AlienFTM

OoOOooh a Hollywood remake of Sink the Bismarck! Oy, Hollywood, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Our entire regiment was out umpiring in CVR(T)s (except those of us in Ferrets obviously: we were out in Ferrets).

One more click and I'd have found it. Also from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_bomb Amongst many accomplishments by the Tallboy, the 24 June 1944 Operation Crossbow attack on La Coupole (along with Grand Slam bombing) undermined the foundations. A Tallboy of the 8-9 June 1944 Saumur tunnel attack passed straight through the hill and exploded inside the tunnel 60 feet (18 m) below the surface.[2] The last Kriegsmarine Bismarck-class battleship, the Tirpitz, was sunk by an air attack using Tallboys.

Really? Every book I have read on the subject said they were using Tallboys. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._617_Squadron_RAF : I'll accept that this does not specify the use of Tallboys on the final mission, but everything I have read said Tallboys and why change bomb loads when the Tallboys had done the damage in the first place? And why precision-bomb with non-aerodynamic blockbusters from 14,000 feet when aerodynamic Tallboys would benefit from the height generating spin?

This is the only thing I have issue with. As I explained, in our regiment, only two SSMs got Ferrets, but that said, every regiment tweaked its OrBat to best perform its role as it saw fit. If you look closely at the pic, check for the squadron TAC signs: Trinagle = A Sqn Square = B Sqn Circle = C Sqn Diamond = HQ Sqn. We have seen discussed the presence of a diamond. If you can idenify a triangle, square or circle on any of the others, they'll be sergeant majors' vehicles (in which case the HQ Sqn vehicle is probably that of the RSM who might be expected at the head of the colour party, with two SSMs flanking him). That said, if these people were there, I bow their knowledge.

That is an awesome website. It appears largely to postdate my time (just) but I am amazed for example at the detail of what happened on Crusader 80, right to to blue and Orange forces and phases of the battle, from Orange assault from the direction of Brunswick to Goodwood, when Blue recce drew the Orange forces into a massive killing zone and destroying the Orange assault, then the counterattack, right down to the days. This site is going to keep me occupied for weeks (not least because I shall have to translate it) and I hope to find a picture of myself commanding a Ferret on Crusader, when I distinctly remember being asked if I'd mind being photographed for a magazine.

15/19H followed 1RTR around the RAC Arms Plot in the 1970s. I believe we took over from them in Omagh in 1974 when they went to Tidworth and reroled as Recce. When we left Omagh in 1976, we handed over to 9/12L and again took over from 1RTR in Tidworth and they went to BAOR as a divisional Armd Recce Regt. In 1977 we again handed over to 9/12L and went to BAOR as 3 Armd Div Armd Recce Regt. For my first three years in BAOR, I was in Command Troop, spending two exercise seasons crewing rebroadcast Ferrets exactly like these. The role of the Ferrets was thus: callsign 95 was RSM callsign 98 was Command Troop Sergeant in rebroadcast Ferret 1 callsign 98A was Command Troop rebroadcast Ferret 2 callsign ... er 92? 93? was LO, but this vehicle only ever deployed once during my time, on Exercise Javelin / Spearpoint / Crusader 80 when we were all umpires and used a bespoke callsign sytem. The two Medium Recce Squadrons each had a Mark 1 for the Squadron Sergeant Major, being callsign 19C, 29C or 39C depending on which two squadrons in the regiment were Medium recce. So your vehicle was certainly one of these Ferrets. Since you mention an HQ Squadron diamond, it would have been one of the first four, which makes sense since we see the Ferret escorting the colours. I was going to pick you up on referring to a standard, but I remembered that I believe RTR do indeed have a standard and only cavalry regiments have guidons. The four Command Troop Ferrets were identically equipped and (in 15/19H) interchanged roles if necessary so ensure we kept three of them on the road. The radio fit was two times SR C42 until the arrival of Clansman during this period when the fit was two times UK/VRC353. This enabled the rebro Ferrets to position themselves strategically and double the range of a command net by receiving on one frequency on one set and transmitting it on on the other set. I can explain this in more detail if you want. As I have said on another thread recently, these Ferrets all had a Three-Oh Browning, mounted on the mount you see in your picture. We NEVER carried the Three-Oh, if only because the vehicle mount (not shown) was not suitable for ground mounting and would have been obstructed by the user-mod commander's windscreen anyway. As to why it carried no spare wheel, I have absolutely no idea. I never went anywhere without a spare wheel, and I did several parades in Ferrets, including an UNFICYP medal parade and a parade for the 15/19H Colonel of the Regiment (a titular post sitting between Commanding Officer and Colonel in Chief (in our case HRH The Princess Margaret)).

