ArtistsRifles

Suppose the argument could be that they are no longer in Crown service so ordinary rules apply!

As another example - vehicles in Crown service (read military of any arm) are officially exempt from all tolls etc. We used to carry toll warrants pointing this out and saying that as a concession H.M.G. would pay the toll even though it was not required. If we never had a warrant we would stop and xplain this to the toll operators personnel then carry on without paying - they would (if they were so inclined - contact the MOD and request payment. Try getting away with that now

Unless the vehicle is registered prior to 1960 - then as a historic vehicle it can be driven on the ordinary car licence (group "B") irrespective of weight......

 

This is only irrespective of weight or also of tracked or non-tracked?

Weight I believe - AFAIK - you would still require the group "H" test for the tracked vehicles.

You wouldn't like all the tax bills over here - especially the ones on fuel :cry:

Just checked the DVAL website - forgot the rules changed for those who passed their test after 1st Jan 1997. If you passed your driving test after this date then to drive a vehicle between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes you need an additional group - "C1" - added to your license which means taking another test.

Unless the vehicle is registered prior to 1960 - then as a historic vehicle it can be driven on the ordinary car licence (group "B") irrespective of weight......

You can see all the requirements here: http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/vehicle_cat_desc.htm

Over 3.5 tonnes - no.

Over 7.5 tonnes - yes. But there are some "get out" clauses on the DVLA website which can cover you on this - my favourite being the "mobile display unit" (or words to that effect).

For a tracked vehicle you need to get group H added to your license which means taking a driving test on a track laying vehicle steered by it's tracks.

I have been with the AA for quite a few years now

and apart from one incident at Thruxton when I must

have got the AA patrol from hell I have found them

very good they have felayed my Dodge and Jeep from

all over the country when it has been needed and gone

out of their way to go looking for parts etccc . and even

the one time I did have a problem at Thruxton and told

the AA patrol to go away politely and got them to send

a real person which they did eventualy who solved the

problem they will recover upto to 3.5 tons as will the RAC

Commander

Problem there is that 3.5 tonne bit - a Stalwart is anywhere from 9 to 11.5 tonnes and the RAC or AA would object - quite strenuously - to recovering one of these :?

Cheers Matt - sounds like a deal to me!!

The one issue CMV list as out of print is #01 June 2001 / Page 48 - if acopy of that is available too I'd apreciate it

Been looking through the available back issues of CMV wih regard to the Stalwart and they have a few isues listed. However it doesn't specify whether the info inside is just a photo or a proper article!!!

Articles in question are:

#11 April 2002 / Page 59

#23 April 2003 / Page 38

#26 July 2003 / Page 50

#42 November 2004 / Page 24

Any out there have these issues at all and can verify which, if any have actual articles in??

TIA,

If you can get a reply as to how they recover vehicles I'd appreciate hearing it - been asking diverse firms for ages whther they can/will recover on a low-loader rather than suspended tow and no ones telling me!! :cry: Got plenty of "come and join us "letters though....

Reason I need to know being I've been told that Stalwarts (and I'm guessing Saladins and Saracens) can't be recovered on suspended tow unless you first go through the protracted and messy job of removing the sun gears from the axle.....

D.I.N. = Deutsche Industrie Norm

It's true that much history was lost but we have to remember that a scrap dealer in the late 40's or early 50's would have no way of knowing which aircraft or truck or tank etc was going to be of historical importance in the future,it's the govenment of the time who should have been thinking ahead.

 

As collectors and/or historians we should be far more concerned with what is under threat now,such as WW2 buildings,aircraft crash sites and ship wrecks which get looted,war memorials in need of tlc etc.

 

Matt.

Sadly NO Gov't whatever their political flavour or colour has ANY interest in preserving things for the future!!! All any of them have is the short-sighted view of "how much is it worth now" and "How much of that can I get into my own bank account".

Crooks, liars and scum the lot of 'em!!

Ah yes - rifle drill - did it in 215 Sqdn RCT - inc the (by me) dreaded "pokey drill" wherein one was required to hold the SLR by the flash eliminator and lift the weapon up level with the ground and hold it.

Never did rifle drill in 21 tho' - at least not with the SLR. Only formal parade we ever did was the opening of the Royal Academy (well - we were the Artists Rifles) and that was done using the silenced 9mm SMG AKA the Apache. I think that ceremony has been canned now due to security issues!

