johnwardle

Hi Martyn, The correct nomenclature for the tow ropes is; Rope, Towing; Terylene, Multiplait, 8ft 2in Long, Loop Both Ends. The tow ropes are fitted to the vehicle with 2 Shackle; Steel, Large Dee, 5 Tons SWL. There is also a 7 Ton D shackle which goes through the loose ends of the tow ropes and onto the tow hitch of the towing vehicle. There is no mention in the 741 (CES list) of a 30' KERR Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope, the longest that I have seen is the 5 metre ones used on Cougar variants. I have a copy of the CES for the Scimitar (Diesel) and will scan it on to a CD-ROM when I get time.

There are 2 switches on the left hand side of the black box, the upper one has 2 positions, up for lights and down for blackout. The lower switch has 3 positions, up for front & rear lights, centre for Infra Red off, and down for rear lights only. Running down the centre right of the box is the daily check list (first parade) T tyres & wheels C controls & cables L lights & electrics O oil & fuel C chassis & drive shafts All this lettering is screen printed on to the black box in white and will be a devil of a job to replicate. Hope this helps. John

Thanks Clive, that shows the layout a lot better than I described it, I was going to print off the image on the 741, but that wouldn't have been any better.

The Duckboards are made from approximately 40mm X 20mm tanalised soft wood, the profile is 'D' shaped with the square corners at the bottom and the rounded corners at the top. The lower rails run side to side and the upper rails run front to rear with approximately 125mm square openings. The measurements are approximate as all our trailers are out. The Duckboards are supplied by Penman MW Ltd, Heath Hall Ind Est, Heathall. Dumfries DG1 3NY. Penmans part number is K8232 the NSN is 2590-99-724-2328, they are quite cheap, the military only pay £54 each! I hope that this helps. John

Rygor Commercials, our local Mercedes truck dealer had a new red 6x6 version for sale about 3 years ago, I was getting my Leyland Daf MOTed there and asked why they had a Zetros for sale, the reply was that as Unimog dealers they also sold Zetros. It wasn't there long, I wonder who bought it and what use they put it to.

Buggerski!!!

It should still work as I said in my previous post, the the easy way to check is to drain one tank, put the change over lever upright and run the engine until it runs out of fuel. Then after switching the change over lever to one side or the other, put some fuel in one tank, loosen the fuel pipe to the carb and use the priming lever on the fuel pump. If you get fuel up then you will know which tank is feeding the fuel pump.

With the bottom of the change over tap to the left it will use the left tank and vice versa. Nice and simple.

I was told that this story was first printed last Saturday, the 1st of April!!! And why didn't they show the hole in the fuel tank? Seems like they could do with some maths lessons, 5x5kg gold bars = 881 ounces which at £1,000 per ounce is "only" £881,000.

There could be literally anything in it although fitting a metal box (usually an old ammo box) to the front bumper is quite a popular thing to do it was never a standard fitment. None of the Land Rovers in the Land Training fleet have a box fitted to the front bumper, all CES with the exception of the spade and pick axe are carried inside the vehicle, including the tow strop.

A VERY important addition to Matchfuzees' post I was also at the MVT AGM, in the next edition of Windscreen there will be a form on the cover sheet to vote on the proposal for Public Liability Insurance, please complete this and return it. Please do not discard the cover sheet as this is very important.

They had one of these at Arborfield when I was doing my apprenticeship in the early 70s, the only time that it was needed was when there was a petrol shortage in 1974 (I think). The Joiners shop caught fire and we had to run past it to get to the guardroom, collect the fire pump and drag it to the fire, we weren't allowed to use the Land Rover to pull it due to the petrol shortage, when we got to the joiners shop all that was left was a pile of smouldering ash. We did use the pump to damp it down then had to drag it back to the guardroom.

Hi Stephane, I tried to upload a scan from the Bedford TM Operator Information manual (AESP 2320-P-700-201) but I couldn't. What John Atlee has said in his post is spot on, but this is how it is written in the manual. Starting with temperatures below +10 degrees C to-35 degrees C; 1. Ensure that gear lever is in neutral and the parking brake control is applied. 2. Turn key-start to run position, warning lamps switched on and buzzer activated. 3. Check manual stop control is in run position. 4. Fully depress accelerator pedal and hold down. Pull the excess fuel knob (T handle by the parking brake control) and release after a few seconds. 5. Depress clutch pedal and hold down. 6. Depress cold start device control knob (between the 2 main dials on the instrument panel) and hold down. 7. After 15 seconds turn key-start switch to start position which will operate the starter motor. 8. When engine fires evenly release key-start, the key will automatically return to the run position. Release cold start device control knob. 9. Gradually release accelerator pedal to maintain 1000 rev/min for 3 minutes, or longer if the braking system needs charging with air. Return to idle. CAUTION....if engine does not start after 10 seconds cranking, turn key-start to off position, operate stop control and repeat procedure as from para 1. Note... The cold start device holds 3 minutes of fuel, if the device is operated for more than 3 minutes refill by hand priming for 200 strokes and repeat starting procedure as from para 1. This is exactly how it is written in the manual except for the bits in brackets, hope that this helps.

