BlueBelle

Where has sense and sensibility vapourised to? I'd love to go and see 'The British Cold War Museum' with lots of Lt Stone-coloured vehicles as exhibits too! Oh yes, the Cold War was part of the reason HM Armed Forces were in Libya, Malta, Gibraltar, Egypt and, er, a many other Near and Mid East places other than BAOR and the UK. RAF Idris, Tripoli was a dispersal airfield for the V-Bomber force, 22 Fd Engr regt RE openly built NBC defences in Tripolitania and, practiced for war against Soviet forces. At least one decoy airfield was built, inflatable decoy vehicles were deployed (though how many, types, where and exactly when I have yet to find out) and, as a decoy airfield existed, then surely decoy or scrapped aircraft would have been sat on it. Then just look at the might within the Wheelus Airbase, the biggest US airfield outside of the US ..... all those Mace and Matador missiles! The Matador being the world's first first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile. Bomber, fighter and transport fleets and massive areas of desert bombing ranges. Yes, the chill of the Cold War was evident in Libya. A read of the good book by Griffin and Robinson should be had: 'The Royal Armoured Corps in the Cold War 1948-1990'.

79 Railway Sqn RCT & Wksp REME in the 70s also had them in BAOR as did the train crew and REME repair team of the British Berlin Military Train "The Berliner". Their versions switched to red and green light also, for obvious reasons, perhaps. The slot frame on the back of the lamp played a part in their usefulness. Manufacture by Chloride Bardic Ltd, once upon a time.

Am I missing something here? Please can someone explain how a Ferret Mk1 gets to be a Ferret Mk2/5 having "never had a turret fitted'? I do like a good mystery. Without a turret, the Ferret is quite cute and would grace my drive quite suitably here in Calgary

Hmm, I think I need to source a copy! Thank you for posting, John.

Wecome to HMVF Roy! Always great to have 'someone who was there' join and of course, there's no better place to post your photos and memories than here at: http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/35098-libya-tripolitania-vehicles-barracks-1950s-to-1966/ Regards, Lizzie

Just the ticket John, thank you! Look at those angled corner lockers! I can't see if the air cylinders are sat in 'cups' to prevent the cylinder bases from sliding. Do you see them in your book? Is the photo you've taken a photo of the book or a scan?

FAB photos of the MRA1 'Dry air charging' (FV16103) Wally. I knew you'd be there! Thank you.

Engine starters - Tanks and Planes? No. Balloons? No. fill an air barrage balloon or any balloon with air and ..... see it stay on the ground. Unless it's hot air of course. From CMV Autumn 2013 I have extracted the slightly re-written info below: 'The MRA1 'Dry air charging' (FV16103) was a conversion of the original cargo body by Strachans under contract 6/VEH/11579 for 29 vehicles. The body featured a Coventry Climax 4-cylinder engine driving a Reavell three-stage compressor mounted on a reinforced floor. The top edges of the front two body side panels and the forward bulkhead were extended upwards to allow the compressed air bottles (I say cylinders) and the associated pipework and control equipment to be supported. Two large cylinders were fitted each side, upright and clamped in, with another three smaller cylinders fitted over the wheel arches. The dry air charging trucks were intended for use with the hydro-pneumatic recuperator fitted on the 5.5" Howitzer. In 1958 there were five medium regiments equipped with the 5.5" Howitzer and each Battery REME section had such a vehicle issued, operated by REME Armourers ( I say, Gun Fitters as Armourers only 'did' little guns, personal weapons, section machine guns and maybe the 'little guns' fitted as co-axial machine guns on some vehicles)'. I'm actually astonished they were using compressed air with its O2 content of 21% in an oily recuperator system. O2 under pressure with just a hint of a hydrocarbon material in or around the pressurised area can result in an explosion. Hence an inert, clean dry gas was 'normally', specifically Nitrogen as in say, suspension struts and so on. Some Howitzers of the same period seem to have had their recuperators charged with Nitrogen. Maybe someone on here knows more about recuperators on artillery pieces? Here is another gas safety lesson for you: The valve outlets on 02 and Nitrogen gas cylinders are identical, as are the cylinders themselves. Colours are different but can sometimes be difficult to distinguish so, the only way to tell what's in your gas cylinder is to read (and understand) the labelling on the cylinder. A recuperator around 2005 had just been serviced on a Royal Artillery 105mm L118 Light Gun and the gun was put to use to target the enemy in Afghanistan. On firing, the gun exploded in the fire pit; fortunately the gun crew were not killed and the live ammunition in the gun pit seemingly did not detonate. The recuperator had been mistakenly filled with O2 instead of N2, the recuperator's grease recated with the O2 under recoil pressure ..... Boom! The video, stills and story were rapidly withdrawn but not before I saw them and 'captured' what I needed to. Similarly, a gas suspension strut under a jacked-up 100 ton coal dump truck which was in for servicing ('somewhere in Nottinghamshire') and on axle supports had O2 released into the strut instead of N2 and an immediate explosion resulted - the truck collapsed onto the mechanic. I won't show you the photo - it's my line of business to make people safe around compressed and cryogenic gas and equipment and, if they've not heeded me and not learned to apply the imparted knowledge and implement a 'safe system of work' , I sometimes get called back to tell them what went wrong. MRA1s are such dinky little trucks, even though they were 'hated' by their users in uniform.

