MTFCA Forum

Wonder what’s happening in that 5th photo of the ‘15-‘16 coupelet with the hood off ? Engine still in the frame and 15 people looking intently as one man holds a partial crankshaft in one hand and he holds a piston and connecting rod in another hand ? It further appears most are female army except for the dapper-dressed man holding the partial crank

Many young women in the First World War did enlist into the army for a women's motor pool. If they could pass the test, they would be trained and drove various transportation and delivery tasks including ambulance, all in non-combat areas. I suspect this photo was of one of many training assemblies.

Looks like the whole crank is there.
I see a camshaft sticking up to.
Appears to be a head gasket showing on top the block?
I see a u joint above the #135 on the running board.
The engine is all to pieces

Bryant

May be giving a lesson on how the internal combustion engine operates to a bunch of wannabe mechanics.

jiminbartow wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 10:17 am

May be giving a lesson on how the internal combustion engine operates to a bunch of wannabe mechanics.

Fact is, that most people in those days barely understood the workings of an internal combustion engine, men and women alike. The women's Army Corps (did they call it that then? I actually do not know?) was expected to do a lot of driving in non-combat areas. It was rightly believed that they should understand the basics of the mechanicals to better understand how to manage the vehicle. Hence, training as you see here was an important part of their basic instruction.

This is an incredible photo! It is a rare look at a mostly forgotten part of that era's history!
Ed and Karen Archer have a women's uniform, very much like these in the photo. Karen used to wear it in parades where they honored World War One veterans. We as a group including Dan Erceg, Steve Lehto, and several others studied much of the history of that time, the war itself, and collected a fair amount of the accoutrements including uniforms. Although not readily found, we did find quite a bit of information about the women in the service of WWI.

They didn’t take very good care of their campaign covers. Ideally, if properly cared for, they should resemble today’s drill instructor covers. Cover is military jargon for hat. If a Marine allowed his cover to look like that, he’d pull KP for a month, or worse, demoted. Semper Fi.

Thank you Jim for your comments. I had notice right away that their "covers" were not up to the standards generally expected of male soldiers in the day. I was wondering if it was because the women's corps was less strict or?
If I recall correctly? That style "hat" was called the "campaign hat", and there was some significance as to who could wear it and when, but I have forgotten what that was.
I have a genuine WWI steel helmet, in good condition, as well as a couple "envelope hats". One of the envelope hats I have is part of the matching set, a medical corps breaches, tunic, and envelope hat. WWI uniforms were not very uniform. Finding matching sets with all matching materials can be difficult. I was very pleased when I got that set. I used to be able to wear it when I was younger and weighed considerably less. That set has the medical corps medallions and patch on the sleeve. It also has some dried blood on one pocket.
I have another WWI uniform, matching breaches and tunic, quartermaster corps.
Very important history.