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BlueBelle

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Posts posted by BlueBelle

  1. Looking good! Well done for completing a mammoth task in such a short space of time.

    My Libya-Tripolitania thread looks intact though it seems that many photos are duplicated though..... maybe they were before!

    Teething troubles with links in quotations not working and I'm unable to progress to next page from 'next' or the next number. I have to click then see that nothing is happening before refreshing the page in the browser bar .... then I have the next page! Not tried going page a page though!

    I'm itching to play and post a photograph, hoping its as straightforward as previously. Tomorrow maybe!

    Thank you for providing us all with such a great forum.

    Lizzie

    PS. Just noticed I only have 3 posts to my credit. I am to be demoted?

    • Like 1
  2. Here, if you sit through it all, are some Centurions which may be these same ones.

     

     

    That was a good find Robin.

    Trials and Development on a shoestring, even then.

    I was hoping to see the sabots in flight not just 'mysterious' explosions in the butts.

    Back to my sand-coloured stuff now ......

  3. as to the aerial mounts for the WS19 set been mounted on the rear of the Austin champ l am looking at photograph

    of one while taking part in a exercise on the Tarhuna training area with the Royal Fusiliers with them mounted so

    as to the BF champs shown none seem to have survived into the present day

     

    Thanks Wally, Armoured Farmer, Clive and Gordon for your ATU input. That one box still is a bigger box, isn't it?

    I thought for a while Wally was going to show said Royal Fusilier Champs in Tarhuna! I have seen some of them Champs, on a website somewhere as a Malta-based regiment. Poor quality photos that I saw but always top quality info of one sort or another that can be gleaned, no matter how fuzzy, wobbly or faded the photo. :-)

  4. If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse hold down Ctrl on the keyboard and scroll your wheel for a closer look.

     

    @BlueBelle Still visiting and enjoying :)

     

    Marvellous! Glad you are.

    Good tip of yours Rog. On an Apple this that or the other, if there is no auto expand for a photo, right press your Apple mouse, click 'view image' and then on the keyboard, press and hold down CMD whilst you press + to expand or - to reduce.

    Stay tuned!:cheesy:

  5. The camouflage could simply be an easy way of covering up (overpainting) the DAK insignia. Magnakater.

     

    No, not so. All vehicles, armoured and softskin seem to have been camouflaged so, just as were their sister Divisional regiment of the time, 5RTR over in Barce, Cyrenaica. For those Bays trucks that appeared in 'No Time to Die' et al, their base colour scheme was Light Stone, with or without the DAK splodge camouflage daubings. Remember in a previous post in this thread, I commented (I think?) on how some of the DAK painted and marked Bedford QL/Austin K5 trucks still bore the British Bays squadron markings and even a H for Operation Musketeer! Those tanks and trucks though, didn't show any signs of the British DarK Green or Black camouflage patterns and, makes me enquire as to whether or not The Bays armour and softskins were ever painted in just plain Light Stone on its own (same enquiry for 5RTR). During the same period, most other Tripolitania-based regiments and smaller units did not apply camouflage to their armour and softskins though I have somewhere a photo or two of Half Tracks from KRRC (Infantry) Derna and Tripoli with Dark Green or Black patterned Camouflage.

    The 14/20H with first, their Comets, Bren Carriers and M32 ARVs, then with their Centurions and at least one Caernarvon 07BA75, were the predecessors of The Bays at Sabratha (Nov 1952 - Nov 1955); their tanks and soft skins were plain lovely Light Stone. The Bays were the last regiment or unit to be based at Sabratha (Feb 1956 - Aug 1957). 10 Armd Div disbanded. 25 Armd Bde disbanded. Downsizing the British Forces in Libya was then well in hand, again.

  6. Article 19 revoked? Perhaps not as red 'red cross' brassards can be seen worn by HM Armed Forces medics amongst those deployed to the hurricane disaster zones in the West Indies.

    Perhaps Brexit will provide relief from EU dictatorial gobbledigook impositions on Great Britain and if we prevent continued leftie-liberal PC pandering, we shall get our red crosses back (and odd shaped fruit and veg!) :laugh:

  7. I don't ever comment in such a manner on the threads of others but this 'project' makes me want to weep. What have you done to a mighty fine historic vehicle? Are you serious about ruining it further?

    I think you may perhaps be on the wrong forum? But 'welcome' to it anyway and all the good advice you'll receive!

    What's the number for the Ferret Rescue Centre, anyone?

    I hope you reconsider and change to performing a respectful and as near authentic as is feasible restoration of your historic armoured vehicle.

