The introduction of the American Jeep in World War Two saw it being adapted to perform a wide range of specialist roles over the intervening years. The heavily armed Special Air Service Jeeps that were used firstly in the North African deserts and latterly in North West Europe are well documented, but the specially adapted Jeeps developed for use by British Airborne Forces during the war are another interesting variant of the wartime Jeep and one that I will be taking a look at. The decision to provide the airborne forces with some form of motorized transport stemmed from their need to move rapidly once on the ground in order to seize and hold their objectives, which as you might expect were usually close to or behind enemy lines and usually involved the troops being air-dropped into the area either by parachute or by glider. Depending on the particular operational circumstances, this sometimes involved the use of artillery and other heavy equipment and the dropping of such equipment by parachute wasn't always feasible, even so the diminutive airborne scooters and simple folding push bikes were early attempts at providing the Airborne Forces with more mobility, but the advent of the Jeep provided a new opportunity to create a light, air-portable vehicle that could be sent into battle with the troops, however, there was a major stumbling block in the way - the size of the Jeep.
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