very proud of their involvement in this transaction, fitted a large metal plaque to the front of each truck bearing their name but this was soon replaced with a more discreet enamel badge on the inside of the scuttle.

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