  8. It's the promised upgrade for the few remaining tanks in the inventory, designed to 'increase lethality and survivability'. According to 'sources' Ajax have these few painted thus as they are the 'urban warfare specialists'. I wonder if before taking Berlin, they'll retake some of Britain's 'no-go' areas? More than a pinch of salt needed here! ;)

    I wonder how they'd blend in within the 'town' on Salisbury Plain training area? Wrong sort of houses, methinks, so perhaps they'll stick out like sore thumbs.

  9. "Quelle horreur"! The photo above does not 'blow up'! Yet the previous (and others) does. "It's not me" doing it though sadly there certainly is no way again that my photos are going up on here as 'full blown originals' for them to be misappropriated by anyone. Not that 'small size' photos are for misappropriation either. So, here's some detail of those ABTUs on the wings of the Champs. In doing this, I noticed that the VIP Champs have what appears to be white seat squab (that's a funny word) covers or over-covers, that only one of the VIP Champs has white-tipped front bumpers whereas the non-VIP Champ has and, that one of the VIP Champs has a black or DBG windscreen inner frame. Plus I think I'm right about the missing hooter, unless it's hiding somewhere else. Got to get it right!

     

     

     

  10. A shoot! Some big wigs turned out in September 1958 to watch, ferried in to a makeshift airstrip by an Auster 6 AOP of 8 Independant Recce Flight (Army) based at RAF Idris. They'd come to see B Squadron of the Sixth Royal Tank Regiment, Homs during their annual firing camp (a month out in the desert). The VIPs were Lt. Gen Sir Roger Bower CinC MELF seen standing in his 3-star Champ 07BF81 (notice the FFW set-up and a little flagging flag or pennant on a little pole on the far side of the bonnet) and who has adopted the typical officer 'I'm in charge, really I am' pose. With him is the CO, Lt.Col P.A Vaux.

    In the middle Champ, 07BF85 with his 1-star plate is our other VIP visitor, Brigadier George Laing, Tripolitania District Commander. With him is B Sqn Ldr and the Adjt (names available). Note the same little flag and pole as before, the radio set-up (different to the C-in-Cs) and a blank Bridge plate. Is the hooter missing on this Champ?

    The closest Champ, 02BF09 is actually the B Sqn Ldr's vehicle (see the diamond) and standing to the side of it is the regiment's 2i/c (name available). This is a radio vehicle too but have you noticed the different antenna base units or, at least the rubber antenna mounts? Hmm, FFW becomes FFR perhaps? We need a Champ/Radio expert's opinion here as I am merely the observer, reporter and conveyer of fine deserty photos.

    All the officers are wearing shoes! With thick socks woolly, black-topped for the wearing of. I wonder if the officer (name available) in his black (yes, they are black with out a doubt) RTR overalls atop his Centurion is wearing boots or shoes? I know not but we may yet find out.

    The Champs all belong to 6RTR and none to TripDist HQ in Tripoli. Notice the Arm of Service and Formation flashes on the Champs. Only in March the same year, 07BF81 sported a red rectangle with a white 52 as its Arm of Service flash, thus indicating markings had not been updated fully since dissolution of 10 Armd Bde and the posting out of the 'other' armoured regiment, the more senior Queen's Bays from Sabratha at the very end of 1957 (they wore a white 50 on a red rectangle as in the previous photo).

    Photo by David Sands 6RTR

     

  11. Oh dear. If your K9 looked like this one below in the rugged landscapes, deserts and seas of sand in Libya, you'd perhaps have avoided the ignominy that befell you (not the truck!). Users in those days, trained to drive the K9, had no problems with locomotion in all terrains. That bit of metal with the holes in it proved invaluable though only the REME-crewed trucks carried them in 6RTR. The other trucks, RLs in particular, driven by the other members of the regiment and in 2RTR as well, including my Pop, the ASM REME with the TQMS as a co-driver in a Binner (when he wasn't in his Ferret) didn't carry sand channels. On a Saladin-proving exercise from Homs to Toummo, the only vehicle out of 30 or so to get stuck in a salt marsh and needed a tow out from a long distance by a Scammell was a ....... Saladin! The sand channels didn't work!

    Perhaps the Army School of Transport still has the driver training course material and a space available?

    I'm just teasing you. I hope your lovely truck didn't get too muddy and that your pride has since recovered.