DUKW's, LVTs, Terrapins were there and I'm sure I've seen a photo on the web of a Seep-type thing. Spoilt for choice on what to take there! Except that perhaps some of those vehicle types are no longer resident in the UK? The hangers they used were on the site of RAF Morfa .... nip out of the camp, over the main railway lines onto the beach and into the water. Instead of a vehicle you could try to get one of the few types of aircraft (Queen Bees -radio controlled Tiger Moths and, Henleys ) that flew out of the airfield as target tugs for the AA 3.7" guns just a mile further north at Tonfanau Camp. RAF Morfa reverted to being an army-only camp shortly after the end of the war, if not slightly before. There is some stuff about Morfa Camp, the RMs (who may have called their bit of the camp, 'Neptune'), the army and the RAF on the web but I don't have the links to share anymore. Also remember this is Morfa, Towyn, Merioneth, not the other Morfa near the other Towyn near Liverpool! All place name spellings are correct, as was! Towyn station at one time had its own main line railway sidings and loading ramp, now long gone. Tonfanau camp, if I'm not mistaken, also had a railway siding coming off the main line very near to where the quarry siding take off. So you could take a train of sorts, as well to your 'do' if you did some homework to find out what was used and so on. A train with DUKWs, LVTs, Terrapins, Queen Bees and Henlys on board!

Wow! Thank you Clive. I'm 'on standby'. This is so exciting .... I might end up buying the truck as well! No, that's not an offer to buy the truck .... honestly. So easy to get carried away. To email then I guess, Clive and a BIG "Thank You" again.

Thank you Clive. Fantastic information for which I'm most grateful. You know what's coming next ...... If anyone has the above EMERS could they please photocopy/scan said info/diagrams/photos for me? All costs met. Hmmm, I bet there are no such EMERs for sale, not that I need the whole EMER. A search in a well known auction website came up with .... no EMERs.

That is a nice looking truck, Mark. Do you have any photos or drawings that depict what the layout and fittings were/should be for a Welding truck? I have a few photos of Light Stone-painted Welder's MRA1s trundling around in Libya but none that give me a clue as to the interior of the 'cargo' bay. I bought the UHB, WO Code 17802 in the vain hope there would be much to see ..... no such luck as it doesn't cover any of the variants. Just the cargo truck and the chassis for the water truck. In writing about Libya/Tripolitania and army equipment, I desire to do so from a very well informed stance. You may just be able to help me though I'm sorry to say that I'm not in the market to buy your lovely little lorry. Lizzie.

Jayne Bond here: A guess that it was to set off the explosive charges to release the towing point bolts of the mono-trailer from the hull rear. Why put there on the collimator I know not. This also implies that I don't know where the switch for performing that delicate task was! Yes, explosive bolts and a 200 gallon petrol tank!

Oh! I'll have a look see again. If I have them, you'll have them too!

If you were to search the forum, say using 'Saladin' as a search term, you might have come up with this result: http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/35817-saladin-mk2-armoured-car/?page=2 Scroll down and view what I posted, then. It may be what you need. Lizzie

Of note with the 2RTR Centurions on parade is that they were the junior armoured regiment in the brigade, and they sported a white 51 on a red arm of service flash in addition to the mailed fist of 20 Armd Bde to denote their ranking. The other Centurions with their aux. fuel tank drums belong to the senior armoured regiment in the same brigade, the pony soldiers or donkey wallopers of 17/21 Lancers whose tanks and vehicles sported a white 50 on a red arm of service flash. Note the cavalry chaps 'go to war' in their khaki forage caps or stiff hats!

