Ken Jernstedt Airfield 4S2

1600 Air Museum Road

Hood River, OR 97031

541-308-1600

Click for Directions

Open Daily 9 - 5

Closed: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Years Day

Call Us

Let us help you plan your visit.

541-308-1600

 

Military Vehicles, Airplanes & Equipment

WAAAM's got the right stuff!

WAAAM’s antique military vehicles, like the rest of our vehicles, still drive, and our military planes still fly! We regularly take our military vehicles out to lead local parades, and our military planes out to do flybys on ceremonial occasions.

And, like our other antique vehicles, our collection of military vehicles is still growing. Visit WAAAM today and you’ll see jeeps like the ones featured below ... as well as small trucks, and more from WWII, the Korean War, and from the Viet Nam era. Visit us tomorrow, and who knows what more you might see!

Come on any Second Saturday of the month, and you might be able to take a drive in one of our antique military vehicles... and share "war stories" with the drivers.

We hope this webpage gives you a sense for what you'll see when you visit WAAAM, but there’s so much more to see and say, so ...

please visit soon!

 

L-Birds flying in formation over Hood River Valley

Our Military Aircraft Still Fly

Like the rest of WAAAM's collection of antique aircraft, all of our military aircraft still fly!  Here you see three of our L-Birds flying over Hood River Valley.

A Mini-History of the Jeep

It was 1940, World War II was raging in Europe,
and it seemed likely that the U.S. would be
entering the conflict ...

As part of its preparation, the U.S. Army put out a bid for a light, multifunction, four-wheel drive vehicle, with exact specifications. As tensions were mounting, the pressure was on to produce the vehicle in record time. Car companies had only 49 days to deliver a prototype, and only 75 days to complete 70 test vehicles.

WWII Jeeps and Trailer

Out of the 135 car companies that were given an opportunity to bid, only three responded: American Bantam Car Company, Ford Motor Company, and Willys-Overland Motors. 

Willys MB

The standard jeep of WWII

While the vehicles of all three car companies tested well, ultimately, Willys-Overland won the primary contract, and Willys MB became the standard jeep of WWII. It incorporates design elements of its predecessor, the Willys MA, as well as design elements of the two other prototype vehicles from Ford and Bantam. 335,531 Willys MB jeeps were built during the war.

Ford GPW

Second source for the Willys MB

Given the enormous scale of of the war, no single car company could have produced all the Jeeps that were needed. Consequently, Willys subcontracted Ford to be the "second source" producer of the Willys MB design. Ultimately, Ford produced roughly 275,581 of the standardized vehicle, known as the GPW (for Government, 80 inch wheelbase).

Bantam Companion Trailer

T-3 Two-Wheeled 1/4-Ton Trailer

It is generally agreed that Bantam was the original developer of the Jeep, even before the Army developed its specifications for bid. However, as the story goes, Bantam lost out on the large contracts that were awarded because it didn't have the production capacity or financial wherewithal to produce the vehicle in the quantities needed.

Nevertheless, the Bantam Car Company contributed to the war effort by building a companion trailer for the jeep.

Trailers were generally matched to the vehicles that towed them, maximizing performance and simplifying logistics. For example, a trailer would normally use the same wheels/tires as the jeep that towed it.

About 74,000 of these trailers were built during WWII.