    Photo by Ronald Gill REME

     

  12. A Dodge M37! Thank you, Enigma. A very dark shade of US Army olive drab or 'green' too.

     

    The Centurion 'dark shade' colour over the light stone appears to be a wishy-washy black, a matt black, perhaps? Not a green. The colour of the sand the vehicles are on is a stark contrast to some of the other shades of sand we've seen so far. More of a beach sand (the sea is just behind the sand dune, if you've noticed it) and is the colour I vividly remember from my childhood beach days in Homs.

  13. One wandered, lonely as a cloud. Yes, another interesting sky after 94BD67 in the north of England! Centurions draw me, perhaps you too? Having also dusted off the salty sinking sands of Egypt we're now back in Tripolitania. Land of sun, sand, sea and Sabratha. Yes, a camouflaged Centurion Mk3, 06ZR62, fitted with a Hohne Organ, had a 'more than once' chance encounter with a US Army Topographic Survey unit who had managed to 'stick' their 3/4 ton truck (Dodge ? something or the other, fitted with winch) on top of a little sand dune. 'Out of nowhere' came the 2nd Dragoon Guards, The Queen's Bays (Cavalry) to the rescue! The tank from B sqn The Bays of course, successfully released the US Army from their entrapment. Notice the H marking. It's summer 1957. 10 Armd Div still nominally in existence and the tank wears the white left-facing standing rhino on a black oval, complemented by a red rectangle bearing a white 50 as the senior armoured unit in the division (the other being 5 RTR at Barce, Cyrenaica). So perhaps not all of the Bays Centurions were daubed in DAK colours for the film makers!

    Photo by Thomas Smith US Army

     

  14. Lovely picture. BTW, what is the vehicle third from the end?

     

    trevor

    Yes, a great picture, the sky in particular! I love textured skies and, clouds provide that element as so well captured here. Oh, the 3rd truck from the rear is a Morris MRA1 as defined by the interupted body strake bar.

  15. I must be missing something - which thread entry in the Govenors restoration thread are theses additional photos?

     

    Or do I have the wrong thread.....?

     

    As for the Scammell and the ARV getting "bogged" its one of those "you couldnt make it up" moments....

     

    Here you go, Tarland. Unbogged REME to the rescue!

     

    http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?57596-This-weeks-Scammell-Explorer-question/page2

     

    http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?57353-Scammell-Explorer-1955/page9

  16. I've parked Centurion 43BA03 for a while, confident that some more information will turn up in the not to distant future.

    Meanwhile, SMLENo4 aka Max, has posted a couple of photos of that Scammell Explorer 94BD67 in service with 3RHA after service in Homs, Libya. There's another photo too, a wonderful night time shot of a different Scammell bogged in the mire of Egyptian mud, sand or a salt marsh with the REME crew and others looking quite displeased. Not even the over-tracks helped, so it seems. I write about this photo as it illustrates that even dreamy REME could get into a pickle, not just the regimental types and, because I wonder if the photo I'm showing below was in any way, apart from being an ARV used by 3RHA in Egypt prior to the regiment's D and M batteries withdrawing to Libya to join J Battery, connected with the bogging down of the Scammell?

    The M32 ARV is stuck, hatches closed and seems abandoned. Notice the duplication of markings on the rear, particularly on the lateral tool box which would normally have had pioneer and track-bashing tools mounted on the outside. See the hooks on the hull side? Were they for the hollibones as they'd be on that side, normally, I think? Maybe the Scammell went to tow the ARV out or vice-versa and, both got bogged. I have quite a few photos of 3RHA vehicles in Egypt just prior to their withdrawal, many of them at 10 Base Ord Depot, Geneifa awaiting repair or shipping out. One of the photos is of an M Battery Cromwell well and truly stuck in the goo of Egypt and plenty more of Scammell Explorers wrecked by REME! So, an Egypt photo, and not a Libya one! :laugh:

    Photo by John Newton REME

     

  17. Hmmm, it looks like I’ll have to part with some spondulicks to see if I can obtain a better result about 43BA03. I’m guessing that the National Archive report I list here below relates to ‘the tank’ and that there is something about the photos we have and what Wally has told us that relates to ..... louvres as they, the pagoda type, were of course instrumental in providing cooling air for the engine and transmission on these marques plus. I could of course be totally wrong, again and, I think I am due to my wondering about the time lapse from the time the tank went back to FVRDE/issue to Bovington and, the report’s date. How long did it take for a trials report to get written up and presented?

    Maybe then, this tank was one of the ‘reported’ 12 Mk7s manufactured (I think around 1956/7) that had direct drives for their cooling fans rather than the belt drives as norm? Surely trials, in the desert too, would have been conducted on these tanks?

