Tents
24/7 Military Field Hospital TentsI have quite a bit of green fabric which I want to use for tents. It's a bit on the bright side but I don't want to waste it. Again I want to keep things simple so I might go for a couple of medic (nurses) tents, a main tent but smaller than shown here, and maybe an HQ tent...maybe. I want the tents to be assembled by the medics themselves. This means using poles and using pre-sewn ready made tents made from the fabric. Not sure how that will work out. I intended keeping Lili Marlene since the unit will become cutoff from the nearest allied division by an advancing German unit before she is handed over to the Military Police. But how is she going to fit into a normal size tent? I'm good at creating problems.
Large Tent descriptionThe tent described here is not exactly like the one in the photo above. Article comes from the WW2 US medical research centre
TENT, FIRE-RESISTANT, HOSPITAL WARD, OLIVE-DRAB, 6-FOOT, 2-INCH DOOR, QMC Stock No. 24-T-319-5:
This Tent is used as a Section of a Field Hospital. It is standard equipment for Clearing Companies, Surgical Hospitals, and evacuation Hospitals. The Hospital Ward has a capacity for TWENTY canvas cots or TWENTY-FIVE litters. It also replaces an earlier model (with cut-back doors) which is to be issued until supplies are exhausted.
The tent is 16 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 12 feet high. Floor space is 800 square feet It is hip-roofed, has square ends and is rectangular in shape. Ridge height is 11 feet, wall height is 4 feet 6 inches, giving a 6-foot 6-inch pitch. The Tent, FR, Hospital Ward has two 6-foot 2-inch vertical doors located in the center of each end section, and is provided with a Fly for issue in Theaters of Operations. This Fly measures 26 feet ½ inch by 53 feet 11 ½ inches. The Hospital Ward Tent is ventilated through round holes at the top of the center poles, through the stovepipe openings (when stoves are not used), and through the doors at either end of the tent. Three M-1941 Tent Stoves are provided for use with this tent, and related stovepipe openings are built on one side of the ridge line with protecting canvas flaps. The Officer or NCO in charge will select a suitable ground and designate the direction in which the Hospital Ward Tent is to face. He will then place a marker for the right front corner pin. The Tent is pitched by a detail of 8 men in approximately 90 minutes
[Source - WW2 US Medical Research Centre]
TENT, FIRE-RESISTANT, HOSPITAL WARD, OLIVE-DRAB, 6-FOOT, 2-INCH DOOR, QMC Stock No. 24-T-319-5:
This Tent is used as a Section of a Field Hospital. It is standard equipment for Clearing Companies, Surgical Hospitals, and evacuation Hospitals. The Hospital Ward has a capacity for TWENTY canvas cots or TWENTY-FIVE litters. It also replaces an earlier model (with cut-back doors) which is to be issued until supplies are exhausted.
The tent is 16 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 12 feet high. Floor space is 800 square feet It is hip-roofed, has square ends and is rectangular in shape. Ridge height is 11 feet, wall height is 4 feet 6 inches, giving a 6-foot 6-inch pitch. The Tent, FR, Hospital Ward has two 6-foot 2-inch vertical doors located in the center of each end section, and is provided with a Fly for issue in Theaters of Operations. This Fly measures 26 feet ½ inch by 53 feet 11 ½ inches. The Hospital Ward Tent is ventilated through round holes at the top of the center poles, through the stovepipe openings (when stoves are not used), and through the doors at either end of the tent. Three M-1941 Tent Stoves are provided for use with this tent, and related stovepipe openings are built on one side of the ridge line with protecting canvas flaps. The Officer or NCO in charge will select a suitable ground and designate the direction in which the Hospital Ward Tent is to face. He will then place a marker for the right front corner pin. The Tent is pitched by a detail of 8 men in approximately 90 minutes
[Source - WW2 US Medical Research Centre]
My tent from when I was in the 'mob'. I think we had aluminium truss frames rather than poles but some did exist as I remember. Vents can be seen on the roof and one or two 'windows' also on the front flaps which we pulled over the guy ropes to help them dry out after the heavy rain fall we experienced here. Trenches were dug around the tent skirts. (from 8mm film clip)
Yank magazine 1944
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source P interest
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The pitched roof of the tentI started with the roof first making a rectangle using a bit of math (Pythagoras' theorem) giving a slant side of about 21" for one side. Something I forgot to take into account (I do this all the time) is the hemming. After hemming, the width reduced to about 19" and the length went down to 33". Chalk marks the centre line.
Cardboard template for the red cross emblemBecause I might be making more cross emblems I created a cardboard template to use. I traced around the shape onto red fabric and finished with hemming, before pinning it to the square white background.
Sewing went OK, but I had to control the tension of the cloth a lot with my hands to avoid buckling of the fabric.
Manufacturers labelI wanted to come up with a fictitious company responsible for the manufacturing of just about everything in the unit. So naming it General Toye Motors kind of fitted nicely. Because Sgt Joe Bradley comes from "Allentown Pennsylvania" I thought I would make him a former employee of that company based there. I want to link most of the other characters with the same company.
EyeletsThis is something that I have practised before and is a nice way to anchor the tent roof using guy ropes. Alternatively you could attach ropes to the pins protruding from the tent poles. Create a hole with the hole punch tool.
Then I realised something missing and rather important, the entrance! Time to think again.
