Ivor Ramsden

Is that a workshop or an operating theatre? I'm very envious. Morris information is difficult to find. We found details of our C9B SP Bofors vehicle at the Tank Museum and I think they've got Quad records too. I'm sure somebody else on here will be able to give a definitive answer on this. I can let you have a copy of the workshop manual on disc and I've got a spare copy of the Groucho Publishing reprint of the Driver's Handbook. Neither of these gives any detail on the body but they are invaluable for the mechanical side. There's a useful book, "Army Wheels in Detail: Morris Commercial C8 Quad" which contains good photos, and there are quite a few photos on this forum. There are also some very helpful FAT owners on here who will be able to answer every question. The number 2401 C8 etc looks like part of the chassis number. It should be stamped in full on the rear LH spring mounting, as here:

I think it's a FWD SU-COE. A lot were supplied under lease-lend, and they were RHD which would explain the LH indicator arm.

Aye, we did, Adrian. LAA units were issued with them very late in the war. The 15th LAA got 12 (4 per Battery) in mid-April 1945 and used them for the first time to cause unpleasantness towards what little remained of the Luftwaffe on 26th April. They were issued "In order to compete with jet planes and fighters flying low" according to a letter from HQRA dated 10th April. The Regiment had been firing at numbers of Me262s and the M16s probably were very welcome. We've only got a couple of photos of them and they aren't very clear. They tend to be lurking in the background, like here:

The Land Rover was supplied to the RAF early in 1952, so that gives the earliest possible date for the photos. It looks to be in very straight condition so it probably wasn't very old when they were taken.

Thanks very much, chaps, I knew I'd get the answer here.

I'm going through the Manx Regiment's War Diaries. In 1945 they exchanged their few remaining towed Bofors guns for Morris SP Bofors guns, making them an all-SP unit. The War Diaries refer to " FAMTO kit " for the Chev LAA tractors that they were handing over and to receiving " FAMTO kits " for the Morrises. I've never come across FAMTO and a search on here doesn't bring it up. What does it mean?

Very average! There's only town centre one that's worth visiting but we've got one at the Aviation & Military Museum which I keep stocked with some of the less run of the mill kits. We mostly sell aircraft; military stuff sells incredibly slowly apart from Airfix Bofors guns but that's probably because we've got a real one outside.

I can't comment on the Wespe Diamond T but I've got an AA wrecker in my "to build" pile and it's a mighty kit. I've built kits from both companies and there's an absolute world of difference between AA and Wespe kits. AA's kits are far better detailed (microscopic detail on the resin bits, photo-etch parts, decals etc) than Wespe's (resin bits only) but they cost much more. AA's instructions are much clearer too, but they have to be because their kits have a lot more parts. Some of Wespe's kits are a bit inaccurate but I'm not a desperate rivet-counter so it doesn't bother me too much. On the whole I think AA are better value but I'm not decrying Wespe's efforts - both companies make kits which can be built into cracking models. I'm just finishing an AA Chieftain Mk11 and I can't decide what unit's markings to put on it. Anybody got any suggestions?

I'm starting to think about building a wiring harness for the Morris CDSW but neither the handbook nor the workshop manual give any colour codes for the cables. Does this mean that they were all black or maybe another single colour? And how would they have been wrapped? Would they have had a woven cover or would they have been taped?

Here are a couple of M16s belonging to the 15th LAA Regt, the LAA unit of 7th Armd Div. Happydayz, your M16 would look ace in 7th Armoured Division markings rather than US markings ...

Will you adopt me?

What a disgrace. I've signed the petition - I think. I don't know Dutch.

Land Rover Bronze Green from the period when Land Rover series 1 and 2 were being built is identical to BS Deep Bronze Green. Army Rover 8s were factory finished in gloss deep bronze green, as were civvy Land Rovers unless you picked the exotic colour options like light grey or limestone.

Good idea. One of my former bosses had a similar idea - to get magnetic signs to attach to the office Land Rover. Oh deary deary me ...

It certainly looks like the ones that I remember. I'm sure somebody will be able to identify the location by the background. Thanks Les. Edit; That looks like a C9/B. The first clue is the bracket that is fitted to the middle of the bumper, which holds a rod that fixes the front jack in the up position. Further clues are the deep flange below the box section of the chassis and the axle tie-rods. On the other hand, the wheelbase looks a bit short and it's on 20 inch wheels. Maybe exposure to C9/Bs in Blackpool at an early age is why I look after one now! Les, if that picture is morris2, what's morris1?

Here are the photos. There's a picture of a Humber as well as Fords. I guess the overall colour scheme would be SCC15, maybe with red bits on the mudguards. Unfortunately we don't have any detail on the man behind them, Pilot Officer George Wilson, other than what can be gleaned from his photos. He trained as a Bomb Aimer in Canada in 1942. There is a photo of him in a 7-man bomber crew but no evidence to show what aircraft type or squadron. He seems to have been involved in bomb disposal in Germany post-war. There are several carefully-posed photos of V2 rockets and components which I showed to a guy who is an expert in these things and he got very excited, saying that he'd never seen them before. There are also pics of an area of devastation where apparently they have destroyed a lot of ordnance. The markings on the vehicles are 6222 BDF which I guess must be Bomb Disposal Flight. A quick Google leads to this: http://www.rafbdhistory.co.uk/new_page_3.htm which is helpful. I hope this helps.

We've got some photos in an album that belonged to an RAF guy who went from air crew into bomb disposal. The photos include some shots of RAF BD vehicles in Germany just post-war. They haven't been scanned yet but I'll pull them out and scan them and post them here. I don't remember seeing any Humbers; I think the vehicles were Ford WOA2s but they'll give you an idea of the markings.

I think they are under represented but we're trying to redress the balance here at the Museum of the Manx Regiment. We've got the Morris C9/B SP Bofors which is softskin-ish! And the CDSW 6x4 Bofors tractor will be on display in a couple of years. That's definitely a softskin. I'm also looking for a CMP 15cwt to put on display in 15LAA markings.

There might be others on here who would buy a pair and maybe the unit price would fall if several people were interested. I'd have to get my committee's agreement but I think we'd have a pair for the C9/B to go in the stores.

If you can measure the seal accurately you might be able to find something online from a seal supplier. Seals seem to be catalogued by their outside diameter, their width and the diameter of the shaft that they seal onto. The first two of these are easy but the third measurement is awkward because the flexible lip of the seal goes onto the spherical housing. It should really be a special design of seal lip too, to seal onto the sphere rather than onto a plain shaft. I'm sure somebody might be able to help because most Morris seals are standard dimensions, although they are imperial rather than metric. Our C9/B didn't need swivel seals, I'm relieved to say, but I got several other seals online. Good luck.

I couldn't have asked for more. Many thanks indeed, Clive.

This has recently been donated to the museum but nobody can tell me what it is. At a guess I'd say it's some sort of binocular infrared sight. The only markings on it are W.O.W.4162 engraved on the binoc unit and OS1425 and AVL486 marked in ink on the battery case. Can anybody give me any info?

And now a Bofors gun of the 2nd Army in Belgium, called "ES-AD-IT"

And here's Irene, again in the Western Desert and looking sorry for herself.

Here's a British one, a Morris CDSW LAA Tractor.