10FM68

Try these for a close approximation of the 6.50x16 Goodyear Xtragrip for ex-MoD Land Rovers. They work out at about the same price as a new set of 7.50x16 Michelins: not cheap, but good enough. http://www.northhantstyres.com/main-tyre-pages/sta-tyres/650-16-sta.html 10 68

http://www.tarmot4x4.pl/ Try these people in Eastern Poland. They sorted me out with an Uaz469 a few years ago when I was living abroad and they were brilliant keeping me fed with spares even after I was back in UK. The Uaz 452 is a cracking vehicle - have a look at some of the u-tube videos, but, it is heavy in the steering department! 10 68

Once you have the record card it may be clear whether she spent her entire service with the Army Fire Service, or whether, later on, she was passed to another unit. While I wouldn't expect the record card to record any change of colour (from an original factory finish DBG to say, a camouflage green), as that would be done at unit level, if it remained with the AFS then I doubt she would have been repainted at all. Why do I think that? Well, an AFS Land Rover such as yours would not be required to go on exercise, so there would be no requirement for camouflage paint and of course, the wear and tear on a vehicle employed locally around a depot, garrison area or even local training area wouldn't be that great - no more than a civilian vehicle doing similar admin tasks. But... in this hobby, "never say never"! Good luck with your information-gathering. 10 68

Ah! But the laurels belong to Lauren. Standing on the shoulders of giants.... 10 68

Is it an observation embrasure for fitting into a sandbag wall or emplacement? 10 68

Did anything ever come of this book? 10 68

Some cracking photos there, Captain H! You have the one I was looking for - the overhead with the carbine buckets in the doors and the tip-up seats. I think they made a really good job of the Series 1 by making it more accessible. I have owned two Uaz 31512s (469s) and, although their construction is lighter than a Land Rover, the four doors made them very practical. I bought one in Pardubice! 10 68

I don't know, but I am sure there is someone on this forum who does! The black and white photos do make one look twice, sometimes, Germans in coal-scuttle helmets in... a Land Rover? Just like the Series 1 in Alexandria in 1941 (in th background of a British war film called "Ice cold in Alex"! All the best 10 68

[/QUOAFS and never saw war sevicevas canteens Trouble is that very plausible becomes gospel and next thing we will see squadrons of RAF MG2 crawlers on the scene It is so easy to distort history, take for example the couple of K2 "NAAFI" wagons on the scene. These were converted from ATVs post war for the AFS If anybody has a photo of an MG2 in service then fine, if not then let's be careful about misrepresenting stuff Not in my book it doesn't. Plausible means just that and, I am sure that most people on this forum can cope with that concept. There is nothing in my post which is any more "misrepresenting history" than those which categorically state that they were not used by the Services. The fact is that, at the moment, no one in this debate knows for sure and I would be disappointed to see a search for information by one member stymied by the confident assertion of another that they never saw service. As for photographic evidence, I have seen quite enough mis-captioned photographs in my time to be realistically sceptical about that. I regret not photographing the lawn mower the Army gave me in my married quarter now! Best 10 68

Many congratulations. It is great to see it on the road and looking so original. You will have to look out for a Tempo Land Rover now from the Bundesgrenzschutz. They are also very interesting and, as well as having a steel body, they have some special features, tip-up front seats, rifle stowage in the doors, lockers in the front wings... All the best 10 68

I would have thought it entirely possible that the RAF might have had some of these. Nowadays, the MoD use contractors for the maintenance of the estate who use their own equipment, but that wasn't always the case and there would have been quite a lot of stuff purchased by each of the three Services entirely for domestic use - for maintaining the grounds, sports pitches, gardens and so on. We have all seen pictures of Service road sweepers, dust carts and so on. And while I haven't seen pictures of these in service, I haven't seen pictures of Service lawn mowers either, but we still know they were bought and issued. Whether a vehicle such as this was supplied in RAF blue is one thing, that a local maintenance man on an air station somewhere might have "freshened it up" at some stage in its service with a coat of RAF blue, entirely another. I'm firmly in the "never say never" camp on this and many other things. And if ever there was a Service with a requirement for shallow-burying cables on its estate, then that has to be the RAF, so a small mole drainer - yep, very plausible, I would say. 10 68

I had excellent support for my Uazes from these people: http://www.tarmot4x4.pl and I know they have extensive stocks of bits and pieces for other ex-Warsaw Pact kit. 10 68

Rough Engineering Made Easy, then there was the All Girls' Corps and the Rather Large Corps! 10 68

I like that! Perhaps the same fitters who came up with the tandem seated Spitfires! Should the Daimler have a "tear drop" canopy, do you suppose? Incidentally - have you seen, from the same source, the Antar fitted with the crane from the Dinky Scammel Explorer and the Explorer given the Antar's semi-trailer? Dr Frankenstein loose in Binns Road? 10 68

