AlienFTM

Bazz's memory has had a senior moment. We had six troops of four times Mark 2 plus the Mark 1 for 29C. We had six troops per squadron in NI (74-76) and retained five sabre troops plus a GW Ferret troop in tidworth so that we didn't have to heave the orbat up between the three tours. This particular car never crossed my path, but Bazz and I were in Aliwal Bks, Tidworth in 1976-7 (with an UNFICYP tour in the middle) while our colleagues 3RTR were next door but one in Bhurtpore.

I was driving 77FM51 (a long wheelbase series 3 FFR) in 1977. It was clapped out then. You'll be looking at Larkspur radios: I'd be surprised if your beast was still going when Clansman came in (from about 1980 in BAOR) but I could be wrong.

Wouldn't be the Coldstreams: there were and are foot guards (though there were Coldstreams in tank battalions of Guards Armoured Division 1944-5). During the period in question he would have been in one of: 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards Royal Scots Dragoon Guards 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (cannot think of any others) Note that these were line cavalry regiments and (dragoon) guards only by title.

The "silver" paint on the inside of AFVs is special, in that it does not flake, so that should the vehicle be struck by a kinetic round, the paint does not flake off with enormous energy and affect the inside of the vehicle like a HESH round. Same reason that using rivets ceased very quickly when "they" realised the internal damage when they broke off.

Hurricane in the crotch of the man with the bike. Poor man - you can take charcoal pills for that.

I was astonished to learn whilst reviewing a book recently that II SS Panzerkorps had FT17s as long ago as 1944 at Arnhem. (Not in the tank battalions of the Panzer regiments obviously!) Assumed that they'd be a rarity even then. This is impressive.

I have a vague recollection of a tale of a crew, possibly in 8RHA, 11 Armd Div, Normandy to the Baltic, discovering that their Priest self-propelled gun was in fact a prototype, constructed using mild steel and ought to have been nowhere near the business end of armoured warfare. Istr the crew were offered a replacement vehicle when the error was discovered, but politely refused to let go of "their" Priest. I could have dreamt it. Cannot be bothered to go away and check.

What Ian says. The zap number has clearly come a long way since my day. The whole purpose of the sap number is to uniquely identify anyone in the unit without giving names, numbers, ranks etc over open comms channels or having to waste time encoding and decoding what might be an urgent personal message (as personal as it might be on an open net). There are plenty of ways of identifying someone without using names: "Hello 24 this 2, fetch Pronto" tells us that the squadron (etc) HQ wants to talk to the radio operator on callsign 24. But it would be a bitch to tell 24's operator that his granny has died, then find that actually because Sunray of callsign 24C was medevaced yesterday, Pronto of 24 assumed command of 24C and 24's operator is actually some new boy posted in last week. I only first saw the zap number concept right at the end of my time in 15/19H (1982?): iirc it was simply a two (maybe three)-digit numerical list of all ranks in the squadron, maybe alphabetical to allow interpreting the numbers in both directions (name -> number and number -> name).

Sometime postwar there was talk of putting 2CVs onto British carriers. 1. Allow movement of men and kit around the ship. 2. Available to marines after landing. 3. Reputedly a 4-man lift to get from 1. to 2. I am sure Google will be your friend.

Probably. My intention was to get across the message that a professional job might be out of character with the effect the OP seeks: camouflage paint tended just to be slapped on.

I am quite sure it's feasible: mods like this regularly happened in the field (though it would have been a cassette player not an iPhone in my day). Of course as Command Troop Control Signaller and custodian of the Regimental Signals Store, it never happened on my watch. So it's no good asking me. Sorry.

I used the phrase without checking: maybe I was wrong. Been away to Google and found nothing. Back again ... off to Google again. Here is a quote to support my words: Williamson Murray and Allan R Millett. "A War to be Won - Fighting the Second World War" ... military events in early December 1941 ... A commonly-held view of the German private soldier at the end of the war was that they had not been beaten in the field. note the word 'unbeaten' was in quotes in my original post. Their words, not mine.

