Ivor Ramsden

Here's a photo of 7th Armd Divn Artillery on parade after the fall of Tunis. The Bofors guns of 15th LAA are in the foreground. They've got an unusual disruptive paint scheme on the barrels. Are those 6 pounders behind?

The date on the back is 18th May 1943.

Cat, envying Dog's appearance in the C9/B blog, volunteered to act as sentry to keep the mice away from the Morris. Unfortunately the sun's warmth and the lure of the driver's seat proved too much for her...

I'll be back soon with some more sensible updates.

Send me a clear pic of the number plate showing the Arabic script and I will try and translate it for you. I did study Arabic for five years when at school:-)

 

Kaci

P.S. How do you insert a quote here???

Click on "Reply with quote", bottom right!

I don't have a clear photo but I've seen one on the net somewhere. I'll keep looking.

the weird Roman/Arabic registration

 

Those are Arabic numbers which must be read from right to left and should be the same as the normal numbers on the same plate. If you send me a clear shot I will tell you what the Arabic numbers are.

 

Kaci

The Arabic numbers are the same, in my case 14747, but they read from left to right. I know Arabic script reads R-L but these numbers certainly don't. Does anybody know what the Arabic script says under the number? I assume it's similar to "War Department".

A bit off the restoration topic but today we had several of the few surviving Manx Regiment Gunners and their families at the museum. Some marvellous stories came out including a report that the rear side lockers of the CDSW made ideal chicken coops, thereby guaranteeing a supply of fresh eggs!

Best of all was this rear view photo which was taken in July 1941 on the return of 41 Battery to Beni Yusef camp after the campaign in Eritrea. It's a tiny photo, and the Morris is in the background, but just look at all that detail - extra 2 gallon petrol cans (camouflage painted too), sand channel, clear serial number and the weird Roman/Arabic registration that nobody seems to be able to explain. Bizarrely we've got another photo of the exact same truck taken from the front before it had the disruptive colour added. And just look at the shorts ...

Those of you who have followed my Morris-Commercial C9/B SP Bofors restoration will have seen in the most recent posts references to a Morris CDSW 6x4 Bofors Tractor which we have recently acquired.

To put you in the picture I’d like to give you a bit of background as a start to this new blog. You can always scroll down to the photos if you get bored.

“we” is the Manx Aviation and Military Museum which is, as you might guess, on the Isle of Man and is run as a charity by unpaid volunteers. Our visitors tell us that we are doing a pretty good job, which is nice. The museum houses the Museum of the Manx Regiment, which is the 15th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army). Recruiting for the Regiment started on August 8th 1938. Unfortunately I missed the anniversary by a week for the start of this blog, but never mind.

The Manx Regiment had an impressive war record, starting with the firing of what I believe were the British Army’s first shots of the Second World War, at about 1.20pm on September 3rd 1939, i.e. only about 2 hours after the declaration of war. I’m still researching this but I haven’t yet found any reference to any shots fired before that on the first day of the war. They fired them at a couple of RAF Hampdens which flew up the River Mersey without showing the colours of the day …. Friendly fire incidents were happening even then, but fortunately for the RAF they missed, and a subsequent enquiry exonerated the Gunners, who had followed their orders. They went on to defend the south coast during the Battle of Britain, to the campaigns in Eritrea, North Africa, Italy and Europe as the Light Ack Ack unit of the 7th Armoured Division. During this time they shot down more enemy aircraft than any other British Army unit, and lost some 80 men.

Our museum boasts a fine collection of memorabilia from the Regiment including some impressive hardware in the Morris C9/B and a towed Bofors gun. The CDSW competes the “set”, unless we win the lottery and get an M16 quad 0.50 half-track which the Regiment used in anger in April and May 1945.

The CDSW was demobbed in 1949 and was used as a garage tow truck until the early 1970s when it was rescued for preservation. It passed through a number of owners without very much being done to it until the last owner bought it and embarked on a restoration. Changing circumstances forced its sale; I bought it unseen – after all, how often do these things come onto the market? Photos showed that it was fairly original up to the bulkhead but things went downhill astern of that. A new body has been fitted at considerable expense but sadly it was based on very limited photographic material and was a mish-mash of gun tractor and light recovery bodywork. It was also quite wrong so it will have to be started again rather than being corrected.

The vehicle arrived early yesterday morning courtesy of a free passage with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. During the morning it was emptied of spares and driven round the garden a bit. What a lovely noise the six-cylinder engine made, but it couldn’t drown out the graunching of gears as I tried to follow the gear change layout engraved on the gearlever knob. First to reverse in one noisy move, oh dear! Somebody has fitted a four-speed gear knob to a five speed box. A quick look at the lovely brass gear change plate that is still in place on the gearbox cover and all was well. You don’t need first for normal driving and second to fifth are in a standard H layout.

The afternoon was spent in giving the thing a good dose of looking at and formulating a plan for the restoration. That’s all for now, take a look at the pictures.

The museum guys must be absolutely gutted. My sympathy, lads.