Treasure! The Centurions of Ajax 2RTR rumble through the streets of Munster on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June, 1953. The Centurions are camouflaged too! Oh no they're not! Oh yes they are! The photo expands to reveal all. 'A' vehicles of 2RTR at the time had a three colour camouflage scheme. The underside of the glacis plate, lower half of the turret, some turret bin front faces and the underside of the gun barrels were painted in Light-Battleship grey (the barrels having a wavy-pattern). The remainder of the vehicle was painted in gloss black and gloss green. None of the vehicles had the same camouflage patterns as they were "designed" by a sergeant in each squadron. 2RTR changed colour schemes to Deep Bronze Green in 1957. 2RTR were then based in Munster Loddenheide, Swinton barracks as part of 20 Armd Bde, along with 1RHA in the same complex at Waterloo Barracks. The flagman in the photo is from 17/21 Lancers based at Munster Gremmendorf, York Barracks. Thank you for posting these great photos.

Feast on Bedford RL Gun Tractors on the links below. Drill into them and find more. https://www.britishpathe.com/video/royal-artillery-review/query/Cameron https://www.facebook.com/a9modelsandcollectables/photos/a.762223443881655.1073741848.276140405823297/762224280548238/?type=3&theater https://www.flickr.com/photos/145272403@N05/33086355145/in/photostream/ (Not Gun tractors but 'ordinary' RLs with 25pdr) http://bfg-locations.editboard.com/t2293-major-excercise-1967-libya (Not Gun tractors but 'ordinary' RLs with 25pdr) http://www.42regt.com/batterys/94bty/cyprus/cyprus 1960/cyrenaica.html http://www.42regt.com/batterys/94bty/cyprus/cyprus 1960/charruba_fort.html http://www.42regt.com/batterys/94bty/cyprus/cyprus 1960/rangiriri.html http://www.42regt.com/batterys/94bty/cyprus/cyprus 1960/trudos.html http://www.42regt.com/batterys/94bty/cyprus/cyprus 1962/page1.html (Landrovers as Gun Tractors!) http://www.42regt.com/postings/cuprus/201 to 250 cyprus/index.html http://www.42regt.com/postings/Libya/Libya 2/index.html http://www.42regt.com/postings/Libya/Libya 3/index.html http://www.42regt.com/postings/Libya/Libya 3/target33.html http://www.42regt.com/postings/Libya/Libya 5/index.html http://www.42regt.com/postings/Libya/Libya 5/target3.html

Farewell to you Lords, Ladies, noble friends and those few of less than honourable intent, for the grains of Tripolitanian sands have ebbed from the timer of patience and tolerance, some grains seemingly misappropriated and becoming tainted, so I regret the best thing to do with regard to this thread which I love, is to turn it over to you to populate with your photos and interesting content. I shall perhaps look in from time to time as an outsider and provide, if I'm able, some history to what you've added. You can find me on LI and through my company website if you wish to connect. The quest to publish the Tripolitania book(s) continues unabated and I'm pleased to inform you that I've just received around 260 new and previously unseen photos featuring The Bays, 6RTR and 219 Tripolitania Royal Signals Squadron from Veterans who were there. Nearing 3,000 photos and slides now. Thank you for your participation, generousity and support. Kindest Regards, Lizzie Taylor

New format, missing the 'manage attachments' tool that used to be easily found and used on the old format HMVF. Can anyone provide a pointer please? Oddly enough, same thing about 'delete account' tool...... it looks a lot now like Hotel California ..... except you can't checkout and ... you can't leave! Thanks.

"110 psi is perfectly safe". No it is not. Even a gnat's whisker above atmospheric is a dangerous pressure. A 0.5 psi pressure is enough to penetrate the skin, an eyeball to cause an embolysm, usually fatal. Higher pressures than that, even under 110psi have proved fatal and I too have witnessed the aftermath of several fatality incidents where the blast from an unintended pressure release, three from air (receivers and tyres), another of nitrogen from a pressure vessel (and far to many from hydrogen, propane and acetylene - it's my core business, gas and pressure safety - but they don't call me in until its to late and after the event!). Pressure testing of vessels/tanks is a serious affair and, for certification purposes would normally be performed hydraulically (water) or with an inert gas (nitrogen). Air, with 21% O2 is not inert for this purpose. Oil under pressure, easily defeats skin and eyes too, causing the most horrific of flesh-eating type injuries. Amputation normally required. Always make the effort to be safe, stay safe. Perhaps a chat with someone from the DoT or elsewhere regarding Safety, Design, Construction and Use Regulations may prove advantagous. After all, you wouldn't want a catastrophic failure of your air receiver, I'm sure, especially if someone is nearby. What a great job you're doing with your DT.