No real experience but here is what I have learned. At the start of the war all vehicles were painted Panzergrau with a white cross for recognition. When experience revealed that the white cross made a good aiming point, the centre of the white cross was painted out in black, creating the Balkenkreuz we regularly associate. When the war moved to the desert, the base colour became sand. When it became clear that the white of the Balkenkreuz did not stand out on sand (either on tanks or aircraft) it became common to outline it in black. It was intended that heavy vehicles (ie Tiger and Panther) would generally be painted Panzergrau (Hitler had no intention of wasting resources on a piddling little desert side-war, no matter how hard Rommel demanded reinforcements). Obviously, when Tigers went to Tunisia, as we know from Bovvy's Tiger 131, they did get painted sand. (Panthers never went to the Western Desert.) At some point (cannot remember when) the formal "heavies are to be painted Panzergrau" rule was dropped. From mid-war tanks might roll off the production line base-painted either sand or Panzergrau depending on circumstances. About then it became clear that camouflage paint over the top of the base would be a good move. Each new tank was shipped with pots or green and red-brown camouflage paint for the crews to use to suit local conditions. Plus a tin of sand for a tank based Panzergrau and vice versa. Schemes ranged from simple single-colour tiger-stripes (I remember copying a photo from my reference book of red-brown stripes over sand onto a King Tiger model) to schemes not unlike various countries' Cold War colour schemes in two or three colours (one or two colours over the either sand or Panzergrau base). Another popular scheme saw large basically squares over the top of the base reminiscent of giraffes, which gave the impression that base-colour stripes had been applied over the top of cam paint. Then somebody parked a three-colour camouflaged Panther under a tree and saw the dappled effect of the sunlight through the leaves. He had the bright idea of adding these dapples over the top, green and brown on sand and grey, sand over green, brown and Panzergrau and so on. This meant that the tank looked like it was hidden under a tree even when it wasn't. To be honest, if you install World of Tanks and look at the camouflage schemes you can adopt, they are quite authentic. (I don't know: maybe if you investigate their website you might not even have to download the game (it's huge and will suck the life out of your computer for a few hours.)

I am taken back to the summer of 76. Just back from NI where, at the end of the tour as all the drivers slipped away to do Scorpion conversion courses, I was volunteered to drive first a Land Rover then a Ferret on the back of my civilian driving licence: both were covered legally. Four months on the Plain, then off to UNFICYP as a Ferret squadron. However, the UN were funny about people driving vehicles they hadn't been formally trained on, so we each did a three-day "D&M course" (basically it consisted of a day getting familiar with the vehicle and how to perform the various parades (from the Servicing Schedule - hardly rocket science), a day out driver training, to Everleigh near Netheravon in the morning, where we stopped at a transport caff and consumed a big mug of brew and a bacon sarnie before swapping driver and returning home, then another transport caff outside Andover on the then not-dual-carriageway A303 in the afternoon, exactly the same routine as for the Scorpion driver training a couple of months earlier (every crewman did all the courses: only those designated as drivers had left Omagh early to do their D&M training). The third day was about taking a driving test: cabby out onto the public roads with our Qualified Testing Officer, the SQMS, drive a handful of miles into the ulu, swap drivers and he'd be tested on the way back. ("What is he wittering on about? Is he ever going to get on topic?" Ed.) So our instructor on our FSC D&M training was a Staff Sergeant in the RNZAC. He was quite proud, in his words, that the RNZAC ran to about 14 armoured vehicles, most of which were Ferrets. (Oops I feel another drift off on a tangent.) Great course. I'd broken my glasses in July when they slipped off my nose while underneath a Scorpion on ramps where I changed some filter (oil?) as my practical Maintenance test, and I just collected a brand new pair of them newfangled photochromic glasses that would be good for my eyes in the searing brightness of Cyprus (nobody had told me that the army didn't like sunglasses). So there we all were, sat on a bank by a Ferret while our instructor instructed. SSM walked by. "Trooper Alien, are you wearing sunglasses?" I stood up, to attention and replied, "These are new, prescription glasses, sir." He thought about it, evidently not exactly happy, but I hadn't lied, turned to my sadly soon after demised mukker Joe and bawled, "Butler, get those sunglasses off," and went on his way. Aah halcyon days.

