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The year is 1944, the scene Normandy; the Allies are preparing to invade but a key enemy command post has to be destroyed. The task is handed to two intrepid SAS soldiers. The first stage of the operation is to find a Jeep that’s been hidden in the woods. As they scout through the undergrowth it becomes apparent that one of the soldiers is considerably smaller than the other…
Keep your eyes on the telly on the evening of November 26th and you’ll see the ensuing action for yourself, for the intrepid SAS soldiers involved in this operation are none other than British television actor and comedian Bradley Walsh and his ten-year-old son Barney, and their exploits were being recorded for posterity by a camera team making an episode of a high-excitement series for Channel Five – entitled Dangerous Adventures for Boys, the series throws celebrity father-and-son teams into the deep end of a variety of breathtaking experiences.
Bradley and Barney drew the SAS straw, and because the action called for them to drive a wartime Willys Jeep in potentially hair-raisingly tough off-road conditions, they first had to learn how to drive safely off-road.
Enter expert off-road driving instructor Andy Dacey of the Wildtrackers team (check their site at www.wildtrackers.com) who summoned Bradley and Barney to a remote off-road site near Brecon in Wales for a short charp masterclass. Andy uses a chunky lifted and Warn winch-equipped YJ Wrangler running 33 x 12.50 B F Goodrich Mud-Terrains as his own off-road runabout, while Jeep’s Milton Keynes-based press office had provided a new 2.8CRD-powered Wrangler with six-speed manual transmission for Bradley to get to grips with.
Under Andy’s expert guidance Bradley soon felt at home in the Wrangler, so much so that he quickly mastered the potentially dangerous and usually quite gut-wrenching “failed hill-climb” procedure, albeit to the occasional accompaniment of wince-evoking gear-crunching…
Bradley and Barney were still unaware that their all-action SAS-style “mission” would involve driving something a little more primitive than the Wrangler, hence the surprise when a World War II Willys Jeep rumbled into view.
Hand-core Jeep enthusiasts will recognise the “Willys” as a Hotchkiss, as built under licence for the French Army until 1966. After all, no one in their right minds would allow a precious genuine 40s-vintage Willys to be trashed around the countryside by a couple of off-road novices…
More to the point, it was the safety and security of the actors that dictated the use of the Hotchkiss; the production company insisted on a rollover bar and seat belts. Nevertheless the Hotchkiss looked the part with its WWII Allied markings and narrow bar-grip tyres, the roll-over bar having been painted matt olive green to make it less of an eyesore.  
With Bradley and Barney securely strapped into the Jeep there was nowhere for an instructor to sit safely aboard, so their first foray into the rough had to be done solo – and nervously, since the route started with a hair-raisingly steep and rocky descent. With low range selected, the advice was simple: “First gear for the downhill bit, second gear for any steep climbs.” The Hotchkiss edged warily away and trickled gingerly down the starting slope. But within minutes the sound of the lusty long-stroke engine could be heard reverberating around the valley as Bradley quickly got the feel of the old Jeep.Suddenly they were on a long, steep climb up the valley side and into the woods, and their shouts of excitement easily overshadowed the roar of the exhaust as the Hotchkiss stormed the heights. You won’t miss this exuberant sequence when it hits the small screen, because the dynamic duo were playing directly to a rearwards-facing camera mounted on the folded-down windscreen. When the Hotchkiss eventually emerged from the woods and returned to base the comments from the occupants said it all: “That,” enthused Bradley, “was absolutely fantastic!” And Barney cut in with: “Another lap, dad, please – another lap!”  
The mainstream action took place on forestry land in Hampshire where, clad in military clothing, Bradley and Barney set about unearthing the Jeep from its hiding place in a gulley covered with camouflage netting. The woods were crawling with German soldiers (enthusiasts from a WWII re-enactment group) loosing off at them at every opportunity with their blank-firing weapons and a special effects team providing associated explosions simulating mortar strikes and grenade blasts. The ensuing action saw Bradley and Barney dashing about the woodland in the Hotchkiss, which they nicknamed it Winifred – “Winnie the Willys, get it?” explained Bradley during a brief lull in the action. Getting to their various destinations involved scaling steep hills and traversing boggy terrain; Bradley soon got the feel of Winifred and tackled all the obstacles like a pro. Just one planned manoeuvre went a little awry. The plan was for Bradley to ease the Jeep down a steep slope, only to surprise a group of enemy soldiers at the base of the hill, after which he was meant to reverse back up the track. Adrenalin pumping, Bradley made the split-second decision that the track was too narrow to reverse up quickly and safely, so he simply floored the accelerator and blasted his way through the enemy detachment – much to the surprise of the enemy, and the cameraman. Nevertheless the camera kept rolling, capturing what has to be one of the highlight moments of the whole adventure.