A new series of Super Truckers started on Quest last night featuring the M.O.Ds favoured haulier Metcalfe Farms, could be quite interesting but I bet that they didn't film the Mastiff door coming open and taking out the pelican crossing in Trowbridge or Ridgbacks falling off trailers when offloading. I've just watched last nights episode and was absolutely gobsmacked to see them transporting the Green Goddess that I was looking at last weekend in Harome (pronounced hareum as in scareum). I grew up in Harome and the building with the big windows behind the truck when they were off loading was my old primary school. I didn't envy the driver negotiating the road from Helmsley to Harome as it is rather narrow and twisty.

The Coyote & Jackal are actually armoured vehicles with composite armour on all 4 sides and mine blast protection underneath, the composite armour is effective against small arms fire, I have seen armour panels that have taken hits from small arms and the bullets did not penetrate. If you take a look at the Supacat website you can download a spec sheet on the Jackal showing the armour and mine blast protection.

Spotted today on the M6 heading north between junctions 11A & 12 at approx 12:15, a V2 ROCKET on the back of an artic, it was painted green and looked to be partially sectioned. The big question is, was it real or a replica? And where was it going?

Chris Leete told me that there were 2 classes of rebuilding, EBR which stands for Economic Base Repair, where the engine was checked without dismantling, and the ancillaries such as magnetos dynamos etc were replaced. The other class of rebuilding was BR which stands for Base Repair where the engine was totally stripped and everything checked and corrected if necessary before rebuilding and replacing all the ancillaries. I was also told that the magnetos on the Meteors do not like to be in storage, and it is likely that the magnetos on these engines that are for sale would need a thorough check over before trying to start the engine.

Surprisingly, Chris Leete, who tested the engine in the advert, and Steve Poole who rebuilt it, still work for DSG Warminster. I had a good chat with Chis this afternoon and he told me that literally hundreds of Meteor engines and 4 Merlins were rebuilt at Warminster and believe it or not he still has the odd Meteor part in his toolbox. Chris told me about a Centurion that came back from Canada after an engine fire, the Meteor engine, being made of aluminium,had completely melted, all that was left was the crankshaft & camshafts, but the fuel tanks either side of the engine bay were still intact and had petrol in them. I was told that Scottish Aviation had nothing to do with the rebuilds any parts required were sourced from Jersey Aviation. He was a mine of very interesting information and I really enjoyed chatting with him, I'll see if I can catch up with Steve Poole tomorrow.

The advert on Milweb says that these Meteors were rebuilt by Scottish Aviation, which is based near Glasgow. It seems strange that they were sent to Warminster for testing, the test house is now derelict and only used for storing road salt. l'll ask around at work (I work at DSG Warminster) and see if anyone remembers rebuilding them.

It's about 10 years since I was last in Cuba, I was rather surprised to see WW2 era Gaz67s in regular use by the Cuban army, especially in Havana. The amount of old British cars still in use over there is quite amazing, Ford Populars, Consuls, Zephyrs, Hilmans, Morrises etc. The oldest car that we saw in regular use was a 1928 Model A Ford.

Not that unusual, apparently quite popular with Military Police of various countries post war, there are quite a lot of photos on the net.

The Royal Signals museum at Blandford also have an armoured Matador or Dorchester as they were often called, this could be worth considering depending on where you live.

A couple of years ago I was contacted by Wiltshire police with regard to a Jeep that had been bought by a local person from a farm sale where the Jeep had been since 1946, the new owner had contacted DVLA for a replacement V5 and was told that a Jeep with the same chassis number and registration was in Lincolnshire, This is why the police were involved. When I inspected the Jeep I found that the chassis plate was untouched and the dashboard data plate was missing except for the bottom left corner. I was then shown photos of the Jeep in Lincolnshire, this had a newly made chassis plate which was nearly the right shape but the wrong size and shape numbers, and a data plate with the bottom left corner missing. The police told me that the Jeep in Lincolnshire was bought from a major Jeep dealer, and was built around the data plate from the Wiltshire Jeep, how they came by that data plate I don't know but judging by the faded paint where it should have been it had been missing for a long time. I would suggest that you contact DVLA and ask if they could contact the last registered owner. I your Jeep has been imported recently where did it come from?

In my previous job I used a couple of hauliers from Lamboun near Hungerford, Quick Transport on 01488 72020, ask for Kevin Quick and J.D. Bracey & Sons on 01488 71785 (both phone numbers only have 9 digits). Both are reliable and reasonably priced.

The garage with the helicopters was on new lane on the left after turning off Malton road, the Mosquito was somewhere near where the primary school is, but things have changed a lot since I went to school in York and left in 1972, some school friends and myself would cycle through Huntington on our way to Strensall ranges to collect used bullet cases, which is how I saw the Mosquito and helicopters. Maybe if you spoke to someone who has lived in the area since the late 60s they should be able to help you more. I remember that there was an article in the Yorkshire Evening Press about the Mosquito being craned over the house, but I can't find their archives on line.