schliesser92

Sweet!!:-):-):-)

perhaps a locally made item for a Home Guard unit?

Nobody seemed to notice when Flektarn was introduced, soldiers suddenly started to appear wearing it! The period was a little before the Yugos started to kick each others heads in. The first units to get it were the German-French Brigade (I believe) PS I've just talked to a colleague of mine who was with the paras (later KSK), and he told me that the first to get it were KSK in 1995.

For those that are interested, here's some material from my archives. Remember - Bundeswehr plates do NOT have the EU logo on the left, and the plates are, in contrast to normal civvy plates, non-reflective (sort of makes sense). remember, certain variants of the Munga require the square plate for the rear

Chris Not for 1979, but as the Iltis was in service until introduction of the Wolf in the 1990s, you could get away with it. Important rule is: If the vehicle is in" Bundeswehr Gelb-Oliv" you should really wear OD If the vehicle is in "NATO-Grün" or 3-tone cam, then you can wear Flecktarn. Roger Incidentally, the VW Iltis was in production from 1978-1981 with some 8,000 being built.

Chris the "Bundesadler" (Eagle) sticker is a legal proof of registration. To affix it to a non-registered plate would contravene German Traffic AND Criminal law. For anyone to be in possession of such stickers, other than the appropiate registration authority, is also an offence and carries a sentence of up to 5 years nick! When a German vehicle is deregistered the sticker (also known as a Siegel, or seal) is removed. I know, because I've got a car dealer in my nick for being in possession of a bunch of stickers (albeit for the City of Frankfurt) - he's just got 3 years. The civil servant who supplied him has been suspended and will go on trial shortly. I would suggest photographing a Bundeswehr number plate, cut out print the seal and apply it. As you'll only displaying in the UK (I hope!), you wont contravene German (or EU) law. Roger

Ouch!

It usually gets extremely messy if it goes wrong!

wasn't this aircraft once displayed at the aircraft museum outside Gloucester (Staverton?) ??

I think some of those who didn't serve, would find it amusing to see some of the unofficial mods that were done due to operational necessity. My father's half-track (an M9) in Normandy was an OP vehicle for a medium artillery battery, and was fitted with a German radio, MG15 (fell off a German aircraft) and a rather large pair of binoculars that fell off the back of a German coastgun site! Whilst with 3 Div Signals, we modified some 109s with Dexion racking to take an SR C50/R236 station, so that a single detachment (2 109s, an equipment trailer and an antenna trailer) could be used as a relay or "double-anchor", instead of having to deploy 2 detachments. At 1 Div Signals, the inside of some Bedford RL and Commer Q4 boxdodies bore no resemblence to the CES. OK, OK, some people displaying go overboard with their ex-MoD vehicles- but it's a cert that the majority wern't even in the forces. Those of us in the know, just chuckle and move on.

Don''t forget the Shackleton undercarriage!

Must be a purely Bulgarian thing. The BMPs taken over from the east German NVA didn't have rubber pads, and when some were upgraded , they couldn't be registered to travel on German roads (because of the lack of pads), and were subsequently disposed of.

Easy to do ! They do basically the same job - an LST is really a large LCT and an LCT a small LST. I was on an LSL, which is really an updated LST with optional extras. I think the only people to use LSTs these days are the Russkis -and most of theirs were built in Poland.

LCT Mk VIII, the colour pic is on the beach at St Kilda.

originally RASC, later RCT (in my day, I'm old but not THAT old!). They were certainly in use in the early 1970s. I believe new ones are now in service, with similar names, but I'm not sure how many, and who "owns" them (RLC of RFA)

I remember that Akyab had a longer ramp retrofitted, and on one resupply run I was manning the ship/shore radio on St Kilda (call sign "56" and it was a Marconi Fulmar/Guardian IV set-up for the techno-purists!), and heard the CO of the LCT, who unfortunately had a lisp, announce that he wasn't going to wait for the tide, but come in straight away as he had a twenty-seven foot "wamp" . I spent days wondering what a wamp was and why someone would want a 27ft one!

They were the LCT Mk VIII and were operated by 20 Maritime Regt RCT. They operated out of Helensburgh on the Hebrides/St Kilda run in the summer (late 60s/early 70s). I remember Ardennes, Aromanche, Akyab and L4041 Audemer. They were originally built for the invasion of Japan (never happened) and were then a bit long in the tooth. I remember a matelot dropping a spanner, which went through the tank deck to disappear in the spaces below. Very comforting when you're in the Atlantic halfway between South Uist and St Kilda! I used to have a picture of one on the beach at St Kilda, but that sort of disappeared on one of my moves. I also moved on exercise from Marchwood to Rendsburg with 3 Div in 1973 (COMLANDJUT) with an LSL (Sir Lancelot) where we drove on at Marchwood, but craned off in Germany. Interesting experience - craning off after a stormy North Sea crossing and then deploying into the field.

There was also the German MAN 630L2A with a retractable tower used for deploying to "bare bones" airfields with a mass of other kit. These were in service into the late 1970s.

Try looking at the PANZERBAER site - they've got a reasonable archive. http://www.panzerbaer.de/

Isn't it basically a licence-built Yakovlev Yak-11 (MOOSE) ?

The "tank transporter" is indeed a faun, in fact the SLT 50/2 Elefant. Supposedly,it can carry vehicles/equipment weighing in at 52t. The GVW is about 92t. (at a speed of 40km/h) or 87.5t if one wants to go somewhat faster (about 60km/h). 324 were delivered between 1977-79. I think they were fitted with a 29,900 ccm MTU turbo-diesel (Type MBN837 Ea500) which provided some 730 bhp .

It was quite interesting. The 3.7" gun was in use until 1957, if not longer. My father was with an HAA regiment in Delmenhorst (1954-1957), moving on to a TA LAA regiment (Dunfermline) after a "conversion course". The barracks in Delmenhorst, St Barbara Barracks, was handed over to the Bundeswehr, and was later their air-defence training school. Shooting camps were mostly at Todendorf.

that looks like a REME fitters vehicle. I remember seeing one in Catterick (mobile!) in 1968 - made a racket! There's also one, in not such good codition, at Headcorn Airfield, nr Maidstone in Kent.

Yes, that's correct. My father's battery in Northern France actually engaged a German tank (Tiger?) over open sights with a 5.5" gun! - apparantly some SS unit got around behind the lines and ended up in front of the battery. Change of underwear for all. My father, being a battery surveyor, was actually, in this particular case "behind enemy lines". In North Africa, anti-tank regiments were actually using 25pdrs (firing 20pd solid shot) in this mode.With heavier guns, this was relatively rare.

the "99" in the NSN indicates that the Brits applied for codification.