The action certainly wasn’t over, though. No sooner had the intrepid pair escaped from that enemy foot patrol than they crossed the path of another patrol – this time a heavily-armed foursome tootling along in the WWII German Army’s answer to the Jeep – a Volkswagen Kubelwagen. The tootling ceased forthwith and a desperate chase ensued. Though powered by a mere 1-litre engine the Kubelwagen is a much lighter vehicle than the Jeep, and so was easily able to keep up with the fleeing SAS team, its occupants keeping up a withering hail of fire from pistol and rifle as they chased. The Jeep was eventually able to shake off the Kubelwagen by exploiting its one great advantage – the fact that its German counterpart doesn’t have four-wheel drive. The Jeep ducked down a boggy trail which left the Kubelwagen in the lurch and freed Bradley and his energetic son to complete the mission. That action scene is also packed with excitement, involving a firefight climaxing with young Barney lobbing a grenade into the enemy command post and bringing the adventure to an end with a suitably loud bang.
Watch the TV program listings for the Dangerous Adventure series; Bradley and Barney’s behind-the-lines SAS mission might not be the most historically accurate of wartime re-enactments, but it has some of the liveliest old-Jeep action outside big-budget movies like A Bridge Too Far, and is therefore not to be missed. Bucket brigade
In January 1938 the German army asked Ferdinand Porsche to design an inexpensive, light-weight military transport vehicle that could be operated reliably both on- and off-road in even the most extreme conditions, possibly based on the Beetle. The army stipulated a laden weight of 950 kg including four battle-dressed troops, which meant the vehicle could not weigh more than 550 kg. Porsche realised that simply reinforcing the Beetle chassis would not provide the answer. The result was the very simplistic Kubelwagen (shortened from Kubelsitzwagen, which translates as “bucket-seat car”) and Porsche had a prototype ready within a month. Though lacking four-wheel drive the vehicle proved competent over rough terrain, light weight and a ZF self-locking differential compensating for the lack of 4X4 capabilities.
Porsche improved on the prototype by fitting gear-reduction portal hubs, giving more torque and more ground-clearance. Full scale production of the Type 82 Kübelwagen started in February 1940, a bigger 1,131 cc engine replacing the original 985 cc unit during 1943. When Volkswagen production ceased at the end of the war, 50,435 Kübelwagen vehicles had been built. The Hotchkiss linkHotchkiss was a French company, but it had strong American links - its founder, Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, was a Connecticut Yankee who manufactured infantry weapons at the time of the American Civil War, an ill wind that blew him a massive fortune. Since demand for guns fell alarmingly after that dreadful conflict he moved to France and set up a factory in 1875 just in time to produce arms to be used in the Franco-Prussian war. The US Government later bought some of his patented multi-barrelled cannons - which they used against Sitting Bull at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
The company made so much money from its guns that it started building cars as a sideline (not to mention the Hotchkiss H35 tank that appeared in 1933).
Hotchkiss also made racing cars, good enough to win the legendary Monte Carlo Rally six times between 1932 and 1950. Just a few years later, from 1954, Hotchkiss started making Willys Jeeps, to the original wartime MB pattern, under licence for the French army. Production continued until 1966, with over 27,000 cars being built. In the early 1970s Hotchkiss was swallowed into the French conglomerate Thomson-Brandt, now known as Thomson SA. SPECIFICATIONSHotchkiss Willys MB EngineWillys 442 Go-Devil 4-cyl side valve petrol
Capacity 2199cc
Max power 60bhp @ 4000rpm
Max torque 105 lb ft at 2000rpm Transmission Three-speed manual, selectable 4WD, dual range SuspensionFront Leaf springs with torque-reaction stabiliser
Rear Leaf springs
Dampers Hydraulic telescopic Brakes Drums front and rear
Transmission parking brake Dimensions
Length 3372mm
Width 1575mm
Height 1321mm
Wheelbase 2023mm
Ground clearance 219mm
Kerb weight 1115kg
Payload 364kg
Trailer 454kg 
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