I am building a Red Ball Express CCKW 353 that I want load with Jerry Cans

From photos, it appears that the majority of the ones used were of the German pattern (Captured or British copies) rather than US pattern.

Anyone got a figure of how many of each type were used by the Allies in Europe ? I would like the loading to be representative of a typical mix.. A full load of US pattern cans would only work in the Pacific or on the first trip after landing.

Thanks

Ian

The cans you are referring to were called Blitz cans and were copies of the German cans. They were used by the US in the early war years; mostly in N. Africa and the Italian campaigns. By D-Day, you would have seen a mix of Blitz cans and the standard US Jerry Cans.

http://www.blitzusa.com/history.htm http://www.blitzusa.com/history.htm

in the story they say six companies made the can in ww2

A lot were the British Pattern Can and I have seen a lot of the US ones. The Commonwealth nations manufactured millions of these during the war as did the US. The pattern continued in post war Commonwealth use. The reason so many of this pattern were seen in NWE is that it was easier and more space efficient to send the sheet steel than bulky empty cans. They were stamped and assembled in the UK and stockpiled for the Invasion.
Tamiya do a cheap set which will help and the old Italeri Jerry can set has British Pattern Cans plus German ones which can be used as "Fillers" where you can see the stampings.
Tamiya 1/35 35229 Allied Vehicle Accessory Set - this is designed for the truck and has other useful accessories. Four of these sets will easily fill a truck for under $20 US from this guy but also available elsewhere as are the Italeri ones.
http://www.ericyymodel.com/
Al

The website Olive-Drab has a good run down of the evolution of the Blitz can and standard US Jerry Can in WWII. The above company is only named Blitz and doesn't address the actual Blitz can at all in its history.

im basicly doing the same thing you are, tamiya has a nice set of cans you can go on towerhobbies.com and seach tamiya 1/35 or find them on ebay