Found this. http://www.armyvehicles.dk/ndv.htm Two years after the war I had no idea that the Danes had driven their Ferrets out of Skouriotissa themselves. We (B Sqn 15/19H) took over from A Sqn LG as Force Reserve Squadron who had been in theatre since March 1976 and it seemed as if the status quo had always been thus. Looking back, it explains why we were stationed inside the Danish base, messed directly with them and drank in their Junior Ranks Bar. On our attachments to other contingents we were rather less close to them. Apart from getting our rations from the Austrians in Larnaca, we had very little direct contact with the other contingents apart from while visiting their OPs on patrol or on the booze.

Basically what he said. RMP used SMG as personal weapon. I did 88 days' reckonable RMP service and we were trained in SMG and 9 Milly as alternative personal weapon only. I didn't see an SLR until I joined the RAC where it was alternative personal weapon. In an RAC regiment essentially everyone carries an SMG, including RSM, apart from Assault Troop or whatever it is called at the time. Memory is screaming at me that CO 15/19H (Lt. Col.) used to carry an SMG (which was surely for preference) while QMs (Technical and Boots&Socks) (Majors) carried pistols (because they were old and bold and non-combat. IIRC QM 12 Armd Wksp went further and carried a wooden replica pistol so that he didn't have to clean (or have a member of his staff clean) it after exercise.

I wasn't prepared to commit whether Scorpions went back to 01FDxx because I simply could not remember, though I did believe it did. Glad to know my gut instinct was right. I am pretty sure that at one time the third of our four Scorpions in 2 Tp, B Sqn, 15/19H was 04FD96. (The actual vehicles changed periodically as the oldest were whisked off for Scorpole and replaced with something straight off the Scorpole line, so that even though 02FD14 was the oldest Scorpion I can remember, it was in fact bang up to date. It "belonged" to the troop sergeant who, being responsible for the troop's equipment, made sure he had the best one (he would also convince the troop leader that the second-best crew were best so that he could have the best driver and gunner in the troop)). So although I am sure in the back of my mind that our Close Recce Squadron (A Sqn) had Scimitars in the 04FDxx range, either there was not much scope or the first Scimitar numbers and the last Scorpion numbers overlapped.

In that case my opinion of this vehicle is turned on its head. Sounds like a most worthwhile vehicle to own for its oddity value. Until now I was blissfully unaware there ever was a Mark 2/7 but it makes perfect sense, like mating Scorpion hull and Fox turret to create Sabre, functionally identical to Scimitar. It'll catch a few people out at shows. Hmm. £85,000,000 on the Euromillions tonight. I am so glad I checked earlier that I have a ticket. Gotta be in it to win it. If there is one vehicle I'd like to own, it's a Ferret. With an £85,000,000 firtune I'd even lend it to somebody in here with an open chequebook to do the restoring.

Paul Merton in Europe. In the episode I have yet to watch on Sky+ (I saw the trailer) he meets a set of ROI SS re-enactors. He asks questions about whether they get strange looks walking round dressed like that. The guy replies, "We'd get dortier looks if we walked around in British uniforms." Fair point. Made me laugh.

I handed in my S6 when I left in 1989. At that point Worthy Down had only just secured agreement to get SA80: until then it was earmarked never to get SA80 because it was a depot and the bean-counters felt that it would save a few pounds by letting them use SLR / SMG. Until people started coming through on the All Arms courses who had never seen an SLR or SMG but had to have a personal weapon. Everybody at some time would be posted to a unit with SA80, so everybody had to be trained and SA80 was the common denominator. There was no prospect in 1989 of us being reissued with a new respirator when the S6 was still adequate for a Cold War that nobody ever believed would warm up even if we had to prepare for it. A few months later, down came the Wall and any need to rush things was gone. Basically Granby was a mix and match of everything (I have even heard tales of people being moved between units out there and having to change SLR to SA80 AND reverse because that's what individual units had). IMO you could wear anything contemporary to represent the Granby period with complete justification because somewhere somebody wore it on Granby. Followed swiftly by Options For change, goodbye to old regimental friends and now that the army is so much more compact and we need one armoured division instead of three (recently four) in BAOR we can afford to equip everybody, especially now we can sell off all our Chieftains etc.

My understanding is that when we handed Hohne Ranges over, we did a sweep to remove everything nasty and the German Greens (believe me, German Green make our Greens look like a bunch of Nancy-boys) were actually disappointed that we didn't leave all sorts of nasties for them to protest about. I am sure there is a thread from last year on the ARRSE RAC forum about it somewhere.

Three-Oh IMCO. I also never feel comfortable seeing anything other than a Three-Oh on any Ferret.

I must admit I thought in one of the first pictures that the turret rear side plates did not look like they were of a standard Mark 2 turret. Still disappointed at the complete lack of Vigilant equipment. Surely that will be rare as rocking horse droppings for anyone restoring it to Mark 2/6 spec?

