Tarland

Someone got a bargain given that the trailer for moving it was included as well.

Looking at the photos on the auction website I hadn't realised that there were passenger seats on hatches in the load bed beside the drivers seat.

A design before its time. A Quad/ATV 30 years before the Japanese bike manufacturers thought of the idea!

Any chance of some photos of the respective controls for future reference

By example you mean the AA gun?

Is that the heritage centre at RAF Honington?

I have found a couple of references to tractors but they are generic - 5 tonne 6x6 truck

8 hours ago, Richard Farrant said:

I saw the picture of the probe on the Xmod website (out of stock) and it looks the same as the one fitted to Rolls Royce B Range petrol engines. You could try Richard Banister with the NATO number and see what he has in stock, 01797 253211

Richard, thanks I'll give him a try. I suspect its probably used in all the RR engines of that era.

And before anyone says - Yes a Unimog is a Mercedes!!

 A bit bigger than a Harrier.....

Thats Excellent! Cheers

I was thinking something a bit bigger than a Unimog.....

I know what you mean about the Unimog tow tractors used for the Harriers on dispersed field locations. Those tended to be the short wheelbase versions.

Thanks for the link - never knew about the long base versions.

I did have a look to see what trucks the Argentines were using. Supposedly a Mercedes of some form. Apparently a number were returned to the UK  (according to the ARRSE website) but apparently Mercedes were never paid by the Argentine goverment for the truck contract so declined to provide spares.

The trucks left on the Falklands were run into the ground in the couple of years following the War and scrapped.

Did the RB44 ever end up in RAF regiment service?

From the photo a normal battery was two guns plus a radar trailer (there were 6 Radars recovered although one was in a bad way plus 13 guns) so at least 3 tractors required for a battery plus supporting vehicles. Crews would travel in the tractors, plus a Landie and a suitable vehicle for ammuniton and a fuel tanker.

What was used for the Bofors L70's before they were declared obsolete - Bedford MJ's?

I have been contemplating that option.

It needs to have a two pin electrical connection. It also appears to have an adapter that makes up into a 1/2" x 3/8" UNF adapter in the coolant rail so I have options for the thread sizes on the probe.

Also came across this in the process

http://www.duxfordradiosociety.org/restoration/equip/aa3mk7/aa3mk7.html

Can anyone shed any light on what vehicles were used by the RAF Regiment as Gun Tractors in the 1980's

Just finished reading Ian Gardiners "The Yompers" (45 Commando in the Falklands) and includes an interesting photo of a captured Argentine AA gun that has been installed on the heli deck of a ship (I think one of the LSL's in Port Stanley harbour).

I know an Auxiliary RAF Regiment was formed at RAF Waddington that employed captured AA guns and Skyguard Radars (the main search radar from Stanley ended up at RAF Buchan)

The 35mm GDF system is detailed here and has the entry on the Waddington unit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oerlikon_GDF

Not been able to find any pictures/details in RAF service. Any ideas/suggestions on what would have been used to support this equipment?

Not the best image but an example of the smaller 20mm Rheinmetall AA gun on the flight deck of HMS Fearless

An example at Goose Green - a well know image of the Gurkhas having relieved 2 Para following arrival of 5 Infantry Brigade

I don't believe these 20mm guns were ever used post war. They just ended up as trophies with examples at IWM and Muckleburgh amongst other places. These look to be of a size that they could have been towed by Landrovers (as were the components of Rapier).

Sounds like a business opportunity if they were used that widely!!!

Tried the Perkins aftermaket parts distributors but they don't seem to cover the C series engines.

Until I saw shirc's post I'd never even heard of OTIS

You occasionaly see the 1980's Individual Weapon Sight(IWS) image intensifiers come up for sale online but I have never seen an OTIS

Can anyone point me in the direction of any reliable sources of Rolls Royce C6 Diesel engine parts?

C6 engines were produced in the Shrewsbury plant which was taken over by Perkins in the mid/late 1980's.

Having had a good search online I have also seen mention made of Caterpillar on another forum.

Cheers

About 4 minutes in, the casting that is being made is the main body of the telescope...

