Tony Graves

hi, a quick update on the missing australian's spitfire found at quistram near caen last november, apparently the curators of the grand bunker museum who found and recovered the aircraft have been taken to court and fined and would you believe have been told to put the aircraft back where they found it. reading between the lines who do you think orchestrated that,? i do know that raf innsworth were up in arms about it, but in the end of the day the poor pilot has been found and will have a funeral befitting a hero and the family will have closure, all the best, tony g.

hi steve, we spent two and a half hours downloading the film onto u tube only to find after the 100% had finished the film was too long, 21 minutes, so i am going to put the video into part 1 and part 2. we are returning to the uk middle of march for two weeks and with the help of my son-in law we will try to post it on this site for you, all the best tony g.

hi steve, i thought the film of the t pulling the towers down was fantastic, i have a disc here of collecting my bishops heavy wrecker after 21 years laying in their shed and would like to know how you put the film on the website here and you tube, all the best tony g.

hi rich, thanks for yor interest , we have found two dinghies, one two man and a one man, i would have thought that with a crew of seven or eight men there would be provision of at least three dinghies. we have narrowed the search down to two mk 3 lancs and have proof they had packard merlins, we are hoping to go back to site with a bigger digger so watch this space, thanks again, tony g.

hi dizzy, thanks for your interest, i have checked the crash site of ll783 and it crashed at auvers which is the other side of carentan and a fair way from our site, the date is close and at the moment checking luftwaffe night fighter reports, thanks again dizzy, all the best tony g.

hi steve, i clearly remember the yellow diamond, a bowaters 8 wheeler had gone over in dagenham loaded with huge paper reels and i remember the diamond winching the reels upright, it had the original hercules in it and was named :chicago crawler:. a chap named john hume bought it and took it to beltring one year, after that it was totally stripped down in his front garden and i do not know if it was finished, i lost contact with john but it would be nice to know if the diamond is still around and john as well, all the best tony g.

hi, the machine in radio mikes photo is an armoured cat d7, the machine in les,s book is a cat d8 dozer, all the best .tony g .

hi matt. i have already contacted innsworth, but as usual with them they will not give any information without 100% proof of identification, there is not a great deal of wreckage there considering the size of the lanc and we know it was very low when it crashed, thanks very much matt for your prompt reply, all the best tony g.

Hi, can anybody out there help with some information? I have recently found remains of what we believe is a Lancaster Bomber on a marsh about two miles north of Carentan in Normandy, France.The remans of a tyre and a lot of air ministry radio eqipment lead us to think this could be a Lanc. The outside diameter of the tyre is exact for a Lanc. We have a very small window for the date of the crash which is between 6th to the morning of the 9th June 1944. Records here in France are very scant and because of the hectic period of that time also witnesses are few and far between now. We have also recovered some parachutes, two dinghies and half a Merlin engine. Any information would be gratefully recieved. Perhaps it would be better if you could email me on lefournet@wanadoo.fr

Tony Graves

hi dizzy , pickfords had nine diamonds in their fleet, they all finished in the early sixties in various forms including brs, a couple ended up as wreckers including egg 570 which i believe is owned by mark walker. interesting to note that diamond fyv 741 which was the second diamond used on the road was written off after falling through the bridge at boroughbridge , many years later obviously another diamond with the same registration was photographed hauling many heavy loads. hope of interest , tony g.

hi, the truck in the photo is 100% a federal, the wartime cummins engined version, the trailer looks like the back end of the dyson 50 tonner, all the best , tony.

Hi all.

 

I have just read this thread and I feel it has been posted in the wrong place and would be better here. It was posted by member loggydriver.

 

 

 

Diamond T help required for a Veteran!!!

 

 

The father of a friend of my other half was a driver of a Diamond T Tank Transporter in the Army. It's his 80th birthday in April and what she really wants for his birthday present is for him to either get a trip in or drive a Diamond T again.

 

Apparently he is a collector of classic cars, so he similar to us in his interest for historical vehicles. The gentleman lives in Guildford and she is willing to travel to where the Diamond T is based. I'm sure she would be willing to pay for the fuel!

 

Are there any Diamond T owners that would be willing to give this Veteran a drive or trip in their Diamond T for his 80th birthday in April? If you think you can help, please PM me and I can pass your details onto the Daughter of the Veteran for her to contact you.

 

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

 

Andy

........................................................................................................

 

 

I have had the pleasure of doing just that for WW2 veterans in the past. Too see the look on there face and knowing that you have made there day is for me what makes the effort to keep these pieces of history running worth while.