I recognise your superior knowledge. I had been out about 18 months when Granby kicked off. (My new colleagues were worried that being ex-Recce I'd be called up. However my MEG was Mil ACCT because I had transferred out. As I put it to my colleagues, if I got called up, they'd better start digging shelters from the buckets of sunshine cos we'd be in really deep.) Let me ask you a couple of questions. As I say, I seem to remember there being some calling up of reservists. I did an SA80 conversion course in 1989. If a reservist were not SA80 trained in 1991, would he be trained on SA80 (my conversion lasted 5 days, so there was surely time before Granby went hot) or would he take SLR / SMG and add to the logistical nightmare of 5.56mm / 7.62mm / 9mm ammunition? Ditto webbing. Were returning reservists issued webbing at depot or at their units, in which former case would reservists find themselves with 57 even though the unit as a whole had the new stuff? Boots. I still have a pair of DMS and had I been called up for Granby I would have thought long and hard about whether to wear DMS or CH in theatre. I can imagine a soft, boken-in pair of DMS far more comfortable in the desert than a pair of tough CH Mark 1s. Your thoughts?

Evidently folklore. It seems that everybody in the RAC has heard the story. As to your last paragraph, I agree: I was commenting on the comment in the 9RTR link. Like I said, it was certainly on the books in my day and doing the turn with any way on makes no sense.

Sad but probably true.

If Mark 2/6 was the Vigilant variant, Clansman would be entirely inappropriate. By 1976, the ATGM variant in service was the Mark 5 with Swingfire, replaced by CVR(T) Striker in the Armd Recce Regt and a version of FV432 which currently escapes me in the Armd Regt. My recollection of BG ATGM provision in the late 70s (15/19H's Swingfire shoot in July 1977 was to be the last time the RAC fired ATGM before that provision passed to the RA - it may have come back in-house later) is that J Bty 3RHA (IIRC) provided 15/19H BG with Swingfire in Strikers. Clansman did not start to roll out to BAOR until about 1979 - 80. Of course this assumes that this vehicle is a Mark 2/6 as stated in the title. I am not entirely convinced. Even so, the Mark 2 was not widely employed once CVR(T) came into service in the early / mid 70s. I can only think of the Cyprus Armoured Car Squadron and the UNFICYP Force Reserve Squadron. NI perhaps? Fox arrived in NI in the late 70s to replace the Mark 2 Ferret and I'd guess NI got Fox before Clansman. I cannot see Cyprus getting Clansman early. Cyprus was a logistical backwater. Bazz may well have a comment here as ISTR he was with the Armoured Car Squadron in 1985 and could not source Saladin parts because the RAOC thought it had been retired until they took a picture with dated newspaper in front of Saladin. Certainly in the mid-70s the wider debate was replace Ferret in the Armd Car Regt with CVR(T) in the Armd Recce Regt or replace Larkspur with Clansman: we couldn't afford both and we rolled out CVR(T) and CVR(W) before Clansman.

Am I being stupid or was the Mark 2/6 not the Vigilant variant? I'd suggest that if there were any sign of Vigilant mounts on the turret, it might be worth something for the rarity value but at first glance that looks like a bog standard Mark 2/3 or 2/4.

I am with Chris. I do know that 04FD14 was a Scorpion with 2 Tp, B Sqn, 15/19H in 1981. The troop had 02FD14 and 04FD14 which made referring to a particular vehicle by just its last two impossible. I understand that the first Scimitars were registered in the high 04FDxx's, following on from the last of the Scorpions, the earliest of which I saw may well have been 02FD14 (though it had been through Scorpole at least once by the time I crewed it). Certainly it is the lowest number I can remember seeing.

Every Ferret I ever crewed, be it Mark 1 or Mark 2, was equipped with a Three-Oh. * I'd suggest that when a vehicle went into / came out of Workshops after a major overhaul, it would be equipped with whatever was flavour of the day and the CES amended accordingly and you'd end up with multiple CESs for the driver's kit, radio kit, etc. 1976 - 1982, the Three-Oh was definitely flavour of the day. * Actually maybe not entirely true. In July 1977 I briefly crewed a Mark 5 but since this was ATGM firing camp, no MGs were carried. I suspect the Mark 5 only ever carried a GPMG.

You may enjoy this: http://www.royaltankregiment.com/9_RTR/appendices/Appx%205%20The%20Churchill%20Tank.htm About halfway down it discusses the Churchill's Merritt-Brown gearbox and how it drove the designer crazy. In the 1970s, we were still being told that people still did know why, with neutral gear selected, pulling a stck would cause the tracks to go in opposite directions and turn the tank within its own length. (It required high revs.) The link suggests that the neutral turn was to be avoided. By my time, it was taught and there was even a hand signal for it.

Were you still 3 Div Signals in 1977? Did you deploy to BAOR with 3 Armd Div in Oct 1977? Bazz and I moved with 15/19H from Tidworth to Paderborn as 3 Armd Div Armd Recce Regt and had Task Force Echo HQ and Signals Tp share our barracks.