fv1609

Hello CW I've kept out of the thread but let me know when you want me to reveal all. Bertie, do you know where that picture was taken? It looks like the front of a Humber 1-Ton Truck. Bit unusual to see the jerrycan on the front.

Well yes I'm probably that age now. :shake: But I don't perform on stage anymore.:confused: Freddie died May 2006. But I would sooner see an ageing performer than some replica group trading off the skill & success of real performers. I think all the main tents have these copycat groups, which are by no means cheap to see. For me they are about as much interest as seeing a replica vehicle or just a photocopy of an EMER.

Particularly as you now have to pay for entertainment in the beer tents.

Yes Lee quite correct, although it is officially designated as Tent, Cider, Large, Rural (Fun), GS, No.1 Mk 1 The furnishings are quite versatile, they have special features that allow you to use them as tables, chairs or sofas. You can fall on them causing no injury to yourself. You can eat them, feed them to the goat or use bits to remove cheese sandwich from between your teeth. Bales, Straw, Mk 2 are most versatile. I seem to remember a bearded gent from Gloucester who sells Land Rover bits (& others) leading me astray in there once, I think that is the incident that androo is referring to. (If Tony B goes in there asking for a pint of Devon cider he'll get his swingletree crushed & a manglewurzle in between the futchells.)

I don’t know what it means. But the time periods look more like an attachment to special units with that name rather than some modification to provide security fitments. VPK (Vehicle Protection Kits) were fitted to ½ Ton Rovers at the rate of 752 in 1969-72 with a further 30 in period 1976-77. Improved VPKs were fitted to ¼ & ¾ Ton Rovers in 1980.

Thinking of GDSF does anyone know what this is? (I'll give the answer later tonight)

But why would we be drinking Devon cider, at the Great Dorset Steam Fair?

Roland well done a lot of effort went into that. Few would realise that by just seeing it at a show. I well remember seeing your earlier pictures & was very impressed by your metal working skills. I suppose the greatest compliment will be people telling you that you were very lucky to find one in such good condition!

Hello Nick, I wasn't sure which Nick you were then saw CMP so I know who I'm speaking to now! In fact I think the last time we spoke it was at Stoneleigh several years ago. I think it was at Beltring that a trader was telling me the show was on again. He had previously been driven out by the requirement for his team to wear corporate uniform, everything to be labelled in display boxes & a fee of something like £5,000 for a stall. I thought Peter Slater did a very good job for little thanks, glad he has been asked to pull it together. Trouble is the lack of publicity, I would have thought it was easy enough to get it on some websites & spread the word. If there were going to be more than say 75 MVs & some mil traders I would go. But without that reassurance I would leave it until next year for the momentum to build up again. Yes the shed (1-Ton, 2- Wheeled) is still around. But I was thinking of taking the Wolf & using the 2-man arctic tent for economy reasons. I think it was 4 years ago when I last went because I took the Wolf & a judge queried why I had marked my entry "not to be judged". He asked if I wanted to change my mind as there was a prize available, I think he was surprised as I declined. But I didn't restore it so what was the point in me having a prize for something I didn't restore? (This is controversial but I think prizes should only go to owners who have done a significant part of the restoration themselves!) Anyway I'm undecided, but if it gets more publicity & lots of interesting people say they will go, then I'll go along as well.

http://www.stoneleighfestival.co.uk/index.html No mention of MVs, so maybe they are not expecting many? Who do we contact? I remember the new company that took over running the show wanted to introduce "a total shopping experience" & MVs & mil traders were eased out. But the new company were not so clever & I'm told ceased trading. The problem is I cannot remember where I read or heard this. There is nothing on Milweb or EMLRA/MVT sites or publications. So is it on properly for MVs? Who out of our lot is going? It's 124 miles for me & is as far north as I go for shows. If a number of us are going, then I'll go but don't want to go up there if the mil section is a minimal gathering? So anyone interested or got more details?

Some British smoke generators just burnt white lubricating oil, OM-17

Bit confused about FV110001, as FV1100 is Leyland Martian, FV11000 is AEC Militant then the next in the series goes FV11100 for Albion, never heard of FV110001. So this was produced in 1955, but the FVRDE book of 1956 shows FV18006 Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4x4, CL (Landrover) SAS I don't know if the description given Land Rover Series One SAS Cargo FV 110001 is presented as an official description. But at the time Series One was not called Series One it was just "Land Rover" as Series Two didn't appear until 1958.

Matt are there any other numbers quoted? 'P' sounds like a provisional document & the final CES would have been Army Code No.33584. The suffix '4' suggests Amendment No.4. I don't actually have it but I do have AC No.33623 which covers various 1/4 Ton Rovers so that might be a help. It is here: http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/AC33623.pdf

Um they were boys actually.

There was certainly formal provision for it later on in part of the 'BT' series. 00 BT 01 to 49 BT 99 was specifically for vehicles taken on to Army census that had come from other services.