 

Is there someone in his neck of the woods able to help him out with his request??

 

Steve.....

 

Agree also. What a brilliant idea! I have done the same for other veterans in the past and it probably gave me as much pleasure as them. I currently have two 'Diamonds' but live just behind Omaha Beach, Normandy in France. A drive in a 'Diamond' along the Invasion Beaches!!!!!!!.......You can call me on 0033 231 10 11 98.

hi adrian the last i heard about star motors diamond the owner was fed up with time wasters and the diamond was back under cover and was being restored by star motors, perhaps if his price was more economical he could have sold it ten years ago,all the best , tony.

hi andy, thanks for the reply, if you could let me know where the yard is i will try to make some inroads into it , i am back in england for two weeks from wednesday to do some scrounging for bits, hope to hear from you soon, allthe best tony g.

hi, the open cab diamond at beltring was probably ex italian army but it did have a two stoke detroit motor in it. i had a race with one of these at dorset many years ago and my old hercules left it standing, hope of interest , tony graves.

hi andy, regarding kenny dawes diamond in the scrapyard in erith near dartford kent, i would be interested to know when that picture was taken, i heard the old girl was cut up, i hope the story was wrong . she has a cummins 220 and a fuller nine speed fuller main box coupled to the original three speed transfer box. ken was always having intermediate propshaft problems with her, i hope she,s still with us, all the best tony g.

hi ,maccdt, sorry for not contacting you before but for the last two months every time i click on this site it,s been locking up my computer, the trouble maybe that you are overloading the engine. the hercules was not the best engine in the world, but by shifting perhaps first on the transfer box and then on the main box and keeping the rev,s to 1600 you will probably cure the problem, when i had my first rogers trailer i had the same problem, so when she went down to 1200 rev,s i changed down to keep up the rev,s it cured the problem. let me know if this helps, all the best tony graves.

runflat, sorry if you thought my reply to trailer t3440 was late, for the last six weeks every time i click on this site it locks up my computer, tony g.

Hi all. The trailer in question is T3440 which was made by Crane Trailers but in later life was used in various configerations and was nicknamed by Pickfords staff as the "abortion". This trailer is not to be confused with the 100 ton riveted trailer. It was rated as the 120 ton trailer and empty weighed 35 tons. The trailer under this weight was the 85 tonner now seen at Dorset and run by the steam guys. The trailer over this weight used by Pickfords was the 200 tonner also now at Dorset.

Hope of interest, all the best Tony Graves.

I wonder if any of you Scammell chaps can help me. I'm after two hinged brackets, in good condition, for a tow bar as used on the Scammell Explorer back body. I have advertised elsewhere but all I've had is scams. You can contact me on 0033 231 10 11 98 or email: lefournet@wanadoo.fr

Thanks, Tony G.

Hi All, I have posted two photos of a DT 980 found at a mine in Australia. I was in touch with the owner, I believe his name was Ron Winfer, for a long time but as usual time flies by and I lost contact. I know Ron bought the Diamond and built a special shed for it but I don't know if the project was ever completed. If you are out there Ron please get in touch on this site.

Hope of interest. Tony G.

hi i wonder if you can help me with some information, a few years ago we were at a show and the army were demonstrating the winching and underlift equipment, i asked the sergeant in charge about the tiny rear axles on the foden and he told me that this type of foden was illegal to use by civilians on the road, with the weight of the crane and eka underlift the axles were already overloaded before lifting anything on the back. i wonder if you can confirm this, as several civilian companies run these vehicles for recovery purposes. all the best tony g.

A couple of photos of Pioneer tank transporter. I took these a long time ago. The Scammell pictured with owner Rod Cadman was ex. Glossop, road planers of Tonbridge in Kent. Unusual date for reg. plate, 1968, which was quite late for use of the old girl. Not wishing to reveal my age but I clearly remember seeing one of Glossop's Scammells working in Croydon. I don't know if Rod still has this truck but it might be worth a call. Hope of interest. Tony G.

hi tony, yes the 330 was used by the us navy, i would not have thought as a wrecker, the crane protrudes far too far from the rear of the vehicle but as a salvage crane. the gear is garwood as are the winches and the engine is a wasewka six cylinder petrol. all the best tony g.

These photo's are of Lynch's Sterling 330, a beautiful looking tool. In picture 2 you can also see a smaller wrecker and in number 6 is a Federal. These photo's were sent to me in 1988. I wonder if they are still around. Hope all of interest. Tony G.