DAVEPAUL5

Very often when using the winch on a cent arv. the exhaust pipe and silencer got white hot, s o hot you see the gasses swirling around inside,considering you were in a small gap in a armoured turret surounded by 3 petrol tanks 2X60 gals, 1X100 gal tank with a Rolls B81 screaming its nuts off 2 ft behind you with the rope on top of the engine covered with a bit of tin so solid you could dent it by hand, you can well imagine how nice it was especially in the summer.

Please allow me to disagree about heaters in centurians, the guy who took my ARV 00ZR27 (which is still alive somewhere) on a crash out in Germany ,sitting waiting for something to happen thought its not too cold tonight my feet are quite warm...!on looking down saw flames licking round his feet master off driver out pull extinguisher and run away so just the once the cent did have a heater !

I was posted to 19SQN WSPs in 1966 as a recovery mech. apparently to drive the tucker jib but by the time I arrived the tucker jib was removed and the Antar was put back into sqn. use because there was a shortage of Antars as the major change over was under way (Mk1-2 to Mk3s) we were given a Leyland recovery extra to compensate 34DM75 I think,standing saying was you cannot do that with a Leyland its not designed for that yeh to late! We got the 30 ton axle to test, front and back suspended tow on the Antar, it went back to AVRDE with a good report , never heard or saw anything of it again!

I could not believe it when I heard that Beverly was closing, living in Lincoln it was a nice run out and when you were in the museum which I thought was laid out really well, if you had a enquirey about any of the vehicles you could sure of a enthusiast answer ,where ever the vehs are now they will not as good as in Beverly !The pics were excellent but sad, it was a shame.

Hi all , I am Dave,I am ex army(left in 1975) I was a recovery mech for 10 years I worked with Bedford lights, Scammels ,Centurian ARVs,Leyland recoverys a little bit with AECs and Antars. While with 19 Tnk Trnsp Wsp we did quite a lot experiments with the Leylands,lifting, towing etc.Since leaving the army I have been struck down with reumatoid arthritus which has restricted my mobility and my memory cells what little I had for a start, I have been looking on this site and enjoying it I thought I should introduce myself now I can find a few more letters on this keyboard..............Dave Phttp://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/images/smilies/nut.gif

Seeing the old Leyland recoverys brings back memories,mainly with 19 TNK TRNSP WKSP.we did somethings with them which quote they are not designed for that,eg. towing a ANTAR fully ballasted up the hill from Abagavenny to Crickowell (38 ton) 1st gear low ratio 6 wheel drive ,putting out all the legs including the big ones on the side, double sheaf pully block strain gauge fitted lifted the back of ballast antar up to deck level 32 ton I think the man from FVRDsaid also tested rear suspend dummy axle on Antar. We also transformed a recovery Leyland into a 3 man sleeper to be changed back to a working wagon within 3 minutes. Oh we did some recovery jobs with them as well!

Having done 10 years in REME 6years in Germany I realised being a reccy mech. meant you were working on your own, the best unit I was with 4 RTR. we broke all sorts of records on ex Eternal Triangle including taking the regiment through Minden including the cent. ARVs on metal tracks! they spoilt it though 1 troop bogging in and we had to build a road with choppers bringing in sleepers dropping them on to 3 tonners REs in to put in class 60 roadway and we eventially winched them out .One other Ex which comes to mind was in Hildesheim was taking 5 hours to do 5 miles in the snow in the Harts mountains the ARV was on metal tracks, the Chieftains were on rubber of course.there is not enough pages to tell about beer and bratties but we managed to survive never the less.

I have family who live close to the hall and to see it being deliberately to be allowed to become completley destroyed so as it can be used for none afordable housing for a chosen few's profit. When it was RAF hospital it was classed as one of the best in the country ,I know of 2 people who were walking around because of that hospital. A shame it was extended and reequipt ready for the first gulf war. :nut:

Hi there nice to see someone else from God's county. I haven't got any used military vehicles due to being skint but love to hear from these guys who are keeping them alive.

Hi every one I'm Dave from Lincoln , I am ex army 1965-1975. I am unfortunately diabled due to reumatoid arthritus so reading these articles and hearing about rebuilds is really extra interesting .Unfortunately I am just learning about this damn computer thing so its a duel pleasure to see as I'm not very mobile and am still very interested in old military vehicles, even if its only on the side lines.........Dave P