Sebha International Airport! Fantastic passenger terminal. Not seen that one before. The aircraft delivering to 2RTR is a USAF Douglas C54 Skymaster from 7272 Air Base Wing, Wheelus Field, Tripoli. Sick Parade at the ambulance for those with Tripoli Trots because someone filled the water trailer with water unfit for human consumption. Water trailer was abandoned. Fresh water found, jerrrycans filled for drinking/cooking and, empty fuel jerrycans filled with fresh water for engine cooling. Rationing. Fresh water further on, if you could make it ....... which they did. And, the water at the Toummo water hole was clean and safe to drink. Note the fuel dump, barbed wire. More photos from Keith tomorrow, he said. Isn't this exciting, dear followers of all things Light Stone? Not a question really but a statement! Unique history unfolding right at the tips of your fingers and in front of your eyes. You see, this thread can get through to those of you who have secret stashes of Libya photos to encourage you to share and add value to all you see and read here. Sometimes you know of a relative, a friend or colleague who has treasured photos like these and who can be persuaded to get them scanned and onto here or who will send them to me for scanning so that I can get put them up and consider some for the lonnnng awaited book I'm writing on the British Army in Tripolitania 1943-1966. Bring them folk and photos on, please do, but don't say that you will and then, a year later still do not deliver because you can't be bothered. It's happened over a whole treasure-trove of rare 6RTR Libya photos that were promised and I'm so disappointed. Keith's photos are here now though to enthral us, "thank you" Keith and, whose photos will be next, one wonders? Well, yes, more of mine of course!

For Echelon and SHQ, callsigns were not what I would have expected either. Extra resources (vehicles) seem to have made up some of these two elements of Cyclops on this exercise. If your're eagle eyed, you'll note that at least one RL at the aircraft sports the Cyrenaica District flash, which more than suggests Cyclops didn't have enough RLs to support the exercise so RLs from other squadrons and locations were bought in at least as far as Sebha, including, I can confirm, 19 Royal Marine RLs from HMS Bulwark anchored off Homs (jerrycanned fuel supplies to pre-positioned dumps). The OC (Maj Harris) was 9, 2i/c (Capt Sheppard) 8A, SSM 8B, Mr Bunce's Ferret 18, Saracen Ambulance 16, RS K9 FFW 10A, LAD REME Group 12 and 12A. The Troops, 1 to 6 were call signed 'normally'. Exercise Crescent Moon was a very big exercise in terms of trialling Saladins, Saracens and Ferrets and the logistical, support and political interventions were on a scale that no other resident unit in Tripolitania or Cyrenaica had ever seen previously ...... and this was just for one squadron!

The hardtop LR in the aircraft photo was not a 2RTR vehicle, none were in service at that time in that configuration with the regiment. I believe it is a Libyan Police LR 'coming to collect' if you know what I mean, and the figure to the far left is a Libyan policeman, judging by the uniform. Only two Series 1 LRs went on Crescent Moon, 68BP13 (OC Cyclops) and 79BR94 (SSM Cyclops-callsign 8B) The Thames ambulance went no further than Sebha. There was a Saracen used as an ambulance, 98BA81 though whether or not it was built/configured as an ambulance or just a 'normal' Saracen pressed into service as an ambulance, I know not though somebody 'somewhere' will know, I'm sure! 83BA12 was the Saracen CP vehicle for Cyclops, manned by the 2i/c and I believe was indeed named CIRCE. On the topic of 'Dog on a Ferret', can you see said hound in the photo below of Crescent Moon? Photo by Charles Yerrell 2RTR

The majority of Keith's photos here are of Cyclops 2RTR whilst on Ex Crescent Moon Apr-May 1960. A very long distance jaunt from Homs to the Toummo water hole in the Tibesti mountains bordering Chad and French Niger. My father, the REME ASM was on this expedition to test out the 'new' Saladin in 'operational' hard and hot desert conditions. Mr Bunce, a civvie test bigwig engineer accompanied the expedition. I have the full official report and another version complete with full colour photos plus another 100 or so separate colour slides and photos. The dog you see in the Cyclops leagre was a 'dog on a Ferret' quite literally as he belonged to a chap named Legarde and travelled from Homs to Toummo and return on the back of his Ferret. The LR with the Padre was the OC's (callsign 9) who for the expedition had his Saracen towing his 'caravan' and his LR which for a few hours was loaned out to the Padre who flew in and out on two separate USAF flights to Sebha on the same day (the later one at sunset), conducting a service whilst there. The flights were purely for the benefit of 2RTR bringing canteen supplies, the mail, fresh rations etc. Oh, also the CO, Col. Percy Hobart 'popped in and out' on these flights! Cyclops' vehicles, the Saladins, Saracens, Ferrets and certain LRs were named, as you see. Great photos!