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BlueBelle

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  1. BlueBelle
    Now it’s time to show you Champ chaps and chapesses a Champ! This one belongs to 6 Fd Pk Sqn RE based at Prinn Barracks (it’s what the vehicle flashes, amongst other information I have, are telling me) though we see it outside 5 Medium Wksp REME Gurgi whilst on a REME ‘road’ test following a repair by the said workshop. The REME chap driving it is John Middleton, a National Serviceman who joined up the same time with Tony Burton REME. Both were in the same 56:10 intake and posted to workshops in Tripoli. They became best friends and it is through Tony’s generosity that I can show some of John’s Tripoli photos. Not sure what the H1 sign means and I can’t make out all the wording on the road test sign. On the top blue bar I believe I see ‘5 Med Wksp ****’, on the yellow bar the word(s) are impossible to read and, the red bottom bar has ‘Road Test’ written on it. Sadly, despite best efforts at remediation, the photo remains, blurred. Notice the state of the workshop wall; the physical state of the barracks were well below par compared to others used by the British in Libya (as confirmed in official journals of the period). Accommodation was tented apart from a bungalow for the OC. Photo by John Middleton NS56:10 REME
  2. BlueBelle
    Almost 'faded black'!
  3. BlueBelle
    Here are some 1952 ones in the desert around 1961. Notice the mess tins (year unknown) and the visiting pretty bird. Photo by CH Bloxham REME
  4. BlueBelle
    Could 'well' be Richard, a reverse process (almost) to the canvas evaporative water cooling units on the trucks! We'll be doing chemistry equations and physics principles next! These tub-type stuctures were often found next to a well in the middle of nowhere, as some photos I have show where about 8 troopers from 6RTR are are in a tub about that size happily splashing about enjoying a desert opportunity for a scrub down.
  5. BlueBelle
    Jerrycans, in the Tripolitanian or Fezzan deserts. These are all fuel, red tagged for petrol and yellow tagged for ...... diesel! I hope! No brown or black ones, no light stone ones either but one 'green' and the rest 'rusty'. Why place these around a 'bath tub' though?
  6. BlueBelle
    Glad you like the photo Sean, I do too. A pusher? No no Sean, you need BUMPERETTES for that! Ha ha! Joking of course, especially as we've 'done' bumperettes already in this thread and the bumperette topic seemed a little 'heated' in another. So yes, quite possible that the sand channel was for pushing and shoving, held onto the front bumper by threads protruding from it and with securing nuts so one would need a spanner to take the thing off. Come on Sean, I created a 'special' expandable photo just for you so blow your photo up and you'll see what I mean The steel wire strop and hooks for pulling. Like you, I spotted the windscreen 'new' black rubber and wondered if this K9 is the same one that we've seen here later on with 2RTR in Homs. As for a wing mirror missing, it wasn't me photoshopping it out! The rolled-up canvas I'm guessing, is tentage for REME when setting up camp or when parking up against broken down customers for lengthy repairs to be undertaken whilst everyone else trucked on. Sun shade.
  7. BlueBelle
    Thanks Clive; jerrycans are indeed an interesting topic, more so for me because a 2RTR person we both know had the water jerrycan on the back of the Centurion he was commanding shot to 'colandar' status with a service revolver fired by his troop leader following behind in another Centurion. Heard nothing, saw nothing but the evidence was ample, an empty, perforated jerrycan (it was assumed the target was the water jerrycan, and of note, the this officer whose aim was true, went on to become a Brigadier). More recently, were not brown water jerrycans made of brown-coloured polythene (to a different pattern) and not simply original metal jerrycans painted brown then black? Ha ha! Jerrycan worms! No, I do not have any photos of brown water jerrycans that I know of though I'm receiving photos of Tripolitania sand-coloured stuff every week. I shall be on a lookout for brown water jerrycans from now on. In the K9K9 photo, the jerrycan to me appears to be light stone though a shade different to the vehicle. The vehicle also has the same rack arrangement on the other side, full of black jerrycans. It must be noted that the water jerrycans contained water for human consumption as well as for vehicle cooling systems. Priorities? On the water topic, most vehicles utilised one or more canvas evaporative water cooling units, usually strung from the wing mirror arms. Hi-tech at its best! Also, if navigation was spot on and vehicles managed to keep going, an oasis would 'spring' up in the most unlikely of places in the seemingly arid wastelands. Photo by Ronald Gill REME
  8. BlueBelle
    Hello Richard, Thanks for the answer. Is a ditching channel used for crossing ditches (little ones) or, for putting on the ground against wheels that are tractionless in sinking sand? In practical terms, is just one ditching channel any use? Not knowing about these matters, I would have thought you'd need two, one for each wheel side, to be of any real use in getting a vehicle out of soft sand and on the move again?