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/dinky-military-army-armoured-car-code3-/252524055146?hash=item3acb9b4a6a:g:EasAAOSwMgdXyslB A unique driving position for this vehicle, I think! Caption competition anyone? 10 68

Sounds like 5th AGRA - an Anti Aircraft formation BAOR post-war 1 Nov 50 - 31 Mar 58 - red arrow and wheel on a blue square? 10 68

No, wheels are standard, though they were white (as you can see from the inner rim front OS) Tyres aren't though as the originals didn't last very well, but they're the closest I could get. Freewheel hub is also original. 10 68

Some time ago I promised you a picture of my 2003 Uaz, which was the second one I have owned. Sadly, I had to sell it a few years ago, but I brought it in to UK in 2004 and put it through an SVA to get it registered so you will notice one or two oddities, such as the bumper with rounded-off ends and rubber covers on all the door hinges. There were too many protrusions and it failed its first appearance on 22 points! I was seriously worried as I feared that I now had a lump of useless metal which I could neither drive nor sell! But the tester was excellent and he told me exactly how I could sort each one out and it passed at the next showing. It also has the plastic under-wing liners to keep at least some of the tyre splash and dirt out of the nooks and crannies. I found the windows rather constraining so drove it mostly with the door tops off even in winter. This one had an Andoria diesel engine fitted as standard and coils on the front and parabolics on the rear. It was a good ride. I exchanged the original Russian seats for the Polish ones I took out of my old one. They were supplied by Tarmot and were much better quality and a lot more comfortable than they looked. Best 10 68

Really sorry to hear that, Ian. How can he have been so clumsy? I do hope you have good luck in repairing or replacing them. Something will turn up, I'm sure. Keep at it. Best 10 68

You're welcome. Enjoy your Ferret! 10 68

You wrote: By coincidence, I have just been reading an article on these gun mounts in an Australian MV club newsletter. There have been a number of NOS mounts for sale at the Corowa event in last few years, in fact a couple of weeks ago I helped load one on to a trailer while at the event. Here is a link to the newsletter with article: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...NzM0MmE1ZWIzNQ This is the link you offered, Richard. It was an excellent article. 10 68

This subject cropped up a few months ago on page 10 of Zero-Five-Two's thread on the Militant Mk1 Tanker. Richard Farrant provided a link to an Australian site which provided full details of the mount and pictures. I can't open that link any more but you may be able to. Basically, it was a large mounting which carried a .5" Browning to provide low-level air defence for British soft-skinned vehicles in the 1950s. It never came to anything and the guns remained in store until they appeared on ground mounts during the Falklands campaign. The mounts themselves were tested by the Australians and some are still available over there apparently. 10 68

The Saracen soldiered on in Northern Ireland at least into the 80s. It could be they were fitted with Clansman there. 10 68

While this story is, of course, a load of codswallop, it reminds me of a more poignant and totally genuine occasion when old men appeared in their old uniforms. After the war, the West recognised the communist government of Poland established in Lublin and the Polish soldiers who had fought for their government in exile in London became stateless. Many of you will remember that life in post-war Poland soon became totally dominated by Stalin's Soviet Union and life for ex-Servicemen who fought in the west - alongside the RN, the British Army and the RAF - was made increasingly untenable. Many were imprisoned, some executed and many more were unable to return to their homeland and established new lives for themselves in Britain, Canada and elsewhere. Only Polish soldiers who had fought in the 1st Polish Army under command of the Red Army were recognised. Following the return of democracy to Poland in 1989 - 1991, those Polish military formations which had fought in the west were rehabilitated in their homeland and, for the first time since the war their members were able to erect monuments in Warsaw and elsewhere at which they could lay wreaths and remember their old comrades and the part they played in bringing democracy to Europe while having been unable to free their own country for all that time. It was my privilege to get involved in one or two of these and it resulted in my standing on parade in my khaki service dress usually laying a poppy wreath. Beside me would be many Polish veterans - and the remarkable thing is that many of them too would be wearing Service Dress identical to mine and also made in London. Not made in the 1980s, however, but when they had been serving in the UK in the early 1940s. On disbandment in 1945/6 the uniforms had been packed carefully away and now, finally, over 50 years later, they were seeing the light once more. Quite remarkable and most memorable to see these uniforms, both SD and battledress, with their original insignia and being worn by their original owners. Their numbers will be fewer now, but I am willing to bet that, those who can still parade in their WWII uniforms on appropriate occasions. Absolutely fantastic - THAT is living history! 10 68

David has hit the nail on the head. Yours is a fascinating and valuable thread. Some of us try to avoid adding superfluous comments as it is the narrative of the restorer which is of greatest value and we enjoy digesting it without distractions. Even those of us whose restoration skills extend little beyond applying a bit of paint and giving the vehicle a decent service gain enormously from the experience and demonstrated skills of others. And, for me, seeing another old British military vehicle have life breathed back into it is a real pleasure. Well done and keep it up - both the vehicle and the thread. 10 68