Peter4456

It's all superb - that's why I love this forum - people willing to share their photo gems!!

Outstanding photos - more when you have time please!!

I agree Nick, I don't think anyone in authority at W&P had any idea that this was going to happen.

I also think that Greg (i/c Living History) and his staff did a superb job collating a list of witnesses and at the same time pacifying a large number of very angry and distressed people!

I would imagine the CAA investigation must be almost complete by now and that Rolling Thunder will have put this behind them and started planning W&P 2011 with their usual 'surprise' element!

Oh the memories!

As a spotty youth in the late 70s, I had a 1968 Pattern DPM smock, bought after weeks of pocket money saving from The Toy Soldier, Maidstone (any Kent members remember this shop and the sequel, Soldiering On, next door?). It was superb and lasted for years, being worn to death, before finally meeting it's end as a Labrador's bed!

I've now got a 1990 Pattern smock (several in fact!). Warm, hard wearing, cheap as chips and almost as good as the 1968 Pattern in my opinion.

Soldier 95 jackets? - I know they're all about layers, but I wouldn't be seen dead in one!

Just my opinion of course!!

Could well be an experimental or trials example:

SCRDE = Stores & Clothing Research & Development Establishment, formerly based at Colchester.

The building is now derelict and probably won't be saved when the rest of the Victorian Barracks is developed - it's a VERY ugly building - but I hope there will be some recognition of the important role played by SCRDE; after all, not all British Army kit is rubbish!!

Hello Paul,

The medal is the Victory Medal with what looks like the ribbon of the British War Medal. It looks, from the other ribbons, like your grandfather was awarded the BWM / VM pair and the VM should have his name, service number and regiment engraved on it. This should tally with his ID tag and would lead you to his Medal Index Card and possibly service papers (all available on line at www.ancestry,co.uk).

If he did serve with the Essex Regt, I might be able to help a bit more!

This is amazing news for all UK Ferret owners!!

If these tyres really are suitable, then they're the answer to all of our prayers. There has been much debate on this forum and elsewhere about finding suitable tyres for our Ferrets. These tyres look to be the first with the same (or very similar) tread pattern to the original fit Dunlops.

Fingers crossed!!

A really great thread - please keep it up and let us know how you're getting on!!

Any history of the two Sabres? Anything of their former life as Scorpions?!

212 (Highland) Battery, Royal Artillery ('The Scottish Gunners'), was (is) a Territorial Army Unit, based in Scotland. It was originally equipped with Starstreak missiles in the Air Defence role with E Troop at Arbroath, F Troop at Kirkaldy and G Troop at Lerwick on Shetland.

The unit became 105 (Scottish) Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, on 1st April 1986 and is now equipped with the L118 Light Gun.

I would imagine that your Land Rover led a fairly easy life (salt corrosion may be an issue though, if it was based at Lerwick!) - you never know, it may have been the CO's Rover! The regiment may well be able to help and some still serving may remember it - or even have in service photos!!

I'm not lucky enough to have have my Ferret's data plate, but the hull number plate is pretty similar to yours - not quite as rough, but not good either!

I'd be interested to see other hull number plates but I think yours is OK - the recent (ie post service) history may tell you more - did 05 CC 29 enter service around October 1959?

I'm not sure anyone would bother to fake a hull number plate - but a data plate? quite possibly!!

Brilliant photos - he must have had a very good camera for those days!!

Keep them coming - any in service photos are good!

I live in hope of finding one of my Ferret, 03 CC 42

Thanks for your reply - Wow!

Jim was with the 10th (East Riding Yeomanry) Battalion, The Green Howards, on the Kent coast until 21st Sept 42, and then posted to 30th Green Howards. He was attached to the Depot & School, Airborne Forces until 25th May 1943.

Hope this helps!

Can anyone decipher the markings on this Norton 16H being ridden in WW2 by my wife's grandfather, Sgt Jim Cunnew, Green Howards?

