fv1609

Not a camera as such but it is recording.

Yes that logo is confusing so I didn't obscure it. Shot in dark is good. It is photographic recording.

Peeping whatever next Richard!

Not that Tony

Good thought Nic but this is an Army item

So what have we here?

I think the NSC is incorrect & it should be 5935, this gives quite a few hits.

The group preceding the NSN is the Domestic Management Code, it is not 0568 but O568 which is a Royal Navy DMC for Connectors, Electrical. Not that it helps identify it any more :-D

Width gauge due to blind view of wing?

I was discussing the meaning of Class with Richard as he felt that it was more likely to be related to the recent rebuild. My description of Class was based on definitions of vehicle depot processes in the 1960s/70s. However I happened to be perusing (as one does when there is "nothing on the tele") Regulations for Army Ordnance Services, Volume 2 - War, Pamphlet No.9. It gives quite a different take on Class & as this was issued in 1949 is going to be much more likely to be applicable to your markings. Of note is that the difference between Class I and II is determined by age & mileage, but unlike the later Class system it was not wholly related to that. The later system was exclusively for marking vehicles in storage that were fit.

Just be aware that although you may have insurance for things of special value it may only be when kept in the house. If you take the items off the property that cover is not valid unless you arrange additional cover which will be a lot more than the keeping it in the house cover.

Yes Flash Spotting Instruments was just a guess, but a guess can be a good trigger for people to be ready to say it is wrong & then we get to find out what it really is. :-D There are two more avenues for me to explore. EMER INSTRUMENTS although it may have migrated to EMER TEST & MEASUREMENT when that series was created. If I have nothing in there I'll look through the detailed indexes of A 001 respectively.

As you have spotted the NSC 6650 covers Optical Instruments, Test Equipment The Domestic Management Code that precedes the NSN is V7 & that is Test Equipment specially designed for Fire Control Equipments & Instruments. So at a guess it might be to do with testing Flash Spotting Instruments in artillery location?

Yes it looks as if it was overhauled before going into storage. I don't know where MTRS Workshop B145 was, but some of the these places were civilian companies contracted by the MoS. I think there was one garage in Weston Super Mare that did work on a lot of Champs. It wouldn't have stayed Class 1 indefinitely as it would be modified with time as I understand it worked like this. Say a vehicle had a Planned Life of 10 years & it went into storage after 4 years this is in the first 60% of PL so Class 1. After say 8 years it would be into next 40% of PL so becomes Class 2. After say 11 years it is beyond PL so becomes Class 3. There was a change in casting policy that included a mileage age, so the Planned Life was computed from charts that adjusted the age that allowed heavily used vehicles to "age" more quickly & vehicles with a fairly light service life to live longer in their Reliability Class.

The Reliability Class is based on the age of the vehicle in service irrespective of any time in storage. Class 1 - for first 60% of planned life Class 2 - for next 40% of planned life Class 3 - over planned life Planned Life for B Vehicles was set in EMER MANAGEMENT N 523, I have got this EMER but not to hand. '73 B VD' looks like 73rd B Vehicle Depot, part of 7th Vehicle Group HQ Castle Donnington. I'm afraid I don't know the location of 73rd all I have is that for 72nd & 75th.

Vehicle storage depot markings, should be painted out on issue to a unit. Class is the Reliability Class.

Richard I think you have hit the nail on the head that 'Aldershot' became a colloquial term for such a structure in the same way that the term 'Jeep' gets widely used. (I had actually withdrawn my post as it looked as if I was carping on & on about the issue as it struck me that in all probability your photo was captioned 'Aldershot'?)

Lizzie the overview for SP No.2 comes from a catalogue of Tents & Shelters in Service & Under Development unfortunately it is not detailed as would be in a User Handbook. There are no scale drawings, I'm not aware of any term of familiarity for it. I've looked in RAOS Part 8 Pam No.44 Handbook of Tentage 1946. Although it contains shelters they are only small specialist ones, the only large forms of tentage are marquees of their various kinds. Twenty years ago I bought direct from the MOD all user handbooks available for all tentage in service. The publications were all dated 1981, it doesn't include the Aldershot or SP No.2 but surprisingly still includes the various WW2 marquees. PS I forgot that I also have a separate book with the data summaries of all tentage in service in 1981 which amounted to about 50 types including SP No.2 but not the Aldershot. Although there is Shelter, Portable, Universal, Assembly 'A' it is nothing like the Aldershot. The UHBs I bought were just the ones held at the DSDC at the time, these do have line drawings but these are not included in the data book JSP 361.

They are a decent company & have interesting stock. The things may appear similar & have identical readings of resistance but one might be for a positive earth & the other for negative? The other thing to consider are these actually 24v coils or are they coils designed for use in a 24-volt system in which case they may be 12v coil that work with a ballast resistor? If so it leaves the field for alternatives a bit wider. The way to find out is to measure the voltage that feeds the cable to the coil & it should read 24 volts. Then close the CB points & if it is still 24v then it is a 24-volt coil, if it drops to 12v or so you have a ballast resistor in there somewhere.

I can certainly see the likeness to the Aldershot & for those who don't have the REME book I attach a scan. The thing that worries me is that the diagram shows on each side a pair of "windows" in each of the three sections on each side, whereas the Libyan ones have a larger single window in each of the three sections (as does SP No.2) The diagram shows no windows in the next upper sections yet windows are present on the Libyan ones & SP No.2. The diagram shows a window either side of the entrance, but on both the Libyan ones & SP No.2 there seem to be no such windows. It may be too small a detail to record on the diagram but there are no roof ventilators, although quite basic diagrams of wartime large tents & marquees show them. Difficult to see but some are just discernible of the Libyan ones & SP No.2. Although my picture of Shelter Portable No.2 comes from a 1973 publication it doesn't preclude it from being wartime as the book includes some wartime marquees. I note that the REME wartime book includes SP No.4, so it seems feasible that SP No.2 might have been around back then.

No problem. The after-quiz banter usually descends into this. Uncannily the mystery objects over the years regularly feature these facilities of their various kinds. It plays on the fascination with man's ingenuity in coping with this age old problem that is especially challenging in the battlefield.

Richard have you got any pictures? In what era did you come across them? The extract I posted is from the SCRDE Colchester 1973 catalogue. There is a slightly longer thing, a Shelter Portable No.33 but does not quite match Lizzie's picture, the SP No.2 seems to tie in with the features quite well I thought.

Is this the same?

The tentage looks to be Shelter, Portable, No.2 later codified as 8340-99-125-1439 30ft wide, 36ft long, 18ft high Floor area 1,080 sq ft Weight 4480 lb Steel frame, supporting canvas cover. Extendible in length Erection 12 men 1 hour 30 mins Striking 12 men 1 hour 30 mins

AF I'm afraid that although I have quite a large number of these FVRDE Specs they do not include any drawings. These two pages cover your area of interest. As you no doubt already know, it states the interior is to be painted enamel gloss eau-de-nil.