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Have you tried asking on the UK WW2 re-enactors site Paul?

Cheers fellas. I'd no sooner posted it than I thought about ducting, but a good link there with some nice clear pics. spot on, another forum result!

I wondered if there were any forum members in this part of the country who are familiar with this battery, or dare I say it would be willing to go and do a bit of field walking and take a look at it and report back? I'm intrigued as to what the structures are that now inhabit the gun positions. Ok they might be feedbins for farm animals, but they might be something more interesting. I've not come across anything else like these on any other sites so far. Over to you!

Brilliant mate, spot on. They are your bikes and you do them as you want. Sometimes it is too easy to lose sight of that for some of the guys on here. Yep, I would have done mine in pure military spec too but that doesnt make yours any less attractive. Probably just the sort of 'camouflage' needed to blend in on the streets of Karachi :-) Dont be upset if some of the purists dont like them or dont comment on them, each to his own. At least they are all preserved and running, rather than like some of the sheds full of slowly rusting scrap that the purists keep swearing they are going restore 'next year'. And yes, I do want one of those horns! :-)

It appears that there aren’t even any grass marks left at Clapham Common but the site is visible on the 1945 view. Cannot see the gun pits, maybe netted over, but in 45 I wouldn’t have thought it necessary(?) but the Nissen huts for the personnel are very obvious. Regarding Southampton, it could all depend upon whether your old fella was at Southampton – ‘specific’, or whether he was just somewhere in the wider geographical area. A check of the sites on Google Earth seems to show none in Southampton ‘specfic’ having survived (image 1), just one a little down the coast having some traces of the gun pads visible with all the surrounding magazines etc levelled. (image 2). If you spread the search a bit wider then there are two sites on Hayling Island with the one at Sinah looking much better preserved and accessible. If you go for the wider Southampton/ Portsmouth as the area to which he was he was posted then there is a good survivor over there, but I would guess it is not immediately open to the public. (image 3) Abroad, except for where there was an established British base e.g. Gibraltar then I would not have thought there would have been any permanent placements made (?). More likely sandbag arrangements that were dismantled and moved forward as the advance progressed, if indeed HAA was used in that manner. Maybe attached to airfields or other sites of importance as they were brought in to Allied control. Needles in haystacks are probably easier to trace ! J

(First posting of this appears to have disappeared so-) According to Wiki the ATS ranking system fell in line with the rest of the army from 1941. So maybe an ATS 'Corporal' would also have been known as Bombardier alongside her male counterpart if she was serving on a HAA battery? Or would that rank have only been given to those male members of the RA who did the actual firing? Dunno. Maybe someone else might have that specific info.

The Caen one.

:beer: yeahhh right, you knew what you were doing :-)

Some pics of the convoy.

Dont know if this will affect your chosen route but just seen this on the WW2 forum, seems Delph is closed with roadworks, diversion via Oldham http://www.wwiireenacting.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=70373&sid=1ef0c83d91c672fd88c6b58c245d91f6

Nipped over this aft for a quick visit. Seemed like a nice little event with a lot of local enthusiasm. Hope it went well for them and they raised some dosh. Some pics and in the village and out on the road at the turn around ready for the 'second pass'. Wittmann - eat yer heart out! :-) Some short videos can be found among the shots here http://community.webshots.com/album/580683932ncSswD?start=0

Earlier this year I detoured to get a pic of a vehicle body I had seen from a distance some time previous. My memory was of a quite smart, but old, gloss green painted item with a distinctive rounded wheel arch. When I got there this is what I found and it is not what I recalled at all! So either I had a box body from somewhere else in mind, or in the intervening period a switch has been done for a more suitable body to use as a shed. However do you reckon this has a military origin or is it more likely ex- British Rail etc? Over to the experts.

Saw something similar at around midday heading south on the M1/A1 in Yorkshire, the one I saw through a pack of traffic was, I think, an M37 with a jeep. What time was your sighting?

Cheers Tony, that will do nicely.

I'm no expert on these matters but I have no doubt that I'll get an accurate response to this from some of you fellas. My nephew is in the RAF and has just been deployed to Afghanistan here is the q? he has just emailed me - "Its not important as the situation as being applied means I have less to do but we're being told that we need a D1 licence to drive any vehicle that has a chassis capable of holding more than nine seats. So if we have a nine seat minibus that has space for two more seats, we're unable to drive it with a cat B licence. Just wondered if this was right or just some officer inventing rules? " Over to you guys.

Some more pics A bigger selection and a few short videos here at http://community.webshots.com/album/580518128eqTgqh

Here are a few of mine to start.

A cracking show, well done Stu and everyone else involved in putting it on. Shame on those who promised support but didn't show up, the loss was their's as they will be lucky to find another one up here to match this weekends event. I'll post some pics once I've had chance to sort through them. Good to put some faces to names from off here too.

I've recently taken to tying a large rectangle of high visibilty material across the tailboard of the MW. Very bright, waterproof and £3 off quid off ebay (incl postage). Aware of the law that does prohibit the display of a flashing amber beacon on this type of vehicle (i.e. it does not fall in to any of the categories that can legally have one fitted on to the exterior of it) I have a flashing amber beacon fitted inside the open tilt of the truck. To my mind this works better for the purpose of being seen from the rear, as it makes the light obvious, even on a sunny day, as it is against a dark background. It catches the attention of vehicles behind and doing that job is fine by me. There are no regulations applicable to flashing amber beacons fitted to the interior of a vehicle that I am aware of. Ok, it is a configuration that wont work for every type of vehicle out there, but it works for me.

Great stuff Ted. For those of us who have never been in the services and dont know the routines the input of those who have is invaluable. Thanks. At least I now know where my tyre has been, if nothing else

Thanks fellas for the prompt and informative responses. I did have the 'DIMS' bit sorted and can see now that what I thought were 2 V's or U's is a W! Weight is now obvious, ..duh. From your comment Ted that everything was sent to the OC can I reasonably assume that this tyre was being sent to the Maintenance Unit stores base at Sutton Coldfield and not isssued from it then? From what I've read so far on the web Sutton C was a store for ground equipment for aircraft servicing, everything from fuel bowsers to jacks. The tyres could have been just stock for redistribution to airfield units or for the SC base vehicles. Would there be a likely probability either way or what? Cheers.

I was sorting through some tyres that came with my truck prior to disposing of the duff ones. Imagine my surprise when I found the 'delivery note' as pictured below, now visible having been stood out in the rain and a couple of bad winters. Point1) can anyone decipher the 3rd and 4th lines - what do they refer to? and point 2) where can I get some of this paint from that lasts on the side of a tyre for 60years? Bloody good stuff! So when I'd finally stripped everything down I had a tyre from 1954, with a dated 1941 tube (seemingly perfect nick) on a 1944 rim. Next q? is would this tyre have been coming from, or going to, 216MU at Sutton Coldfield? 'Cos that might give me a bit more history of the post war life of the truck!!

There's your answer David - the pics obviously came from Ted

Can't remember where these two came from, either Ted or Hendon. Trendy attire eh?