Also stills/production figures of the number produced at the end

A search for "CT&S Telescope" turned up this:

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/collections/imu-search-page/record-details/?TitInventoryNo=86327&querytype=field&thumbnails=on

I'm not sure theres much to find in the manual. Appears to be dual wide field low power and narrow field high power telescope. Its not an optical illusion the two objective lenses are different sizes.

The sighting bars obviously allow coarse aiming of the instrument (thats what the ATS girl on the right of the photo is doing). The respective scales give bearing and elevation but only relative to the instrument.

Focusing seems to be on the diopter eyepieces.

Looks like its on the correct tripod as well so as Tony B says a nice find.

The ATS girls appear to be on a HAA gunsite - sequence of photos here including height/rangefinder and Kerrison predictor:

http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ack-ack-girl

A quick search online turned up this:

http://www.bamfords-auctioneers.co.uk/archive/ThreeDay-Fine-Art-and-Antique-Auction--September-2011/lot-1374/

"Anti-Aircraft Binocular Gunsight Telescope, prismatic sighting"

Picture of it in use

Not a rangefinder

Any makers mark etc. on it?

The manufacturer and the Type/model number will narrow down the hunt for documentation.

This reprint of the 1914 Artillery Instruments handbook might provide some clues as covers a number of different makers and includes their respective  internal arrangement of the coincident type optics

https://www.naval-military-press.com/product/handbook-of-artillery-instruments-1914/

Have a look here - Minewarfare and Clearance Divers Association website

http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/MCD_History_Frames.htm

Theres a good episode on German magnetic mines and mine countermeasures in the BBC 1970's "Secret War" documentary series. Its available on YouTube or DVD (the whole series).

There is also a good book on how the Royal Navy minewarfare officers went about dealing with the German mines - "Service Most Secret" by Robert Frayn Turner. Doesn't have lots of technical details of the mines but more the story of the various countermeasures deployed to defeat the various types as they were deployed. Its from the 1950's so a bit dated in style but still a good story.

The ground mines, primarily the magnetic were used as blast bombs in the same manner as the high capacity "Cookie" that the RAF dropped in conjunction with incendiaries. The blast would take off roofs opening up buildings for the incendiaries. The magnetic mine had a hydrostatic pistol so that in the event of not being dropped into a column of water then the mine would detonate. The air dropped version included a short delay timer to ensure the aircraft was safely clear of the mine before it was live (in much the same way as the conventional German GP bombs electric fuses protected the dropping aircraft). It was the failure or stoppage of the timer that resulted in these mines ending up as UXB's.

Both the magnetic and acoustic devices were eventually fitted with a very early photovoltaic cell. Basically this acted as an anti handling device. If exposed to light (the cell was concealed in the tail housing of the mine) during the defusing process the mine detonated.

In addition to the acoustic types there was the Oyster mine which detected the pressure wave created by a ships passage though the water column near the mine.

I presume you had a slipway to recieve the landing craft at the other end and the tractor to push the stolly off?

2 hours ago, Dan77 said:

Well, she is finally on the mainland, only suffered a cracked glass, so could have been worse. 

Is that going off the island or coming ashore on the mainland?

Made a bit of a mess of the beach.....

3 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

Needless to say the whole operation was over-hyped by the press prior to the move which used two 8 row bogies, smaller girders than those shown and a pair of MAN 8x4 tractors not the Trojans as suggested.

Saddest part of the story is that we seem to be incapable of building a similar transformer in the UK rather than having to buy from Korea.

If it hadn't been over-hyped and there'd been carnage on the roads imagine the slagging all concerned would have got!!!

It was successful then?

https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/photos-mod-tracks-with-deadly-accuracy/3/

Photo of said sight here - not the best quality image

Was replaced about 10 years ago by the sight shown in shirc's link.

Given the size of the thing surprised it was ever used in the field

On 7/31/2018 at 5:41 PM, BRDM Driver said:

Abbot is fine on the road!

Yes I know that as Driver I take all responsibility but the commander has a much better all round view - except when pulling out at junctions and definitely a better view of whats going on behind!

So did you pass?

Do you mean this ring on the top of the sight shroud?