fv1609

Not quite the same as the model but it is the only RAF Brockhouse fuel servicing trailer listed in AP 278E Book 2. The book is undated but the Defence Council signature on the front dates it to the 1960s.

Yup when Bracelet started this is how they were turned out. When the mod was launched in Soldier it showed the flimsy windscreen covers which looked to give less protection that the visor-periscope arrangement of the Mk 1. I have never been able to define when the vision blocks in the heavy visors appeared. I have never found it described in an EMER or EMER index unless it was issued as a Local E&MEI (Northern Ireland).

What's this then?

Simon I can only speak for postwar. But even today the Regulations require "The lubricant to be used for gear boxes, transfer and/or auxiliary gear boxes and axles is to be clearly marked on such assemblies as near as possible to the filler plug ie OEP220, OMD330 etc. Markings are to be in white paint except on those rear axles which are painted white for convoy purposes where the marking is to be in black paint." Earlier there had been a requirement to mark the location of the radiator drain plug, which really should be pretty obvious I would have thought. "Capless bulb", whatever that means, may well have been to avoid people trying to fit the wrong type of bulb & causing damage given that they might not be too skilled if they were unable to locate a filler plug. Although the type of oil to be used would have been more helpful!

Brian. I have quite a lot of EMERs on the No.4 Mk 7 but I don't know how it differs from Mk 6. I am glad there are at least over there some early centimetric enthusiasts. I started fiddling around with X-band kylstrons in 1972. I also worked on (in the amateur sense) 70cm, 23cm, 13cm, 9cm, 5cm, 1.5cm, 1.2cm. Eventually I was running CW/SSB on 10Ghz. My main interest was tropo scatter. But there was some interest from others on low power devices, kylstrons then Gunns going to sea level & doing super-refraction. It is amazing to see the wartime research on bands down to X across the Irish Sea from the Isle of Man. One can well see how the radar installed on a small boat or submarine had a greater over the horizon range than a battleship! I dropped out of amateur radio about 20 years ago. I was using homebuilt gear with much waveguide feeding TWTs. However things have “moved on” apparently. Virtually no gear is home built now, most people are using professionally built solid state gear producing several watts on 10Ghz. These rigs cost several thousand pounds & when they pack up, they are sent back to Germany for repair. I have accumulated a lot of WG16 & WG14 with components including kylstrons, power meters, slotted lines, wavemeters etc. But nobody seems interested in anything like that any more! Sickening when I had paid so much for stuff that I dismantled from radar systems in scrapyards! Eventually I'll sell it for scrap, but that somehow seems immoral!

I haven't the fogiest, presumably some sort of weapon. Never come across a hatch like that before in pictures or in EMERs. I expect it was authorised in a LOCAL E&MEI BAOR, such documents are local & short lived & should be destroyed after a year. So very few survive. I have some draughtsmans drawings, I've never really studied before but I see that was for fitting a Karl Gustav & that went on the roof.

Yes but of far more use.

Well 30 man-hours is one man taking 30 hours or 2 men taking 15 hours & so on. Clearly too many men would get in each others way. So I imagine it might be a maximum of 4 men in a team?

Adam no idea I'm afraid. It wasn't a manufactured variant but merely a REME conversion of FV1611 done under the authority of an EMER issued in January 1965. Even if one could find the cost of the conversion kits you would need to factor in labour. The kits were in 4 parts: LV9/BOE/MOD/22348 LV9/BOE/MOD/20762 LV9/BOE/MOD/20763 LV9/BOE/MOD/22302 & locally obtained nick-nacks Stripping & assembling: 30 man-hours Embodiment: 20 man-hours Actually I'm surprised it could be done so quickly, looks a lot of hard work!

