alan turner (RIP)

Oh I shall sleep well tonight someone has heard my plea. images of ni=orth wales 40 odd years ago

The images from NZ remind me very much of the early testing from Sankey's Wellington shropshire factory into the mountains of north wales around the Welshpool area over 40 year s ago. I have tried 3 times to get some onto the thread but the new system has been preventing me but I shall keep trying. yet again it tells me that I do not have permission to perform this action refresh page and log in again. depsite the fact that I am logged in HELP!!!!!

system keeps telling me not authorised to post pictures and to log on still wont allow,am now stuck with management attachment tabs at bottom of page which I cant get rid of. I still want to post images.

sorry antarmike I deliberately left that out, but just for you!!

what you want is something to put the corned beef, on how about some army bread? Still warm from the mobile oven with plenty more to come.

only a slight flurry at Bexleyheath at the moment so only a couple of mms, and I live on top of Bostall HIll for those that know the area. Wifes keeping fingers crossed that it stays this way.

it looks even better in the snow than without .My wifes cousin and her husband moved up to Rothiemay some years back with her ponies and dogs from Preston. We have visited once so far as my good lady had never been that far north and I wanted to visit where a maternal great great grandfather was born, managed all that and took in a sample of the amber fluid at Grants distillery, loverly stuff. Certainly plent of ground for off roading and even getting to her place was a rally stage up between 2 houses then foot down through a forest track.

when this was made you had more chance of getting genuine napoleonic artillery pieces than genuine german ww11 kit because as we know so much was torched, shelled and demolished, that we are only now getting stuff left after the retreats from russia. And as was said earleir spain offered a better deal, bloody accountants again.

february copy due 15th January

I used to drive the Chevy quad down at Firepower either as a single or full train, it had been donated to the museum but remained in running order (roughly). Because it could carry customers it had a bench seat accross the back (with seat belts), and normal 2 in front but non original wheels and tyres: Marketing appropriated it and we managed to run it for nearly 5 years. Plugs points and water I could handle despite it having 50% more pistons than a Cortina or Escort, but I wouldnt touch anything where public saftey was concerned ie brakes, as I dont hold a public liability policy. If it was only for my use then no problem on those points. Anyway the public loved it , during school holidays it would carry up to 500 people, from babes in arms to 80 year old ex gunners, per week with a 50p donation each, around the available Arsenal site especially if you could give a commentary about the special places to find in there. Biggest problem was drivers, officially there were 3 authorised drivers two volunteers and the education officer, who tried his best to do his share but work came first, the other volunteer could only do one day a weekend, so the bulk of the driving fell to me, any petrol, problems or putting battery on charge reported to E/O to cover. The vehicle had had a new 28hp Bedford 3.5 OHV fitted to replace REME unit fitted at demob but the only other time it needed money spent was a brakes problem when it was attended to by Richard Farrant. Lack of money and a family bereavement meant that I couldn't be available last year so the curator took the old girl back into museum stock, coulndt blame him, much as I loved driving it and was the only one who could do a slalom around the lamp post in no 1 street full train. So anyway there it is back in museum stock currently sitting in the open back yard of building 41 suffering the rain snow and frosts.Building 41 itself is mothballed due to heating and lighting costs escalating and thats got a large glass frontage so its more like a greenhouse in summer. Visitor numbers have not improved! The February vehicle meet has been dropped. Got to be careful of what I say as I'm going back to the museum as a volunteer 2010 cos its a brilliant display of artillery pieces, including self propelled kit and having spoken quietly to Richard I now know which ones could run if we could get more entusiastic mechanically minded volunteers interested. Wouldn't it be smashing to see S100's.Matadors, Millitants and Martians Morris quads and FC101's chugging around pulling their appropriate loads!!

A couple of stonefields under test in Woolwich Arsenal 1st in 1979 2nd 1986

do you mean these bits of kit from the RAWHS colln

is it an opel blitz with mw front, all gm models. tilt looks opel.

originally images posted by me from the RAWHS set on humber pigs at woolwich

Phil is this the early type of raidtrac?