Yes. But there are 4 types of transfer box. The ratios are different between armoured & non-armoured. Within each type there are versions for winched & non-winched. If you don't have a winch doesn't matter if you have a winched transfer box as the PTO dog can just be blocked in disengaged. Yes, front & rear, armoured & non-armoured identical. Although the joints could be Tracta/Chobham/Birfield.

Eventually:-D What was more enjoyable was the purchase of the eggs in Waitrose the night before. I used my best Borat voice & hand gestures to ask two assistants if they sold "Chicken eggs". One looked blank & the other one said "We've only got ordinary ones":rofl:

But you need to watch out with the transfer box as this is 1.33:1 on GS & 1.41:1 on pig. Giving axle ratios of 5.57:1 on GS & 5.71:1 on pig. Presumably to do with the larger tyres on the pig. (The size of the actual shafts are the same but the joints in the GS will be Tracta. The pig would once have had Chobham, although could have had a retro fit of Tracta due to desperate shortage of spares. Although not all Mk 2 received Birfield joints.)

An article published last year on various markings stated that metal water cans were never brown & plastic ones were introduced in 1966. But I have a black one & a green one, both dated 1965. Last year I was very excited to find one dated 1964. But it was a strange lime green colour, then I noticed the National Code of the NSN was not 99 but 66. So its you lot down there that probably were the first to go to plastic!

You'll be lucky I'm not sure that the concept got very far at all. But you have a very good memory to have remembered mention of that. I have over 100 FVDD/FVRDE design spec documents for various vehicles which doesn't include the breakdown truck. What I do have is a 1950 WO design spec for the FV1606 1 Ton Humber Breakdown Truck. This is an earlier & high authority spec, but I don't know that it got any further than that. But who knows what little gems are hidden away somewhere or more to the point destroyed. Not quite the same but what about the designation of this thing, FV1601/1620?

Wow, this is fantasy land, I'm exhausted with excitement! In one photo I can just identify a single feature that identifies ROF pigs from Sankey ones. But I have never been able to find out the production numbers for each of 1,700 total. Going back to the Hornets. The two vehicles I can identify come from the early part of the production run, so that picture is mid 1962. In the foreground is 04 BK 11, behind it is 04 BK 81 - which still survives & is for sale! It is located in Sussex & if anyone is interested I can put them in touch with the vendor, but it is incomplete. The main rear support arm is gone although there is launch assembly for one side. The missile guidance equipment & fittings are missing and so is the original charging system. This was 100A not the weedy 25A on FFW or 12A on APC Pigs. But a fairly unique project & some nice front wings have been fabricated.

This ATGW system designed for the Humber was designated FV1620 (my nom de plume). It was actually developped originally to fire Orange William after the cancellation of the FV426. But when Orange William was itself cancelled it became the Malkara launch vehicle. With Orange William there was a launch vehicle, but the guidance was from a Ferret much nearer the target. In the Ferret there was an operator to track the target & another operator to track the missile, which may even have to fly over the Ferret. The cost of the Hornet FV1620 project to produce 24 vehicles, neglecting the missile development costs, was £90million. It officially came into service 1 Feb 1965 & went out in late 1968. A lot of money for just 3 years service. But a lot of knowledge & experience was passed onto Swingfire which replaced it. Still a lot of money, but the Para Sqn RAC represented a quick response unit that could go anywhere (Middle East really) and now had the power to destroy any known tank. This capability was to send a clear message to a potential aggressor, that things had progressed from the Paras landing in Jordan in 1958 with Champs & BAT guns. This potential heavy punch capability was intended to stop WW3 Maybe it did, who can say? So it might have been worth all that money after all?

Chris, thank you & what a fantastic picture. My first thought was that this was at Wharton Enginering, Elstree who made the bodies. But the production run, if you can call it that, was only 24 vehicles made mainly from July 1962 - Jan 1963. To see 7 in a row is very impressive. It is surprising to see one with missiles. But there were various types of dummy rounds. I imagine these were the ones that were of the correct weight & contained wiring looms with resistances to test the installation of the correct firing & guidance circuits. I don't doubt what you say that this is at ROF. But they must have soon gone back to Wharton for further upgrades. As yet there is no GPMG mount on the roof for air defence, after a lot of wrangling these were fitted by Whartons at a cost of £22,000 PER VEHICLE. I would have thought ROF could have undercut them on that. These vehicles here were fitted a non transistorised power supply for guidance unit. When the transistorised power units were fitted, more room was available allowing a much needed extractor fan to be fitted on the off side. The upper jerrican holder had to be moved to above the locker on the near side & you can see that has not yet happened. Neither have the smoke dischargers nor IR headlamps yet been fitted. This added about 3in to the length of the vehicle. This is why all official data & descriptions I have seen are wrong as nobody took account of this. Well meaning authors over the years have copied this data, but it is wrong as I have measured it on the one in my garage! The only other Humber pictures I could see was a sort of montage, are there others I have missed?