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Northern Ireland in Blackburn Lancashire


ferrettkitt

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The 109" Land Rover - is a bit suspect.

 

Deep Sill to end of S2A Rover 11 (early version) - yes, but with front external fuel fill !! + the pick-up truck cab.

 

I know the Royal Marines had some 109" with truck cab, but ISTR these were in fact S3 basic civilian models that were intended for training purposes, however I may be wrong - possibly they were S2A.

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TBH I didn't spot that until you raised it. I know that as my trade training came drew to a close and I was due to be posted over the water, I used the fact (it was posted on orders in the block in Catterick) to grow my hair. It never grew to obscenely long. I fronted up in Omagh and the third person I met (after the Provost Sergeant? Guard Commander? I cannot for the life of me think who was manning the Guard Room, and the squadron clerk) was the RSM. Who, to be fair, was quite restrained in describing the length of my hair. I had it cut once, on arrival on theatre then again on disembarkation leave.

 

As I alluded, there was a Standing Order relating to the length of hair in NI, but local rules (RSM, SSM, troop sergeant) trumped them.

 

Or did you mean the civvies? Yes, you are almost certainly right.

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Hello Alien

 

Well primarily I meant the civvies - looking at period photos it was clearly VERY unfashionable to have short hair in the early 70's and must have been a dead giveaway for squaddies in civvies. It does look like they have made some effort but all the hairdos just look too tidy to my mind!

 

Cheers

Timbo

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  • 1 month later...

The producers of this movie used "Armoured & Heavy Vehicles of the RUC" as a reference point for the RUC vehicles used in the film and I even spoke with them about the use of appropriate buses to depict Belfast in 1971. However, the company sourced with providing the vehicle used a 1980's Leyland Olympian (as seen in photos) as a burnt out vehicle. I'm not sure what they did about Army vehicle references but the Humber Pig shown - which was supposed to be an RUC one should have had a Belfast registration plate and not a Londonderry one and was in a wrong shade of grey.

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Only just seen this thread, I was on holiday when it was posted.

 

So this is 1971? There were no Mk 2 Pigs in 1971!

 

Operation Bracelet to up armour the Pigs to Mk 2 status ran from Sept 1972 - June 1973. Indeed the only 3 Mk 2 Pigs used by the RUC were issued in 1974.

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Furthermore the EMER instructing the moving of the Pig mirrors to the wing was not issued until May 1977. Apart from the Mk of Pig the RUC Pigs were all withdrawn in Jan 1970.

 

So one might observe that the RUC are portrayed as wearing "CORKER" helmets. I have never seen pictures of these used as RUC riot gear, the cork helmet used was "SKULGARDE". I have about eight of them at the last count & there are significant differences. The riot shield is the wrong shape & the mesh is too wide.

 

Those are fairly minor things that are forgiveable. But when a Pig is concerned nobody seems to have any regard to its context. Depictions of Bloody Sunday used Mk 2 Pigs despite pre-dating their introduction. I once saw a docu-darama of August 1969 with a Mk 2 Pig in it.

 

Pigs are big things & very obvious. Do people not understand their various differences or do they not care? Why don't do proper research?

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  • 2 years later...

The thing is Tony it would have been cheaper not to have painted it that colour & just left it green. That would have made it less of an eyesore although it is daft having a Mk 2 Pig used by anyone as they had not yet been constructed. Now if they had called the film '73 or late '72 they could have got away with it. Although the RUC were not using Humber in those years either. Very poor research.

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OOH! Clive! Wheres your artistic eye Ducky! If it was green it would have melted into the landscape and not conveyed the instrument of terror over the downtrodden masses! I had a similar conversation with a Director when I pointed out no officer would that $%^&&ing stupid as to sit on the skyline on the top of a hill riding a grey horse. :nut:

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Film 4 9pm tonight. No doubt it'll be on repeatedly over the next few weeks.

 

Have to say I can't get too excited about minor anachronisms like a Mk2 Pig in '71. Having been involved in trying to get vehicles for film & TV and knowing what a nightmare it can be, and given that 99% of viewers would not distinguish between Pigs and Saracens, let alone different marks of Pig, I can understand why producers would be glad of what they can get that was somewhere handy. Film makers have perpetrated far worse outrages over the years...

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