The L1A1 SLR was used in the field sans carrying handle and sling swivels and for us wounding was not really an option. Encounters with "the other side" would have meant either those encountered were down permanently or - rarely - were taken alive for interrogation. The mod to the sear was known, frowned on but done. The other one of using the LMG mags was not so good. Mainly because the springs in the LMG mag were too weak as the LMG was gravity fed as opposed to the SLR's force fed mechanism but also because it was a touch too long and when firing from the prone position the bottom of the mag would hit the ground - further compounded by having two mags taped together as some did.

AFAIK - the ony 7.62mm rounds in use within NATO these days are for the GPMG and whatever the snipers weapon is these days (in mine it was the SMLE Mk IVT). AS ever - fully open to correction on this as I've been out of touch nigh on 30 years.

Again - AFAIK - we went to the 5.56mm round in part due to political lobbying over the fact that in an urban environment the 7.62mm round is so powerful it will go through the wall of a house and still have enough power left to kill whoever is the other side of the wall. The facts that some of the time the wall penetration was intentional because IRA/UDLA whatever lowlifes where sheltering there and that the groups doing the most lobbying were the political arms of these factions are of course purely coincidental.

I guess, though, that reducing the risk of injury to non-combatants is a valid reason.

That said - having seen what a 7.62mm round will do and what a 5.56mm round will do at the 200 to 300 metre ranges my personal preference will always be for the 7.62mm as I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of the art of war being to make sure the other person dies for his country instead of me for mine!!

oh and of course in our Army we only fire "single aimed shots", so there is no need for an automatic capability) and called it the SLR.

Never come across the VERY unauthorised modification to the safety mechanism that converted the L1A1 to fully automatic as per the original FN????

Sorry - followed the family tradition of military insanity but not in Dads footsteps. Wound up in the Artists Rifles instead of 10 Para much to his dismay

If any one is interested in the subject of the British Forces in Palestine during the Irgun/Stern Gang uprisings then a web site has just been set up for veterans of that era from 3rd battalion ,The parachute Regt.

The site has some good photos of the men in uniform and some vehicles. (inc. my father - but don't let this influence you at all! )

URL is http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill.watts/Index.html

Thanks for the info about how to post the picture. Here is a picture of my jeep

Or not as the case might be......... :cry:

Think the problem is the link itself. For example this one:

http://www.morris-recce.150m.com/My%20Pictures/Morris%20Light%20Recce%20car/Morris%20Mk%20I/rafregtmk1.jpg

doesn't work but this one does:

http://www.morris-recce.150m.com/morrislrc.jpg

So if you modify the first link to be:

http://www.morris-recce.150m.com/rafregtmk1.jpg

this works too!! All you need to do is modify the image URL's to get rid of the My%20Pictures/Morris%20Light%20Recce%20car/Morris%20Mk%20I/ text and all will be OK.

FWIW it's usually considered good practice to:

(1) NOT have any embedded spaces in a URL - this avoids all the %20 gibberish appearing and makes it easier to type a URL

(2) Store all images in a sub-folder off the root web called - strangely enough - "images"

Dad was in 10 para during this time and recalls there being a plain green kit issued towards the end of his service. This would be around the mid sixties. Best he can recall is it was like a cross between the old battle dress kit and the DPMS stuff I was issued with in the mid seventies.

Don't know if this is any help to you though.......

Can't speak for the regular units as, 99.999% of the time we met up with them they were the "enemy" but guys who transferred in to my old lot from TA para units usually turned up wearing:

Boots DMS

Socks Woollen

Puttees

Trousers DPMS

Shirts KF

Jumpers Wool

Either Jacket DPMS or Denyson smocks if lucky

After getting through S&C "normal" wear would be:

either Boots DMS (barracks) or Doc Martins (field)

Puttees - around top of boots but not around the trouser end, these were

tucked up inside sealing rings from 88 mm ammo containers

Trouser DPMS

Shirts KF

Jumpers Wool

Smock DPMS Windproof

Trousers were held up by belts made from nylon webbing material in the field or Regimental stable belt in barracks

Webbing was 58 pattern - 2 x ammo pouches at front - usually bought from a US PX as they held 2 x SLR mags each tight enough not to rattle unlike the regular 58 pattern ones, kidney pouches holding E&E kit, RCK and medical kit, S6 respirator case.