Adam just wondering is your body a Sankey? The flap you had was from a ROF pig, shouldn't be a difference, in theory! Costs of FV1600: The costs of manufacture varied with time. In April 1954 the first 250 of the FV1601 with the winch cost £4,250 each but by August 1954 this had fallen to £3,350. Whereas the FV1602(A) had cost £3,250 in March 1952 this had risen to £3,500 in February 1956 and at the same time the winched version came in at £3,650. The cost of converting a FV1601 to a FV1611 was estimated at £6,000 and for a FV1602 to FV1612 £5,700.This was at a time when the cost of the B60 engine was £730 3s 0d. The estimated cost of the conversion of the FV1602 to the 20 FV1609 prototypes was £5,950. In fact the actual cost was £5,650. I imagine one of the few occasions in the history of human conflict when a defence project actually cost was less than estimated!

Looks like reg mark is 523 XUG and is that a replica firearm in the turret by any chance? Difficulties of having replica firearms in properly structured living history displays is one thing, but here I have every sympathy with the Police for not tolerating the threat of whatever it is or might be. Displayed in a normal street environment is bad enough but in a potential riot situation with world leaders attending is just too much provocation. I hope they get dealt with properly but with the realisation they have nothing to do with the legitimate MV world.

Oh come on, we're not that gullible:) Yes you are right actually. But it does appear in my Imperial Dictionary of the English Language of 1850. But not in the dictionary section of my Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge 1855, nor Cassells New English Dictionary 1935, nor my OED 1964. Very strange has the word just been kept alive by usage since 1850 but officially ignored, I wonder why?

I would have thought the vehicle being blue with the chequering, might be regarded as an accessory to the charge of impersonating police officers, given they are dressed in overalls & helmets suggestive of that. Or maybe they thought that with fuel consumption like that it won't get very far! Or perhaps secretly they injected abrasives into the dif so that it will shortly grind to a halt!

Shame on them, a big booh to those in the hobby or on the fringes of it, who abuse the privilege of owning armoured vehicles to make political points. Friends suggested some months back that I used my pig on protests about the dictatorial status of the unelected New Forest National Park Authority. Strongly as I feel about it, because it is in effect driving me out of my home, I declined as it discredits the MV movement in the eyes of the authorities of their various kinds. Political protests could make the authorities very wary of allowing private ownership of such vehicles. I remember that 25 years ago you were not allowed to buy armour if the MOD was the end user, so it had to be imported. The first Ferrets were ex-Hong Kong Police & imported by Mike Hoffman. We don't want to return to that situation or even worse!

Yes! Bit like the thinking behind 697 Light Admiralty Grey - looks light blue to my eyes.

Ted wasn't that the other way around? I believe 641 was added in 1964 to the 1948 list & then changed to 241 in 1988.

I was just about to go to work on the possible vehicles it was, then it looked familiar http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?t=7062&page=42

Its either a FV1611 or a FV1612 that is still FFW & not been converted to FFR.

It used to be at Bordon, just been shown of a picture of it parked next to the armoured RL.

Don't know if this helps you Michael. Although there are 6 studs here, the Trailer, 1/2 Ton, GS, Cargo, 2 Wheeled, No. 1 & 2 looks very similar to yours.

Mike, actually it was a police uniform that evolved from Dark Rifle Green that appeared black, but looked blue when you got very close. There was an official proposal that it should be changed to an obvious blue, but as an act of defiance it would seem, it then went to a very obvious lighter green!

It was converted in service to an Incident Control Point & fitted with many clipboards screwed to the walls. It is currently an amateur radio shack, hence the girder set in 4ft of concrete for the mast. I suspect it contained racks of valve-operated equipment & in much need of the extractor fans that would have been fitted in the extension box at the front. I always thought this was 1950s, but the FVRDE design was only laid down in 1962. Too bulky for me to tow, although it was dragged here by a Land Rover!

Yes, ain't nothing like the real thing. I would never have felt comfortable with a faked uniform & there were other features like the change from bakelite buttons to metal ones.

This is my Trailer, Cabin, Simulator, Radar Target, No.2 Mk 1, 2-Ton which was part of Yellow River radar for Red Shoes missile system.