Military Trader & Vehicles: Reader Stuff January 2026

“When I picked this up at an auction near the former Casper Army Airfield in Wyoming, I viewed it as just something cobbled together by ‘Bubba’ from a surplus O2 bottle, and gave it no further thought,” says Stephen Crane. “But when I had it at the Plymouth, Calif. HMV show, I was told by another participant that he had an identical assembly that he had picked up in northern Washington, and he, too, thought his was a one-off. After actually looking at it, we realized that all the materials are aircraft related, and speculated that this was very probably an authorized, perhaps recommended, modification to give mechanics a portable compressed air source for tire inflation, etc. out on the flight line, and may have been a common sight in hangars. It also brought to mind the Preventive Maintenance Monthly, aka PS Magazine, we received in the Motor Pool when I was in the Army (remember Connie and Bonnie, those scantily clad — at least in earlier additions — maiden mavens of the motor pool?). These publications often had ideas for helpful modifications to equipment, or even how to build useful implements from scratch; maybe this showed up in a WWII version of those publications.”

“A China ink drawing of an SS badge submitted for approval,” reports reader Edward Tilley. “Inscribed ‘Entwurf Nr. 1’, and ‘SS-U Stuf.J.Tischler RSHA.IV 3ST’, and handwritten annotation ‘vom Fuhrer’, and ‘abgel (ehnt)’, dated ‘17.II.43. With a printed address on the backside ‘Entywurf und Zeichnung’ Johannes Tischler berlin Neutempelhof Gontermannstr.32... The design was rejected by Mr. Schicklgruber, and none of these badges were made. This was procured, along with some unfinished badges (not of this style), by an Army captain and brought home as a souvenir of his service.”

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