You are correct in that we needed to shave to maintain the NBC seal. The powers that be insisted that you shaved every 24 hours and then used the NBC seal issue as a method to enforce it (notwithstanding basic military discipline). However a friend was an NBC instructor and he and the NBC community had tested the NBC seal around the facial hair to be generally uncompromised after 72 hours. "They" didn't shout that too loudly. The porno tache simply came about because the rules implied (they didn't iirc state in the same way as that other popular misconception that sideburns do not extend below the middle of the ear) that the moustache do not extend below the top lip. So squaddie would shave to the corners of the mouth, then as the tache grew longer and the length extended below the top lip even though he shaved to the corner, he'd try to get away with whatever he could, as with sideburns, see above. It was called playing the game. Until he was warned for guard or other duty which would entail a more-formal-than-daily-first-parade inspection and he didn't want to risk the wrath of the inspecting officer. However the S6 (and subsequently the S10) respirator could entirely cope with the porno tache. The only inflexible rule was that it must be a full moustache across the whole width of the top lip: no Hitler moustaches. The Hitler moustache. In fact the Hitler moustache was a product of the Great War and the use of chemical weapons. Nobody knew or wanted to find out how effective a contemporary respirator would be over a full moustache, so both sides chose to enforce the moustache we associate with Hitler. Hitler particularly, along with many members of the Kaiser's unbeaten field army, wore the moustache as a badge of honour through the days of the Versailles Treaty. Off on a slight tangent. A colleague got picked up on Guard Mounting Parade for long sideburns and collected extra duties as a punishment: more guards, day on, day off. He shaved his sideburns, quite avant guard in the late 70s although the avant-garde Mohican he adopted so that there could be no argument was gaining popularity. So the inspecting officer could not pull him for sideburns, but he could because his hair was touching his collar at the back. (As per the old cry: "Am I hurting you soldier? I should be: I am standing on your hair.") So he got another handful of extras. So he shaved his head. The RSM, the sadly demised and greatly-missed legend that was JC, saw this shaven head, which went beyond the realm of contemporary avant-garde and confined him to camp until his hair grew to a suitable length. So it isn't about the rules, but about the hierarchy's interpretation of the rules, as I intimated above. There is a thread currently running on Arrse about foot drill, raising the thigh parallel with the ground and stamping the foot. It isn't in the regulations, but some time about 50 years ago it appeared, spread like a virus and it has been approved and into common usage by the hierarchy even though it isn't in the rules.

The gaps in the bar armour are deliberate. An RPG round either detonates away from the vehicle if the HEAT fuse strikes the armour, in which case the generated "plasma" blast is too far away to penetrate the vehicle itself, or more commonly the entire warhead catches between the bars, to be disposed of responsibly later when safe. Interesting to see H17 appear to be taking out CVR(T)2s: it means that LD took the last tranche of newly-refurbished CVR(T)s out first when they were new a few years ago (have to consult to remind me exactly when) and will be the last to use them when they hand over at the end of H16.

Note Bovvy took a left-hand front picture. Next time you visit, check out the right-hand side, note the buckling along the side, slide your finger underneath and realise just how thin the armour is on a tank destroyer.

According to a QI from Series H, facial hair was also compulsory in the British Army before the First World War (cue Stephen Fry whipping out hid General Melchett moustache). Whilst not compulsory, in the 1970s - 80s a porno tache was de rigeur.

A couple of years ago I was asked to review a new magazine (Military Times). It was good enough that I took out a subscription until such time as they invited a convicted, time-served deserter from one of the sandpit wars (probably Afghanistan) to give military opinion on a war in which he refused to fight. I (and I know a number of others who served) told them where to stick their subscription. Pity because as I say, it had something useful about it. The first issue (September 2010 iirc, coinciding with the culmination of the Battle of Britain) carried a very good treatise on the battle. It described in detail just how wrong the big wings were, how proponents fudged figures to make them appear to work and so on. It also described how the biggest weapon in the battle was Dowding's and Park's ability to have what they needed, when they needed it and where they needed it, be it just enough pilots in squadrons, just enough aircraft on the ground or in the air, just enough radar cover, etc, etc and how despite the interference of others, they managed to keep juggling the balls to victory.

