G. Howie and Master Sergeant Melvin C. Wiley. Completed in April 1937, with a driver and a gunner laying prone, operating a .30 caliber machine gun, the vehicle was nicknamed the "belly flopper". By 1939 the U.S. Army began standardizing its general-purpose truck chassis types by payload rating, initially in five classes from . The Quartermaster Corps saw that the Army needed truck chassis to be standardized in crucial basic functional 'types' (body models), and within 'payload capacity' classes. Additionally, some crucial features could not be equipped by the QC to commercial trucks after procurement. Cross-country capabilities, like increased ground clearance and multi-axle drive, had to be designed and built into the trucks from the factory. The Quartermaster Corps Technical Committee concurred, and in June 1939 requested the Chief of Staff's approval, to start standardizing truck chassis and bodies procured for the Army into five payload classes: ton, 1ton, 2ton, 4ton, and 7-ton and all tactical trucks had to have (part-time) all-wheel drive capability. Furthermore, to achieve the needed level of standardization, the Quartermaster General urged trucks should be bought en masse from there on. Acting Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, approved the procurement policy in the summer of 1939. The Quartermaster Corps also wanted to require the truck industry to use dimensionally interchangeable components, but further standardization measures were not approved until 1940. However, in 1940 the categories were revised. For the first time, a quarter-ton truck chassis class was introduced, at the bottom of the range, and the -ton category was supplanted by a -ton chassis. By the eve of entering World War II, the United States Department of War had determined it needed a -ton, cross-country reconnaissance vehicle. Although -ton four-by-fours had outperformed -ton 4x4 trucks during testing in 1938, the half-ton 4x4 trucks – both from Marmon-Herrington Ford, and the 1940 Dodge VC series – still proved too large and heavy, and insufficiently agile off-road. Anxious to have a quarter-ton truck in time for America's entry into World War II, the U.S. Army solicited proposals from domestic automobile manufacturers. Recognizing the need to create standard specifications, the Army formalized its requirements on 11 July 1940, and submitted them to 135 U.S. automotive manufacturers. Development start – Bantam Reconnaissance Car In the early 1930s, the Infantry Board at Fort Benning had become interested in the British Army's use of the tiny Austin 7 car in a