On top of this a bergen would be carried holding 48 hours rations, sleeping bag, poncho, Gollock, noddy suit and between 500 to 100 rounds of belted 7.62mm ammo if out in a section or panther that had GPMG's assigned. If not the ammo would be either boxed or, if you were in funds and could buy spare mags pre-loaded ready to go. Some had "doctored" Bren mags to get over the problem of a Bren being gravity fed whilst the SLR needed to be force fed. Never thoguht they were too successful though...Might even carry a 66mm LAW too if the need arose plus - usually C4 demo kit

Somewhere indoors I still have the puttees and sealing rings as well as beret... No idea were though :-(

Was thinking more along the lines of "You keep the Fox and I'll take the Vixens!!!"

Going back tot he original theme for a mo' - does anyone know if this lot - http://www.h-c-r.co.uk - do a flatbed recovery service or is it just a suspended or fixed tow??

 

If they don't - anyone know a firm who does??

 

Reason for asking is the Alvis 6 wheelers - esp. the Stalwart - aren't meant to be towed more than 2 or 3 miles max as damage is done to the hubs, BB's etc due to lack of lubrication!!! They need to have the engine running and the gearbox/transfer box engaged to get the oil going through them.

Right!! FINALLY got a letter via snail-mail today with membership application forms enclsed BUT no answer to the critical question of just how they recover the vehicles!!!! This is not looking good for ex-miliraty units....

As regards the Footman james vs Roadsure question - I just got a quote from Roadsure of £167 for a Stalwart kept in an RM14 postcode....

If Roadsure are cheaper than Foot man james I shudder to think how much F-J would ask. What I do want to do is ask Aon - who insure my collection of vintage Saabs - if they will cover ex-military vehicles as well...

FWIW to any one - my lot never had tents. Night- (or more often day-)time bivvies were a poncho stretched over a frame of branches for one. Or two ponchos Joined for two - but then it would usually be shared on a 4 hrs on, 4 hrs off basis. If we had vehicles the frame would be propped against - never fastened to - the side or rear of the vehicle.

Warning - rant mode here!!

Got called in to see the boss today for the annual performance appraisal session and at the end of it he dropped a right bombshell - looks like the company aren't going to let me go until they turn the lights out in 2010 :-(

Was originally told that, as I'm a member of Manufacturing Engineering thats actually doing an IT job the IT bosses wanted me gone so the work could be transferred (at higher cost) to their areas and the Germans had already said they had got people lined up as new hires to take over my sections work 2 or 3 years ahead of schedule. Well - turns out my top bosses took one look at the cost model the IT mob came up with and told them where to go and the Germans, true to form , were lying their collective a***s off and they DON't have the people lined up !!!!

This means that the money I was counting on to get my own 6 wheeled nightmare won't be there until 2010 - another 4 bloody years away!!!!

Assuming by then there's enough left in the pot to offer seperation packages and not just a "b*gg*r off - here's a bit of pension" message...

I am so severely pee'd off by this it's not true as I'd been looking

forwards to the day I joined the ranks of MV owners. Now that is years away again!!

Words cannot describe how I feel right now :-(

This all goes back to the one petty mid-level bureaucrat who stepped way over the line marking his level of authority. He's had his pee-pee slapped, and should now slink into his cubicle and obscurity.

For THAT level of incompetence I'd suggest rather than just "having his pee-pee slapped" it should have been amputated with a blunt knife, shoved up his backside and then hammered home by the toe of the boot that kicked him out of Gov't - state or otherwise - employment permanently!!!

Think we have a slight misunderstanding here!!!

What I meant was it will be stored on a location close enough to Coal House or the Powder mills to make driving it there viable as opposed to getting it on a low-loader!!!

Not that it would actually be stored there!!!

Initially - unless something better presents it self I'm going to ry and get it on the same place we store our caravan but this will mean out in the open. Ideally I'm going to be looking for somewhere undercover with power and lighting t least.

As and when I get the vehicle I want - if some pox ridden poof of a politician then thinks they can take it off me because they either cannot control crime or to they want to satisfy some "ethnic minority" group that blows trains and buses up then they are going to be sadly mistaken and in for a fight. We've lost enough freedoms in the country because of political incompetence/mismanagement and I'm damned if I'm going to lose any more!!!!!!!!

Apologies for the rant - but it's a sore point right now.............