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Ferrets in the gulf (or any other sand dune..)


Fugly

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Thanks Fugley, but the picture has been hidden by another post. Just off to berate Joris! I'll go looking for some, hopefully the vehicle will be up running this summer. The work needed is mostly just chop and change, brakes, complete replacement, wiring, complete replacement. and cosmetic.

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I have an early production Canadian model that has this. I have no idea what purpose it serves.

 

The strap could be for a ladder for corporate use but it would rest on the stowage beneath it and there are no signs of marks or other brackets. Its not very well made. This is the number 1 most likely theory at the moment.

 

The basket mounts on the back could have been put on at any stage of its long service life, so I am starting to abandon the gulf war idea.... :(

 

Anyhow - may be off to Bovington to trawl their photo database

 

Anyone been and seen ??:)

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I came across Ferrets fitted with baskets on the rear deck, long before the first Gulf War, they were first seen on ones used by the Royal Engineers.

 

Yes you are right , I found a nice pic of 02CC05 (Exercise Lionheart?) and that is one like mine fitted with a stowage basket .

 

looks good

02CC05.jpg

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That pic is SO evocative. If not Lionheart (1984) it could be any divisional or bigger FTX of the 70s or 80s. I'd assume it was an FTX, since they have allowed the RE to build a bridge / ferry and let the troops cross. But then again I suppose it could be any RE exercise and they have let their own vehicles across.

 

Not the custom windscreen made of three pieces of perspex mounted on a simple bracket attached to whatever mounting was available and edged and the joints sealed with "Black Nasty" duct tape (or masking tape as we called it).

 

No idea about the unit. It's B Sqn / Coy / Bty / whatever (square). In 15/19H we painted our squadron tac signs battleship grey (maybe yellow in the early years) but they were done by stencil and IIRC we never bothered to fill in the stencil holes.

 

That pic and the miserable weather outside take me back 30 years in a flash.

 

Thanks for that.

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Every time I see that picture I remember an ex in July 1979 (ex name escapes my memory). We Active Edged out of camp as usual but the sabre troops went off the the ammo dump in Sennelager and bombed up a full load of 76 and 7.62 link before the whole of 3 Armd Div exercised in an eastward direction for a week. Then at the end of the first week we divisional moved back to near Paderborn and exercised west for a week. Wednesday morning I came off radio stag at 0600 and was in such a good mood (already hot and dry and bright) that I cooked the full monty for both Ferret crews before waking them.

 

Ate, set off toward scratcher for some zeds and got intercepted. We were tasked with delivering a noduff message to HQ 16/5L who were IIRC our orange forces for the fortnight. Got back to our own RHQ, got volunteered for another task. Radio stags, moves, etc and it was Thursday, head not having touched the scratcher.

 

Same routine Thursday. Darkness fell. The engineers put in a river crossing, (probably exactly like we have here but I never saw it, I only followed orders and crossed it) and the whole div was going to cross it in the night. Many, many grid squares were earmarked for waiting areas. He hopped from one to the next, getting closer and closer to the crossing (unbeknownst to me). Having been awake 36 hours I'd just put head to side of Ferret and zed.

 

We reached a waiting area. My commander had me prime all the pyro (mainly smoke grenades). "Why?"

 

"We are about to cross the river. On the other side, we'll be sharp."

 

"Splutter." Command Troop didn't normally go sharp. That's what sabre troops were for, to advance to contact.

 

So we rolled quietly into the village, a river on our left-hand side, the other side of the river being sharp. In complete blackout, commander guided me down a slipway, then I found the Ferret going back up onto the bridge. As soon as we levelled, he had me select neutral, handbrake and foot hard on the footbrake.

 

There was a street light on the other side of the river. It started to move. convinced I was somehow falling off the bridge which didn't ought to be moving, I stood ever harder on the footbrake and prayed. Clunk. The ferry had reached the other side. Nobody had told be it was a ferry: I thought the engineers had built a bridge. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

 

So anyway, dawn Friday arose and it was now 48 hours since I'd so cockily made breakfast for the rebro crews. We continued the advance (this was the last day of the exercise and by tradition we were pushing the Commie hoardes back over the IGB). We kept meeting up with Command Troop and I kept getting dicked for a radio stag.

 

Then mid-afternoon, sat near the back of Zero Bravo, we heard those treasured words, "Hello all stations this is Zero, Exercise Ends ..." Before I had even assimilated what had been said, Jackie Broon, Bravo's driver had lobbed an orange smoke grenade under the back door of the Saracen. The breeze took the smoke inside the back, mucg confused shouting and coughing. The smoke came out of the commander's, and then the driver's hatches, promptly followed by Lugsy, the commander, who happened to be operating while the RSO fell out of the back.

 

Great. Two and a half days without sleep. Head down.

 

"Sergeant L, take your Ferret down to the railhead and help the RSM supervise loading the trains." Off we went. We stood all night while the sabre squadrons entrained. We watched the trains set off with the dawn. We were issued spare jerry cans so that the regiment's seven Ferrets could travel baclk to Paders by road.

 

I made it 80 hours with no sleep.

 

What an evocative picture this is.

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Evening all,

 

whilst sorting out my books, came across "osprey military desert storm special 1, land power the coalition and iraqi armies" and in amongst the piccys there in, is a nice shot of Ferret Mk2 18EA11. Does anybody on here own it?

 

Mark

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  • 2 weeks later...
Heres another Aden Ferret, they were to be found in the Aden town of "Crater" and further into the "Interior" desert area known as the Radfan.

 

 

“Photo Courtesy of xrhgb.com”

 

Hello Adam

The correct web etiquette is to ask for permission to use my photographs (xrhp33.jpg) on another website. It is after all only good manners to ask.

 

Regards

Peter

 

Webmaster

10th Royal Hussars

Web Address : www.xrhgb.com

Email : peter@xrhgb.com

xrhp33.jpg

Edited by Marmite!!
“Photo Courtesy of xrhgb.com”
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Post reinstated, photo posted by Adam allowed with the kind permission of Peter from xrhgb.com

 

“Photo Courtesy of xrhgb.com” added to photo

 

Please make sure you have copyright permission when posting photos on the forum.. see forum rules

 

Cheers Lee

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