It's all very well having insurance for this kind of thing but a 70+ year old aeroplane is irreplaceable. Let's hope it can be bashed back into some form of shape.

Don't the 6 wheel studs narrow it down to 8 cwt?

Thanks for the leads on the manuals, guys. I've got the driver's handbook already and I've ordered the CS8 & C4 manual from Groucho. I'm still looking for the "Repair Aids" book.

Was there ever a separate manual of any kind for bodywork? All the Morris books that I've seen cover the mechanical stuff in detail but they only give the briefest coverage of the body itself. I've got a very basic stowage diagram for the CDSW from somewhere but I really can't see that there would be any need to produce a special manual covering the body itself. After all it's just a series of boxes with hinged lids. Somebody please prove me wrong!

It's arriving on 14th August so I'll be starting a new restoration blog then. Meanwhile, I'm trying to gather as much CDSW material as I can. Can anybody let me have a copy of a workshop manual and a spare parts list?

Here's a photo to keep you drooling until then.

Hi Doug, that's a rare find. I knew of only four survivors but this one makes it five now. It's got to be worth saving. I'd have a go at it but I'm just about to start on a Morris CDSW 6x4 gun tractor. Why not try an ad on here. I'm sure someone will take it on and I'll be pleased to give advice.

Please get your children to post some photos on here or PM me for my email address, I'd love to see it.

Our C9/B is the one that was in the M-C Club magazine.

My mate's dad served on MTB 408 in Malta. It was an American-built 72 foot Vosper vessel, built as PT-396 and fitted with Packards.

MTB408 is 3rd left in this photo taken in 1945 in Malta. It ended its days with the Italian Navy.

looks like a 4M2500 W8 as fitted to Elco and Higgins pt boats although only half seems to be visible -I don't think they made a half engine version:-D.

The other half was buried. If it had been a Morris engine I'd have unearthed it with my bare hands!

I found this in a scrapyard in Malta whilst hunting for aircraft bits. Could it be from an MTB? I don't know owt about boats.

I found this lurking in the undergrowth in a yard in Malta last week. I know it's a Bedford, but can anybody say what model from this photo? I couldn't get a better picture or go digging because I was in my best tourist gear.

I can't help you with Bofors part numbers, but what LAA unit was your dad with?

Hi Mike, you probably know this, but if not, CGM are at

C.G.M Productions

Route de Bédarieux

34650 LUNAS

SIRET 441 976 487 00013 - APE 295N

FRANCE

Phone/Fax 0033 4 67 237813

I don't know any English-speaking seller.

I have seen some of these Morris filters in recent years, for sale. A chap in Norway bought a large stock of MCC parts and in some photos was a pile of these.

Does anybody know what happened to him? I've tried to contact him without success.

I've just acquired a parts book for C4/WTs which sheds a bit of light on this. It's AP2786, dated June 1944 and chassis no 2244/C4/WT/1539 is listed in it, which I guess means you've got an RAF vehicle rather than an Army one. It refers to MOS Contract 294/23/S6446, 533 C4/WT chassis, Sanctions 2244/22035.

The book doesn't list the RAF serial numbers but it gives the vehicle's original engine number as ELA.44487, if that's any help.

The Morris is causing a lot of interest at the museum. This afternoon it was visited by the former commander of "A" Troop, 1st Battery of the 15th LAA Regt. He had 6 C9/Bs in his Troop when they went onto the Normandy beaches. Not only has he got perfect recall of everything that happened, he's got a notebook which lists the C9/B serial numbers, the serial numbers of the Troop's 15 cwt trucks and all the crew names. Absolute treasure!

I think this just about rounds this thread off. Thanks for watching and for the generous help that many of you have given me. I just wish I'd become a MV owner years ago.

The museum's next vehicle has been secured and will soon be heading to the Isle of Man. Watch this part of the forum for my next restoration blog.

I've got one under restoration. There were 275 of them, registered in the range 17CL48 to 20CL22.

Mine is 19CL08, date into service 17th Feb 1959. They were virtually standard civilian spec apart from the lack of 4WD.

Are the front and rear diff plates in that model of LR interchangable?

I don't know what type of LR Meteor saw but it's very unlikely that it's got an interchangeable diff cover. I think they only appeared on Salisbury axles.

I drove the Morris to its new home today. It was an interesting experience. The brakes are appalling but they do actually work. No doubt they'll be better when they've bedded in. The only trauma was the loss of the spring that operates the brake light switch. It was there when I set off but it vanished somewhere on the road.

Whilst clearing out the restoration shed this afternoon I came across a couple of metal boxes that were bolted to the truck when we got it. Both of them have been stencilled with non-original marks but one has got first aid instructions on a label inside the lid. Can anybody tell me what they are?

They are stands for the four jacks which raise the vehicle off its suspension to give a rigid base for firing.

The final checks have been done today so the truck will be going to the museum tomorrow. Here is the new Nissen hut that we've built to accommodate it. It isn't heated but it's insulated and it's lovely and dry so I'm sure the Morris will be happy there.