As I said in my introduction to the forum I worked at the Royal Artillery Museum IN Woolwich Arsenal when it first opened in May 2001. On one of the opening weekends a colleague approached me to ask if I had ever heard of a plane crashing into the Arenal in 1953 and killing its pilot. Asked her why she wanted to know and she informed me that the pilots son was on site and asking whereabouts the crash happened and what had happened to the memorial stone that the Local Co-op funeral services had erected on the 40th annivesary> turned out no one employed knew and details about it. Anyway it nagged at me being a plane buff of sorts and after 6 months keeping an eye out for information I managed to get the full story. In a rehersal for the battle of Britain flypast in september 1953 Wing Commander Robert Duncan Yule flying out of Horsham st faith(Norwich) in his meteor Mk8 carrying his initials on the side was leading the mass of meteors on the approach path for Buck house, he moved up and over to get a good view of the formation and suddenly found that they were overtaking the lone Hurricane (LF363?) and fast approaching the point of no return at Woolwich and manoeuvered to rejoin the formation. What he wasnt aware of was his no2 was flying below and alongside as any good wingman should in combat, they collided knocking Mr Yules complete tail plane off and shattering the no2's cockpit canopy, giving him concussion. Mr Yules aircraft went into a flat spin and crashed between 2 explosives huts on the arsenal site and burst into flames, Arsenal staff attempted to douse the conflagration and rescue the pilot but to no avail. About 7 awards were given to these chaps at later date. THe no2 made an emergnecy landing at I belive Hornchurch. Mr yule was from New Zealand and had joined up at the beginning of the war with the likes of Al Deere, survived the battle of Britain and other wartime battles and remained in the RAF when peace returned. He was married with 2 small boys at the time of his death, perhaps named Michael and Athony both of whom went on to have flying careers of their own one with the RAF the other BOAC and it was one of these guys who had visitied the museum that opening weekend. The Co-op memorial stone I traced to B40 the Old Oficers mess, where it sat on a window sillm but you can still see the fixing points for it inside the entrance hall before the door to the southern saloon. It then sat for a long period in the Curators office, the presiding directors not wishing to take on any repsonsibilty for it until it was passed to the Greenwich Heritage centre for safe keeping. The original crash photos were taken by the Evening Standard from a hovering helicopter , they were taken to court and and fined £10,000.00 for endangering life by flying too close to HTwires and flying over a restricted area, a lot of money for 1953, it led them to dispose of said helicopter. I think that the reason Firepower didnt want to get too involved was because of the date 11th September 1953 (or in amaerican terms 9/11). there are some details on the old Royal Arsenal Woolwich web site at QQ22.net

Some Artillery reginents used this type of Ferret for recce, Firepower have one and alsoseems to have formed the basis to the Malayan turret fitted job. Photos from RAWHS colln attd

Re the Chieftain Stillbrew these came to light in the RAWHS sets taken some time in 1986

The auto feed was developed by Mollins of deptford cigarette making machine manufacturers, they also did similar feeds for 3.7"HAA and DH Mosquito MKXVlll Tetse fitment of 6 pdr gun

According to my book on Handley Page the Hermes was based at Blackbush for BOAC and only had a short life being broken up there in 1953.

Can't beat that last one!

andy that photo should be disallowed as although the crane has rails alongside it it doesn't run on them. Of course we could start a new theme on military cranes of all sorts. Back to tracks a couple from Longmoor

My Granddad was a great one for photography always had a camera never ever got anything printed as he always felt things were out of focus. Anyway he passsed on in 1967 and cans of negatives have been with the family ever since. Now that I have got a scanner that handles 35mm negs thought I would try and see what he had taken on some and came accross these taken I'm pretty certain at blackbush either 1952 or 53. It was a place he always stopped at to make a brew and let the car engine cool down on his way to Bournemouth. The car in this case was a Vauxhall10 or 12, I can just remember it, but uncles confirm dates. also a short solent either at Southampton or Poole

Dougy if you should change your mind about fitting the BATGUN, then there is a word of warning only fire straight ahead either of the diagonals and this happens.

shouldn't that be anti social