  9. BlueBelle
    Let's get out into the desert and sunshine with 6RTR who in 1958/9 were out from Homs with a few B vehicles 'doing' desert navigation exercises. They took Dreamy REME with them, just in case and, one of them Bluebells was our superb C Sqn Sgt fitter, Ronald Gill REME who took the photo and loads more besides. This is the REME wagon, a K9 K9 FFW and, just look at the modifications to carry jerrycans and that 'strange' sand channel. Have we seen sand channel like that before? Probably, though it to me seems different. maybe it's a K9 pretending to be a Ferret? :-D I bet you're wondering what the VRN is? So am I :-D Tears in the canvas (more obvious on another few photos of it), antenna deployed and looking quite 'different' to your 'bog standard' K9, don't you think? Sean.:-D A K9 K9. I presume you've seen the black K9? Not native to the desert, but taken along for the ride. Yes, there's one one on the bonnet and I bet its backside and paws are very hot as noon temperatures on this adventure reached 50.2C most days, so hot in fact that motoring ceased between noon and 16.00hrs. Do you like the cupola spotlight? I think there's a sun compass in the cab too. Looks overall quite 'war-like' rather than being a simple little cargo truck on mundane duty. Oh, do remember the colour of the canvas on this K9 K9, for reference a little later. A great shot of (which 'blows up' nicely for K9 aficionados everywhere though how I did it this time I don't know) a sandy-coloured truck and a dog in the deserts of Libya. Photo by Ronald Gill REME
  10. BlueBelle
    Popping back to 19 Armoured Workshop at Gialo Barracks (Annexe) and the storm damage, look what else was under the collapsed workshop roof! Yes, there's the MP LR again, and next to it are, to quote the photographer "The Standard Vanguard is a Phase 1 model identified as such by the spats fitted to the rear bodywork/wheel arches. This vehicle was in it's civilian colour being a beige cum pink shade so reasonably compatible with our local sand camouflage colour. The black Humber Pullman must have been frightfully hot in the Summer months since it was not air conditioned!". That scenario would have been worth a few 'extras' for someone, I'm sure! Who parked 'prestige' cars like that under a rickety tin leanto? It wasn't our photographer, I'm sure! :-D Photo by Tony Burton 56:10 REME
  11. BlueBelle
    Red triangles! A very BIG thank you to Wally and Clive for so happily shedding light, knowledge and wisedom yet again! True gentlemen and such an asset to those of us in the dark. To think they're not even LR 'experts' or aficionados per se (oh bumperettes, what if they are? :red:) and that there wasn't a LR expert (nor an MP) who came to the rescue! When I get (notice the positivity) a BIG photo of that Homs LR, we'll take a peak at what's inside the red triangle as I'm sure everyone will want to know :cheesy:.