I once managed to start a phase of a regimental training exercise off two hours early because of a poor CVR(T) high-low range gear change. A week into the exercise and it was the weekend (must have been 1981). Our squadron of Scorpions had been tasked with running OPs over a nominal IGB. Our two-car section's OP was from a tree-line looking down over a plain (it was near Nordheim iirc). At our 10 o'clock was a low hillock which obscured the road heading toward us before reaching a T-junction and the two alternates heading toward our one o'clock and our eight o'clock. Because it was the weekend, there was no track or heavy movement permitted (until the early hours Monday when the FTX was to explode back into life). We had been in OPs for two days. this was a rarity cos they normally tried to pack something in to keep us busy even if we couldn't move. We'd often leaguer up as a squadron and practise drills. But this time we'd had two solid days in OP routine: bread and butter but something we rarely got to practise. We were also under electronic silence (like radio silence but quieter). Only people we saw were the SQMS coming up to our rear at night to carry out a replen. I happened to be on radio stag about 0200, having just finished verifying the code and frequency changes carried out by my predecessor at midnight, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a CVR(T) thundering down a road. It clearly was not using either the one o'clock or the eight o'clock road or we'd have seen it. As the noise grew, it was clearly coming toward us on the ten o'clock road. The the driver must have realised he was approaching the junction far too quickly as he threw a handful of down-changes into the gearbox, lost count and changed from high to low ratio at far too high a speed: the sound was unmistakeable. Since the nominal border was the one o'clock - eight o'clock road. Our IntSum had led us to expect a major border incursion at 0400: I determined this to be Orange Forces' recce screen on the move. I antenna tuned the 353 (first call after a frequency change) by pressing the pressel then called "Hello 2 this is 24C contact wait out." The book said that when breaking radio or electronic silence, you must offer up the appropriate codeword and expect to be authenticated. However by calling "contact" it woke everybody up and focused their mind to check the headset is on right, find the pressel and codes ready for what was to come. Especially since we all knew the Orange forces' recce screen (our own A Squadron as it happened) wasn't due until 0400. I got grid references from the map and sent the full contact report. Because I'd had the foresight to send an initial contact report, FHQ had got the OC into a headset by the time I came back. He queried whether I could see that junction from my location: no but I could hear. So we were up and ready for them when they came over the border. Well if I had to be up and on radio stag, why shouldn't the rest of the battle group?

I see it it as entirely commonsensical and no cause for concern. Our regiment only ever wore combat trousers whilst on guard duty. At all other times by default it was lightweights and if a combat jacket was necessary, it was worn. Official dress in NI was combat jacket and lightweights. Strikes me simply as an extension. I note they were infantry:evidently they like we felt appropriate dress was more important than dress according to some regulations issued from some ivory tower. Note I was never issued with tropical combats. If it got too hot, combat jacket without shirt was entirely acceptable.

They took our hoods back from us some time (iirc) before 1984 along with Jap caps and maybe the raincoats went at the same time. As it happened I had somehow acquired a spare hood. When we got 84 pattern, I simply sewed a button under the back of the collar and carried on. Then I discovered that if you got it exactly right, the hood could be stretched over a helmet and pulled tight with the drawcord, attach the scrim over the top and any shine given off by the helmet was eliminated.

There were heads to go with the Self-Loading Pickhelves? I never knew that! We only ever used them to bimble around camp after hours looking like we were guarding the place (Until a colonel in Bielefeld was shot by the IRA in 1980 and we started to carry SMGs. A year or two after that they even gave us ammunition.) Solid as a rock the Self-Loading Pickhelve.

You may find this thread of interest: http://www.arrse.co.uk/weapons-equipment-rations/109293-l22a2-sa80-carbine.html

That's nice to hear (though I too shan't be anywhere near sadly). I saw a documentary probably around the 60th anniversary and as luck would have it, the following summer we holidayed near Bridgend. Gadgy in the Tourist Information centre was very helpful and we trogged off to have a look. Got to the general area and found ... nothing. Zero Alpha (on the Domestic Command Net) had been very seriously ill some months previously and was still very weak, so ultimately I left her in a folding chair to enjoy the sun while I went for one last 360. The whole area was overgrown and given over to dog walking (and smelled accordingly). Eventually I tracked down the single Hut 9 that was all that remained and was frankly underwhelmed. It was sealed up tight behind industry-strength steel fencing but it was quite obvious that the low-life had already had free run of the place. Bitterly disappointed. Glad to hear something has been done to rectify it.