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December 1941 Pop Sci Article on Bantam BRC-40 T2E1s

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Magazine, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Originally published on February 02, 2014, the pop sci links no longer work, so I’ve now added the complete scan of the article.

This Bantam BRC-40 T2 article was published in December of 1941 in Popular Science (and possibly Mechanix Magazine) under “Tanks CAN Be Destroyed”. In it the author explores different machinery that can stop a tank. You can see variations from what could be the same photo shoot in this Bantam T2 & T2-E1 post.

1941-12-popular-science-tanks-can-be-destroyed-bantam1-lores 1941-12-popular-science-tanks-can-be-destroyed-bantam2-lores 1941-12-popular-science-tanks-can-be-destroyed-bantam3-lores 1941-12-popular-science-tanks-can-be-destroyed-bantam4-lores

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Article and Photos of the Bantam T2E1

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This article from August 28, 1941, published in the Daily News (New York City), describes the Bantam BRC-40 T2E1. This is the second generation of of the T2E1, (reportedly, the first generation of the T2E1 had a the full body, which itself was a derivation of the T2, an anti-tank jeep that had the gun between the seats; however, there apparently is some debate on how to define the versions).

Also mentioned below is the Ford Swamp Angel. I’ll have more info on that in an upcoming post.

1941-08-28-daily-news-t2e1-bantam-brc40-lores

This is a T2E1 from an angle I’ve never seen. It was published yesterday on the Quest Masters Museum Facebook page:

1941-09-t2e1-bantam-brc40-w 1941-09-t2e1-bantam-brc40

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Originally published May 31, 2020:

An article from 1941 appears to describe the T2E1 Bantams shown in photos below (a few more photos here also).  The article describes the rifles as 47mm, while the photo captions correctly describe the rifle as a 37mm. Perhaps the difference is that the article was written in July, while the photos were taken late in August? So, maybe, 47mm rifles might have been initially considered? (47mm anti-tank guns were developed by France as early as 1931)

This article was published July 21, 1941, in the Lansing State Journal out of Michigan:

Clipping from Lansing State Journal - Newspapers.com

#1 Originally posted 01/31/2014:

This is likely a reprint, but still a good photo of the Bantam BRC-40 T2E1.

Bantam-brc40-t2e1

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#2 Posted August of 2018:

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The Bantam BRC-40 T2 & T2E1

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: These images come from the War Wheels website. There’s a longer discussion no why changes were made to the gun placement.

Here’s what’s likely a 1941 image from warwheels.net of the Bantam BRC-40 T2 with the 37MM Gun on it mounted in the middle of the vehicle:

There were some problems with the T2, so the gun was moved to the back for version 1 of T2E1.

The army preferred this location, because a 2nd version of the T2E1 was developed that lacked a standard body (many more photos here):

Finally, there was also reportedly an anti-tank Willys MB version called the T21 with a75mm mounted in the rear, but I haven’t been able to verify it.

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January 1942 Article From Scientific American “Meet the Jeep”

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Magazine, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Don makes some good points in his comment below as to why there might not be any MBs pictured.

The January 1942 issue of Scientific American included an article titled “Meet the Jeep”, one I’ve been waiting about 7 years to snag. For some reason, though MBs were already being produced, no images of the MB were included. Instead, the first image shows a Ford GP. The second photo shows a Bantam BRC-40 T2E1.

1942-01-sceintific-american-meet-the-jeep1-lores 1942-01-sceintific-american-meet-the-jeep2-lores 1942-01-sceintific-american-meet-the-jeep3-lores 1942-01-sceintific-american-meet-the-jeep4-lores