fv1609

Not very common admittedly but any ideas?

Very interesting, thank you for posting.

Looks like from a Jointers Trailer

Ian I have looked through the 81 trolleys in Section 4F but the only ones that bear any resemblance to #1 are the three I have posted up. Bear in mind this listing is circa 1960 & may post-date the use of #1.

Ian are those two I put up for Ted the same as posts #1 & #6 ?

Ted right here are yours, I'll look for yours Ian in a few minutes.

Ian I've got similar sheets for Mk 1 & Mk 1A, plus some earlier types. Do you have a particular one in mind?

A discrete upgrade, better than fitting a diesel!

Just wondered Richard as the only in-service reference to B61 I have seen is in an RAF parts book exclusive to B61.

Richard B61, was that RAF?

This is the place Jim: http://www.milweb.net/go/banister/

A bit more tidying

I've seen one in the library at Bovington, so they will scan it for a price. My database indicates that I have copy. I've just spent over half an hour looking for it, but I've not seen it since the move here 6 months ago.

Afraid not. Points of interest: December 1956 Due to accident, trials of first prototype suspended Second prototype due Jan 1957 Cost of prototype proving greater than originally estimated.... B81 expected to be fitted to third prototype (annotated not acceptable for Saladin due to poor cooling) WO ordered 10 vehicles 3 - Personnel carriers 3 - Ammunition carriers 3 - Fuel carriers 1 - Command vehicle June 1957 Three prototypes running on trials, fourth due end of June Command vehicle still under design High noise levels reported in vehicles Flotation trials, mean speed over two runs was 3.6mph Third prototype (825 GF) trialled loading in mock-up Beverley B81 will be fitted fourth prototype 43% increase in horsepower over B80 (annotated may help Saladin) Fourth prototype being constructed of mild steel Manufacture of Troop Trials vehicles is proceeding. First due end of June. Hoped to have five cargo/personnel carriers & one command vehicle completed by August Expected six Troop Trials vehicles will take part in autumn trials in BAOR Design study for APC version being carried out

Alec oh no had that 32 years now I think, although not a prototype is Serial No.9. The SB301 I had was a prototype. Just had a long chat with the new owner of the GNR one, so that didn't stay on the shelf for very long!

Not ex-Army but ex-GNR has been in France for several years now seems to be in Netherlands. http://www.milweb.net/webvert/a2327

Thank you, so what date appx was that? I have here two FVRDE Reports dated Dec 1956 & June 1957.

Oh yes please FV421 I second that & did they ever construct a FV426?

Well that sure shows your depth of knowledge & determination to get things spot on in your mission to write an authoritative book. Yes false memory, no matter how well meaning, must a pain. But even the boot repairs are of interest (to me), somewhere I have the layout of a RAOC mobile boot repair facility & without boots an army can be rendered impotent. Reminds me of Lawrence after taking Aqaba being asked if the Turks were gone "No they are still there but they have no boots". Somewhere I have procedures for setting up an Airborne REME Workshop I think it was based on experiences in Palestine, but I think was written in Libya. I'll see if it has any relevance to your project.

Ok thanks. But I can't really watch the video as it will gobble up my data usage as I have no broadband, I'm just using a phone link which is neither fast nor reliable. In the other link I could see FV1601 17 BK 88 with Suez markings, that incidentally was struck off on 20/4/64. Can't read the others I'm afraid.

Ooh a "German" Humber 1 Ton CT now that would be nice to see or even any non-Germanised ones please.

REC or R is the date received at a depot. I see you are interested in the font & size of the stencilling. My recollection is that characters are 1" high. I assume you want to reproduce this on your restored trailer. The thing to bear in mind is that these are temporary markings for depot administration & were to be removed on issue. So you may well want the trailer to represent its appearance in a vehicle depot, so to be realistic it should be empty & devoid of any unit markings, embellishments or kit. On the other hand if you want the trailer to depict an in service role with a unit, then the depot markings should be obliterated. So that would save you the hassle of having to stencil it up again. I have a little chuckle to myself to see nicely restored vehicles on show with all the markings that had ever been on the vehicle/trailer including the temporary depot markings, which makes it look a little silly. It is best not to say anything as I have learnt it can cause a terrible upset to raise any queries about a restored vehicle. :-D Most of my documents are 20+ years old so you may get an up to date interpretation of the meaning of the markings from the forum member who is still working in this field.

The 4+4 digit code has been known by various things since this particular introduction in 1967, but in general parlance is referred to as the Asset Code. The first four digits were the Establishment Code that defined the role the last bit the make, model, type etc. At some point the MOD changed the structure so that the first part is the Liability Number & the second part is the SIN. The two systems were in use & a recent FOI request revealed that the MOD had no idea that there was an earlier way to construct it, as some older trailers (not yours) remained on the system could not be "translated" to give a sensible interpretation of what it actually was. (I don't seem to do very well with FOIs, my most recent one was rejected as "vexatiously burdensome".