DEENFR

US fire apparatus

Oshkosh USA

From Old Betsy to the M-23 airport crash tender: my correspondence with an Oshkosh employee and the model I built myself.

Over 90 years ago Oshkosh built the first four-wheel-drive truck and called it Old Betsy. In 1918 the company moved to the town of Oshkosh in the US state of Wisconsin and from then on called itself the Oshkosh Motor Manufacturing Company. Anyone interested in trucks, fire engines and military vehicles knows this name. Today Oshkosh is one of the leading developers and manufacturers of vehicles for firefighting and the military.

This model of the M-23 was built by Richard Kreager, who worked at Oshkosh and, like me, was a keen model builder. He sat at the source of all information at the time and so could build his models to perfection. He built this one around the wheels, because he could not get suitable tyres and rims for a particular scale of about 1/25 or 1/24. So he took apart a few Tonka models, sold as sandbox toys for children, and then built this M-23.
This model of the M-23 was built by Richard Kreager, who worked at Oshkosh and, like me, was a keen model builder. He sat at the source of all information at the time and so could build his models to perfection. He built this one around the wheels, because he could not get suitable tyres and rims for a particular scale of about 1/25 or 1/24. So he took apart a few Tonka models, sold as sandbox toys for children, and then built this M-23.

It was in the 1970s that I first came into contact with airport crash tenders. Back then it was the vehicle that Frankfurt Airport had received from Faun. Of course I was very impressed by this giant of a fire engine and wondered whether there were vehicles like it over in the States.

Yes, they existed at the time, built by Oshkosh. So I contacted the company and after a while received a reply, see the letter on the left. That year I was still in the Bundeswehr in Hemer.

After this extremely positive first contact, a lively correspondence developed over time. Every exchange took a while, because computers with e-mail and the like unfortunately did not exist back then. Richard and I became friends and kept in regular touch. He sent me brochures, catalogues, photos and drawings of the Oshkosh vehicles, especially the airport crash tenders.

After receiving plenty of documents on the M-23 from Richard, it was of course an absolute must for me to build a model of it too. At the top right of the picture you can see the model still under construction, a combination of wood and plastic. I built it after my time in the Bundeswehr, around the end of 1979, and it is shown here at a model-building exhibition in a car dealership. Unfortunately my M-23 model was stolen from the stand during the night and never turned up again. A few years later my TDA, shown at the top of the picture, was stolen too; it is the tractor-trailer in front of the M-23. After that I had had enough of exhibitions for a while.
After receiving plenty of documents on the M-23 from Richard, it was of course an absolute must for me to build a model of it too. At the top right of the picture you can see the model still under construction, a combination of wood and plastic. I built it after my time in the Bundeswehr, around the end of 1979, and it is shown here at a model-building exhibition in a car dealership. Unfortunately my M-23 model was stolen from the stand during the night and never turned up again. A few years later my TDA, shown at the top of the picture, was stolen too; it is the tractor-trailer in front of the M-23. After that I had had enough of exhibitions for a while.
Here are a few more pictures of the model from back then. Perhaps I will build it all over again some day.
Here are a few more pictures of the model from back then. Perhaps I will build it all over again some day.