Redherring

And then there are the people whose parts are made of gold. Went to an auction. Veritable mountain of parts for sale; "no reserve" we were told during the auctioneers opening address. Most of the small stuff - junk really - sold quickly and for low prices. Most of the bidders were restorers like us - people I have seen about the traps and dependent upon the ever decreasing pool of parts left to us. However, the relaxed atmosphere wasn't to last. As we got to the NOS military spares things began to get passed in. Annoyed vendor, grumpy bidders, irrational auctioneer. Many of us had been to this bloke's shed over the years and paid high prices for NOS items. This was supposed to be his final sale - the rats and mice from a vast collection of NOS acquired after WW2. The auctioneer got to a small pile of Universal carrier flexible drive joints. I already had one but thought a spare might be in order. With the owner of said parts by his side the auctioneer asks for a typically high price. Surprise - surprise - no bids. "What am I offered". I couldn't resist. So against my better judgement I offered half his asking price. Big mistake. What sort of a cheapskate are you!!! I was told by the auctioneer - slightly less politely than that. I did my best to disappear - difficult to do in a small crowd - and it was a while before the auctioneer would take a bid from me at all - and I was one of many! As you would expect from then on the bids were few and most of the stuff was left where it stood. Not one of those drive joints sold. The auction became a complete farce and people have been talking about it ever since. It was one of the classics. Personally I like to trade stuff. Nice equitable way to go about it. But you can't always do that. :angel:

Could they locate airfields? Perhaps put out of action due to bombing? Red and blue indicating degree of damage? Robert

Photo 4 - possibly a White M20 c.1916?

Could they be battery positions. Blue for operational. Red for not operational.

If it has two sides then it is an object as opposed to a painted sign. This being the case is it flat?

Though I'm struggling to make out the number, and bat-myopia isn't helping, could it be a Q rather than a 2?

Another interesting site. Thanks for pointing it out. On the subject of war trophies there are cannons littered around Australia in all sorts of parks & gardens - not all of them trophies! There are many around greater Melbourne and in particular you may wish to check out the pair of Crimean war cannon outside Victoria Barracks in St.Kilda Road on google images. Tsar Alexander the First’s army... 36 pound cannons... cast in 1838 at the Alexander Factory. Robert

Congratulations. A very impressive trailer. Robert

Could the location be the Ewa Plain. I once worked on the railway there and the backdrop looks sort of similar???

Can anyone tell us anything about the gun and gun carraige?

re 2nd pilot... Apparently it was normal practice at operational squadrons to blood a new pilot by first sending him on a mission with an experienced pilot. From thereon it was unusual as there was always a shortage of pilots due to the high attrition rate. My father tells me he trained his flight engineer to pilot the plane on quiet sectors, just in case he was incapacitated.

On 21/22 June 1944 133 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitoes attacked the synthetic-oil plant at Wesseling. Nearly all from 5 Group. Night fighters accounted for 37 planes. On the same night 123 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitoes attacked the synthetic-oil plant at Scholven/Buer. Reference... The Bomber Command War Diaries (2000) Middlebrook & Everitt My father (aged 91) flew his first operation, as 1st pilot, the next night, in a Lancaster to L'Hey with XV sqdn. Two of his crew survive and live in NSW. They each know how close they came to oblivion and they remember the crews that didn't return to Mildenhall. A worthy cause. Robert

Now there's a thought, a special bequest in the future for some lucky relative...

Like both spanners. I've always been keen on recycling old castings and scraps of steel. You can never have enough. Though I'm often told I could get a fair price for all that old, rusty, and 'unsightly' scrap cluttering the sheds and generally lying about! For something very simple and different here are a couple of recycled knives with a multitude of uses. The very sharp curved blade works a treat on anything from wiring to hay twine, and the other is ground square to scrape off old oil and other concretions. Robert

A very early ejector seat...

Passionate about tools? Herewith an opportunity to share with us some of those brilliant tools you've manufactured out in the back shed when the standard tools just weren't up to it. I'll make a start with our own stub-saw. Though now a little worn it still works on sheet metal & light steel in a tight spot.

John; that is a story I can relate to. At risk of destroying the focus of this thread I would like to relate a short story in return. My dad ex farmer and ex RAAF pilot, bought us a tired, probably third-hand, Humber snipe way back when. One day he was driving said Humber, low-flying was the term the family used, over a local hump bridge. We kids hit the roof and out from behind the back seat arose a big cloud of small white moths... I'd like to think that moth colony survives to this day... Cheers. Robert

Scenario from Alfred Hitchcock...

Might this chassis be a 6? ton Diamond T?

This unit above is from the 2 ton Hurlburt I spoke of earlier. Fewer bolts - lighter chassis?

We have a fine garden gnome in our garden. I'm not sure what Prue would think of this unit. The plate on the rear axle bears a triangular logo that I have seen before on a 2 ton Hurlburt. I don't know whether this was manufactured by Hurlburt or whether it's from a parts manufacturer. Is the chassis Hurlburt also? Wheels and hubs look right. But not absolutely sure. Nice find if it is. Robert

Ah. So that's what my RAF family Leyland turned into...

Yup!...

More on the subsidy scheme. Summarising the Hampshire museums Thornycroft site… · Only chassis’ matching a W.O. specification were acceptable for the subsidy scheme. · Thornycroft A1 chassis’ were accepted for enrolment in the scheme for a period of three years. · Payment of £120 subsidy per chassis or vehicle was made by the W.O. to private owners in six £20 half-yearly instalments paid in advance upon inspection. · Private owners could fit any type of body to their chassis, however if that body was unsuitable for W.O. purposes, then it would remain the property of the owner and was not included in the scheme’s purchase price. In the event of a national emergency the W.O. could purchase the enrolled chassis or entire vehicle at a price fixed at the time of enrolment in the scheme. · At the outbreak of war in August 1914 the W.O. impressed large numbers of non-subsidy vehicles for service. The author goes on to suggest this as the “…failure of the subsidy scheme” i.e. failed to yield the required number of lorries... Does the author’s statement suggest the subsidy scheme had a quantified objective in mind at the outset, which it failed to meet, or does it mean the vision for the scheme was just too insignificant to make a difference? Robert

Rod, thanks for that information. I now have a good excuse for a visit to the archives in North Melbourne. Robert