    I just hope that I’m not buying another pig in the poke that tells me next to nothing useful just as my very expensive report on 595 RAOC Depot Tripoli proved ..... monthly stats on boot repairs! :laugh: I’m an expert in doing that, which of course I wouldn’t be if I lived nearer Kew and could see the report FOC with no need to purchase. So many drawbacks to living in the back of beyond that is Canada, including giant carnivorous mosquitos. Roll on winter.

     

    WO 194/1003 Centurion Mk 7 tank cooling air louvres trials, with photographs, dated 01/01/1962 - 31/12/1962

     

    http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6144529

     

    Don’t you just like a good mystery, just as history is, even when written down.

  18. Good-day to you all,

    My name is Max. Regretfully I have no claims to owning historic military vehicles, however, I have driven many during my time with active Army units during the Fifties and have taken a few photos while there. I have your BlueBelle to thank for introducing me to HMVF through my photos in Libya. I do not claim to be such a mine of information as she is, but perhaps I can add interest with some pictures taken while with 3RHA.

     

    I served as an Army Apprentice armourer 1949-1952, a year with 18 Comd WkSp Bovington to 1953 driving a Tilly for range duties, followed by 8 months with the Glosters Training Depot, followed by six & a half years (1954-1960) with the REME LAD of 3RHA (3 years in 10th Armoured Div and three with 3rd Infantry Div)

    I have done quite a bit of military research including telling the story of the Dorset village of Abbotsbury in Wartime WW2. My civilian life since 1960, has been entirely taken up with all aspects of photography including news film for television. This includes 15 years working for US and European companies.

     

    Welcome to the HMVF Max! It's a great place to be and I'd been wondering if you'd ever join though I guess you'd been taking a peek now and again. :)

  19. It is so sad that so many albums and threads here on HMVF are now stripped to extremes of their photos. Bookmarks to most of the photos I've seen and wanted to return to have no photos now..... and not because the posters have been banned. Humbers, gone. Scammells, gone. :(

    Photobucket's actions are rather arbitarary, draconian and unfair, especially if I'm correct in assuming no warnings were issued prior to the mass extinctions. Perhaps there is legal recourse available or was this option not available because of weasely wording in the smallprint that posters signed up for?

    I also wonder if the forum pages are web-archived, frequently if at all and can be seen 'as was', if only to help posters discover which photo they'd put where?

  20. LIZZIE two bits for you CENTURION MK V11 43 BA 03 took part in extreme temperature trails returning back to

    LUDGERSHALL 19/5/59 its FVRDE wing number was 5012

     

    :yay::yay::yay:

     

    See, see I told you there was sound reasoning behind my push for an explanation! Dear Wally, you are the bees knees and I can't thank you enough for that priceless piece of information. Where did you look to get it (no, don't say it's a secret!). Got any more info on it?

     

    Well, it didn't go back to Ludgershall from Egypt as that had shut down years before but it doesn't mean that it went back from Tripoli either. I still need to prove the location for the photos.

    During Malkara/Hornet 'heat' trials, the report suggested the Libyan desert was not hot enough and so other 'hotter' venues were sought. I wonder if this Centurion went elsewhere too, for 'hotter' extremes? 3 years on heat trials. Hmmm, fascinating stuff.

     

    In another thread on here last week, a revelation (in my opinion as I knew no different) was made (if I remember correctly) that The Tank museum had told the poster that the armoured vehicle record card system was non-existent prior to 1968. If so, would it be the same for B-vehicles and thus explain why my 'bought from the RLC archive' record card for Scammell Explorer 94BD17 (Libya) was blank from its 1955 date-into-service until it was listed in 1968 at a Malta VSD?

    How did Wally track down his wonderful information then and, what happened to this tank post-Ludgershall?

    First Class, Five Star research material result! And sand-coloured stuff too!

    :):):)

  21. Hang on, yes, I do know about the housebodied thing. Look at this, though I don't know whether it's Tripoli or Eqypt. Many vehicles that John Newton seems to have photographed whilst based at 10 Ord Depot Geneifa appear again in Tripoli where he was posted to from Geneifa. 3RHA, less J Battery, were also based in different camps in Eqypt and their BLR vehicles ended up in 10 Ord Depot workshop and were shipped back to workshops in Tripoli for repair/scrapping and thence to Homs to where J Battery were awaiting the return of the rest of 3RHA from Egypt. Some Scammells and DTs photod by John in Egypt appear in his Tripoli photos too! Every unit evacuated Egypt in a hurry with many of them finding themselves sent to Libya or Cyprus, again, and some into premature disbandonment prior to being hurriedly reconstituted again for Suez.

    Photo by John Newton REME

     

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