Oh Five

Fascinating results and certain to cause lots of discussion. How easy is it to get the ingredients?

Several years ago, I think, one of these was advertised on eBay. The vehicle was in Muirkirk, Ayrshire. Cannot recall if the advert gave any details of it's service life. I have no idea what happened to it but someone suggested that there might have been other ex-military vehicles at the same location.

I have had a civvy Series 1 for some years that has been on an 'A plate' since before I got it. I have not seen the certificate that I got from the British Motor Museum gave me the original registration, details of which garage sold it and who bought it. They might have some details of the history of your vehicle. As evidence of the colour schemes they were painted, there was a film on the Talking Pictures channel about the 111 Squadron and the Black Arrows. It showed a Land Rover towing a Hunter into the hangar, if I recall correctly, it was blue with a yellow painted roof. If it was a hard top the yellow was painted down to join between the roof and sides. If it was a canvas tilt then it was painted down to the seam between the roof and the sides. One of the lightweights at Kirknewton was 77AM45. The other two were xxxx12 and xxxx92. The Series 2A was 98AA05 that had been used as a RAF Police Review Vehicle. There is a picture of it carrying Princess Anne while reviewing the 'Buccaneer Wing' at RAF Honington. Dan

I am not sure what conversion work was needed for Glider Towing. According to the web the Kirby Cadets Mk3 were introduced between 1951 an 1959. The Kirby Cadet Mk3 were retrieved, on the airfield, by a two wheeled trailer. This trailer had a short ramp that was secured by a horizontal bolt. The bolt was pulled allowing the ramp to tilt and the aircraft to be pulled on to the ramp by the retrieve driver and instructor. The student was supporting the wing tip. Once the aircraft was on the trailer the bolt was pushed home passing through the circular rubber shock absorber that the skid was mounted on. Two arms on the trailer had lengths of rope and bungee cord with a hook that attached to a ring at the top of strut. The rope stopped the glider rolling too far to either side. Once secured the student got into the front cockpit to help with the balance of the glider on the trailer. Back at the launch point the glider was rolled off the trailer and prepared for the next launch. The Sedberghs did not have a retrieve trailer, I never heard of or saw one, and were retrieved using a rope attached to the front cable release and a cadet supporting the wing tip and steering the glider. The instructors always tried to land close to the launch point to shorten the walk back. The Sedbergh has a two seat side-by-side cockpit so might have been considered too wide to use on a trailer. At 661VGS RAF Kirknewton we had three Series 3 or 3A lightweights and a 'Car 10cwt Right Hand Drive Rover Series 2A'. The only modification was that they were painted yellow for use on the airfield. Those used for pulling out the winch cables were fitted with a boom that plugged into the standard military bumper. The boom extended a couple of feet either side with pins to hook the cables onto. Later on 90s were used.

I changed the default on my phone this morning and it worked. No adverts on either my computer or phone. Thank you again for information Dan

Thank you for the advice, it worked when I did it.

For taking green growths off wooden steps my wife uses non-bio soap powder and a brush.

The rivets on the blank sides on the hinges look so much better than if you had to use ready made hinges that were pre-drilled. You have been able to put the rivets in the right place without having to leave or fill the pre-drilled holes. Another fascinating project to watch and enjoy.

I believe that CVD Irvine was, when you look at Irvine Central Hospital, the cleared area to the north east. The A78 Irvine bypass runs on the other side of the site. It then became the Volvo bus factory before that closed. Eglinton Park was used for training by the army during WW2 and the castle was used for target practice. Dan

There is also United Bricks who are based in Castle Douglas. They have all sorts of vehicles and uniformed figures. https://www.unitedbricks.com

The Karrier Bantam would most likely have been "plugged into the aerodrome" for power and communications. If something had happened to the vehicle mechanicals then it could have been towed into position. As well as power for radios, hazard and signal lights it would be connected by phone to the controller in the Visual Control Room (the glass room on top of the controller tower) as well as, most likely, the fire station. The runway control caravans are used as a final visual check for departing aircraft and aircraft on final approach. With the small numbers built with specialist bodywork and equipment perhaps it was kept as a trailer but why the ERM would have been changed I do not know. Dan

Matador models have some items that might be suitable: https://matadormodels.co.uk/xengineer/lists engineer.htm Milicast have various models of Bedford RLs https://www.milicast.com/premiere-range-1-76/british-commonwealth-14/softskins-16/bedford-rl-3ton-flatbed-truck-with-air-portable-container-early-production-style-cab.html

Dropping a load of butterfly bombs and small 1kg or 2kg incendiary bombs over an aerodrome would almost guarantee that some would land on your runway and taxi ways. Perhaps the plough is intended to clear such tarmac or concrete areas, it would not be as effective on grass, for operations to quickly resume. During the clearance the driver might be able to push the devices into piles for them to be destroyed in bulk rather than having to remove them individually. According to the 'Bombs Away UXO' website: butterfly bombs were dropped in containers that held up to 108 devices; while the incendiary devices containers held up to 700 devices. An awful lot to clear Dan

Thank you very much for the information. More to think about for ideas and projects. Dan

Hello, can I ask a couple of questions, please? Is it just pop rivets securing the metal skins for the boxes? What thickness of steel are the skins? What are the dimensions of the steel angles used for the frames? Thank you Dan