I agree, it's probably a Gulf War veteran - with a very interesting history! At the very least, it was prepped for the Gulf - that's good enough for me!

The Merlin record may well tell you more (PM sent)

I don't think it actually went to N. Ireland - it stayed with the Rear Party in Germany.

The Life Guards did go to the Gulf in 1991 and your Ferret appears to have been with them at the time, but do you have any evidence that it went there? Desert paint, photos etc?

Griff,

It looks like your Ferret was in Germany with the Royal Artillery pre 1970. An interesting (and long!) service history though.

I laminate these service histories, shove them in a 37 Pattern Webbing map Case (try Ebay) and, hey presto, one vehicle information board for shows!

18 EA 36.doc

Steve,

I know it's a time consuming job, posting all of these photos, but as a Range Wrecks fan, THANKS A MILLION!!!!!

Really sad to see the Chieftains ending their days like that.

Keep posting please!!

What a lovely item - I wonder how many survive in such good condition?!

I think the answer to your question is:

Queen's Dragoon Guards

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

9th / 12th Lancers

1 & 2 Royal Tank Regiment

With the Challnger fleet being mothballed, how many of the current Cavalry / RAC regiments will survive?

Rob,

It looks like your Ferret has had a fairly easy life!

17 Rear Vehicle Depot (RVD) BAOR - Recklinghausen, Germany - one of the large RAOC vehicle storage depots

16 BND - pass! Check the scan that Bovington sent you (16 Base Vehicle Depot (BVD), Olen, Belgium?)

Vehicle Depot (VD), Ludgershall - another massive storage depot in Wiltshire, home of many Ferrets over the years!

Queens Division Depot, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire - former RAF base and home to the B17 'Memphis Belle' in WW2, it was the Queens Division Depot from 1970 - 1993. I'm wondering if your Ferret was a Gate Guardian - if so, other forum members may be able to tell you more, but there should be lots of pictures of it on the gate!

Welcome to the world of Ferrets!

Superb photos, but, as usual, NO registrations showing on any of the CVRTs!!

The Falklands Scorpions and Scimitars have always interested me, mostly because they're probably still out there somewhere - the Scorps having been converted to Sabres and then sold by Withams.

I suppose the only way to find out which ones went to the Falklands is to trawl through every Scorpion record and hope for the best.

If lived nearer Bovvy, I'd been down there a shot!

Does anyone have the EMER for fitting 24v indicators to the Austin Champ?

I'm looking for fitting instructions and a wiring diagram if possible

Does anyone know where I can get hold of the CES and Servicing Schedules for the Austin Champ? - good copies are fine!

There's Ferret publications galore available, but very little for the Champ - odd considering how many were built.

Thanks in advance

My Mum and Dad were on holiday in Pembrokeshire in my Dad's Series II SWB Land Rover when the Germans arrived. I understand that German armour arriving in the UK only 16 years after the war caused quite a stir at the time and that the press were out in force to record the arrival.

Apparently (and I'd love to see it for real!), my Dad got mixed up with the convoy and his civilian Land Rover appeared in the news reel footage, in the middle of a load of German tanks!

Fast forward to a family holiday in Pembrokeshire, circa 1975, and I watched amazed as a group of German soldiers wrote 'Deutschland' in huge letters in the sand at Barafundle Bay, not far from Castlemartin!

Aah, the memories....!!

Help!!

I'm looking for a diagram / drawing that shows the electrical system components of the Austin Champ (Cargo version -not FFW / FFR)

I've found loads of wiring diagrams, but nothing that shows the how the various components were laid out with clips, fixings etc. I thought the Parts Lits may have one, but sadly not.

Any ideas? Does such a drawing exist?

If the MOD continue their apparent programme of disposing of UK Gate Guardians, then Withams please put me down for this one, seen this weekend at Lulworth Camp, Dorset (with a Challenger I on the other side of the road and a Saladin visible further inside the camp)!!