  12. BlueBelle
    Great stuff, thanks Wally. The 'larger' photo I have will not produce the result we need ..... it's not large enough! I am gently cajoling, and repeatedly so, the intrepid and very generous photographer who 'was there' and who took the photo(s), to either 'scan BIG' or send me the originals for scanning. Most folk send me their originals, hence whilst the subject matter is usually excellent, the ‘my way’ scanned photo quality invariably becomes or has the scope, to be excellent too. It is an unnecessary battle but one worth standing my ground for as the results show. Hi-res photos needed for scrutiny and of course, for ‘The Book’. Now then. The MP’s LR is not displaying a Divisional flash. No, not even an Arm of Service black rectangle for an MP unit and nor is it displaying the Formation flash which should be, for a Tripolitania-based unit, the Tripolitania District, Barbary dhow. That ‘thing’ we see is a ‘peculiar to RMPs’ sign for an Escort sub-unit (usually VIPs) in that part of the World at that time. Two star generals were worthy of an escort; maybe the two little red rectangles in the red triangle represent '2 stars'? I may be barking up ‘that’ tree again, though by way of ‘deep mining’ the web I saw on this site: http://www.redcap70.net/616SMPS.html/slides/AlfElwell15.html the photo below, for discussion/interest etc., as it’s not mine, of an early MP LR in Malta, similarly ‘badged’, though with ‘proper’ Formation and Arm of Service flashes. I know nothing more, though I have asked the Libya photographer, Ron Gill REME for more info if he has it. Where are the MP experts when needed? :-D
  13. BlueBelle
    Let's have another white-painted LR Series 1(?) front diff! Look, its even got 'proper positioned' sidelights too and no bumperettes! A spick n' span MP one again, in 1959, photographed by Ron Gill REME, as it headed a convoy of plush and not so plush staff cars from Tripoli into the barracks at Homs, home then to 6RTR. In the cars were many bigwig Generals, a Brigadier and, the then British Minister of Defence, Christopher Soames. Barrack Dress for winter months, KDs with shorts and/or trousers in summer. Smart webbing and holsters packing Webley (? I do know for sure, but forgotten and can't be bothered to dig for reference- do you realise how much Libya 'stuff' I have amassed? ) service revolvers. I have never seen that 'flash' on a Libya vehicle or on any other elsewhere and so, dear experts, I turn to you for your assistance please. Is the flash something to do with 3 Division? No, they weren't in Libya. 19 Brigade? No, they weren't there either. Has that LR been shipped over from Cyprus just for the 'visit'? Mr Soames visited Cyprus (Apr 59) just before or just after visting Homs. What fun!
  14. BlueBelle
    I say! A white painted front diff! Thank you for that 1068, though did you not see the same on the MP LR Series 1 (with 'proper postioned' sidelights) in my page 25 photo? No, nor did I. :-D
  15. BlueBelle
    Thank you Wally, Gordon and Sean. Do you know that the 'missing' sidelights had me burrowing the web (my goodness, so many really good and authorative sights, even just for Series 1 LRs) for evidence to show where the sidelights were, and yes, I found info and photos aplenty. The sidelights are indeed on the front bulkhead just under the windscreen. Armed thus, I again looked at the modified LR above and there's a sidelight there! Do look again! So exciting (I jest, of course, who could be so excited by finding a sidelight?)! That LR was in 19 Armoured Workshop, Gialo Barracks (Annex) when the photo was taken.
  16. BlueBelle
    There’s an unusual church in Deepcut. It’s St Barbara’s, the garrison church of the Royal Logistic Corps (I meant, the RAOC!). The Church was built in 1901 to serve the Deepcut and Blackdown army training camps, and was dedicated as St Michael and All Angels Garrison Church. It was only in 1967 that the church was re-named St Barbara’s Garrison Church. Built from wood and corrugated iron, it’s an interesting, and quirky church. No good as an aircraft hangar though. As you would expect in a garrison church, it contains flags, memorial plaques, and has some wonderful stained glass windows. My REME father married his first wife, a WRAC, there in 1950 or 51.
  17. BlueBelle
    I forgot to add, the photo is probably 1957, post Suez as the H mark that would most likely have been on it has been 'scrubbed' off. Though there were still vehicle running around with a H markk well into 1958 and beyond. The standing white rhino on a black oval at that point in time indicates the 'in terminal decline' of 10 Armd Div prior to its Nov 1957 termination and the formation of the Tripolitania and Cyrenaica Districts, though yet again, them rhinos could still be seen mid 1958 on some vehicles. Of course, had the photo been taken very early 1956, then the rhino would have been that of 25 Armoured Brigade which morphed into 10 Armoured Div for the Suez Debacle. The white 43 indicates an RMP Company and the Arm of Service patch it's on is black.:cheesy:
  18. BlueBelle
    Well I know you've given up trying to see those other 'blended in to the desert landscape' ambulances so I thought perhaps you'd do better with a B&W photo of that other LR, you know, the in-service one with NO military bumperettes (I like that word, bumperettes, for some unknown reason) and NO sidelights or winkies. Can you see them? I can't. No winkies, then perhaps handsignals and illuminated batons at night? This LR has been 'modified' by a local storm; a section of the workshop collapsed. Tripoli winters could sometimes be quite severe, usually with high winds and torrential rain waterflows through wadis which flooded vast areas, even downtown and, causing loss of life on occasion (a REME chap driving a 2RTR Saladin out of Medenine, Tripoli drowned when a flooded culvert collapsed as he drove over it in Feb 1962- RIP Dieter Brown REME). I am able to show you this photo, and a number of other forthcoming photos due to the privilage and generosity afforded me by Tony Burton NS56:10 REME (National Service intake 10 of 1956) who served in Tripoli, first with 19 Armoured Workshop at Gialo Barracks (Annexe) and subsequently with 5 Medium Workshop at Gurgi Barracks. You may have seen a post or two by him in this thread with his secret 'nom de forum' handle. Photo by Tony Burton NS56:10 REME
  19. BlueBelle
    MELF 57? One thinks you may be thinking of BFPO 57, the postal address which covered all locations in Tripolitania, even when the few remaining locations became part of NELF, headquartered in BFPO 51, Malta (later becoming Malta & Libya Command). So when I was a far younger 'uman bean' than now, I lived in Homs, Tripolitania, Libya BFPO 57 where, one could sometimes hear the simultaneous distinctive purr of more than 80 B-Series engines of the regiment's armoured cars and APCs. Not that one was old enough to realise, know or be interested in those sorts of things then. Tapping one's Wheetabix, pre-milk addition, was such fun as we competed to see whose cereal would produce the greatest number of weevils! And, if you didn't get them all out, they floated to the top, if you waited long enough! :red: MELF to my limited knowledge, was MELF, without numbers, headquartered first in Egypt then Cyprus (with their own BFPO numbers based on their locations). In Cyrenaica District, all locations were covered by Tobruk BFPO 56 and Benghazi BFPO 55. Of course, there may have been other BFPO numbers assigned to Libya locations though I’m not aware of them, nor do I profess to know when the locations were first allocated a BFPO number. Perhaps a philatelist would know.:cool2:
  20. BlueBelle
    Great stuff Clive, thank you. In 'my' photo too, of the trials LR2A, the rectangular area above the windscreen is not an alternative location for the registration plate, it is very much a grill for the ventilation system. The 'big' photo I have shows the mesh beyond doubt. See photo and, one of side lights.
  21. BlueBelle
    Superb stuff, Wally, thank you! Oh, look, it's VRN is just two numbers after 'my' photoed LR. Sisters! What came first, I wonder, the issue of 05DE35 for trials, or the photo of its 'sister' in the 1962 catalogue? When did production versions first appear? Oh, just wait 'till I post a photo of ANOTHER Libya-sand-coloured LR, with NO military bumperettes nor, ANY sidelights for folk to deliberate over! In-service too!
  22. BlueBelle
    Thank you Wally, as ever, relied upon for more great factual information :yay:
  23. BlueBelle
    Parked right next to the LR. Can't you see it? See then, how well that sand blends in with Light Stone to the degree that things become invisible! :-D Maybe next time it will reveal itself? Oh, whilst replying, I must point out, in my helpful 'mistress of information' capacity, that the badge 'MELF' is the abbreviation for Middle East Land Forces, just in case you were wondering :laugh:
  24. BlueBelle
    Last go! You have been to the railway museum, Clive, in Swindon and seen Class 4073 Caerphilly Castle and photoed a worn wheel on it. It was a famous Castle in its day during the 50s. I don't 'do' trains but I can sleuth or guess reasonably well though I'm probably miles off on the wrong side of Offa's Dyke on this one! :-D
  25. BlueBelle
    Englishmen approaching! Raise the drawbridge, drop the portcullis! Archers to your posts! They want our easter Eggs! Boil the oil! I really haven't got a clue to be honest! :-D
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