Richard Farrant

The British bridge plate used post war is exactly the same as that one issued during WW2. There are some vehicles that had flat ones fitted as well.

I'm not fussy about a stretched limo..........normal one will do :tup::

You mean to say that Jack did not sleep in one of those tents he sells ?

Hi Jack, I'm sure Degsy, and I, will appreciate comfortable accomodation, what with our bad backs. :tup::

Degsy, We are not all like that down south, remember he is not one of us...........he's an islander :shake:.....from near France

I guessed it could have been taken at the FAA Museum, will go along with others, but to be accurate, a DH Sea Vampire perhaps ? :confused:

Neil, You will curse the day, if you did put one on the Stalwart. You know how points can close, get dirty, duff plug, blocked jet, etc, then you will have to lift the damned thing off to access the engine bay :shake:

On the first two meetings, I was one of those invited, the inaurgral one was something special, with a wartime theme for the Saturday evening party held by Lord March in the hangar. Guests arrived in a carpark outside the circuit, where a marquee reception supplied them with champers in tin mugs. From there, we ferried them in our vehicles onto the circuit and to the hanger. On my first trip, crossing the runway, two Spitfires, one flown by Ray Hanna buzzed us.......very low. A lot of notable people from racing were there, and one of my passengers was Eddie Jordan, FI team owner. To get to your post, Neil, I think the cut off date for vehicles is the year of the last race meeting at the circuit, which off hand I think was 1965 or thereabouts.

A few photos at Alice Springs....... 1. Chevrolet C60X 6x6 owned by Fred from Blue Mountains. 2. Lend Lease Chevrolet, driven up from Melbourne. 3. Vernon the Camel, RACT mascot. 4. 1934 AEC government road train, in the Hall of Fame museum, the eight wheel trailer is also with it. 5. My favourite Land Rover, the Perentie 6x6 mobile workshop from RAEME, which followed the convoy.

The border used to be at Watford Gap, must have been moved further South :confused:

Thats an old game :-D. One thing I hate is being asked to talk in the microphone and hear your voice echoing around the arena. Trick is to look like you are busy with some small technical problem and hope the commentator goes away

Green and blue flags used on convoy packets; Blue ; lead vehicle Green ; tail vehicle

Gloss DBG

I used to have a customer with a Stalwart and he used Baby Oil all over the paintwork :-D

Mark, For years I used Duck oil to bring the colour up, as did a lot of other people at the time. I tried WD40 on a vehicle this year that has not had anything on the paint before, and I was quite impressed, not too much of a sheen, more like it was when freshly painted.

Word of warning though, avoid using "truck wash detergents", on matt or semi-matt paint, it can permantly mark it.

With water :rofl: someone had to state the obvious :-D

You have to start somewhere, and that one was as good as any :-D

Fairey Swordfish ?

Hi Kuno, That is correct, and they work in pairs, hence why you saw two, so that they can pull the plough both ways, also used for dredging lakes, ponds, etc.

To the second phase of the journey............we had arrived in Alice Springs the previous evening and were all based at a caravan and camp site in the town. As Rick mentioned in a recent post, it was a cold night, although coming from the UK, it was nothing too bad. I distinctly recollect going to the washrooms and seeing several of the vehicle crew members, from Victoria, I think, going in dressed in army greatcoats, to wash and shave. I was wearing.....a teeshirt :-D. Our arrival in Alice coincided with the grand opening of the Road Transport Hall of Fame. We had been invited to take the vehicles there and on the night before an opening dinner in the museum, it was a who's who of the road transport scene in the Northern Territory, with a number of pioneers to the industry present. On the day of the grand opening, were formed up for a convoy to the museum, led by three camels, mascots of the Royal Australian Corps of Transport. At the museum, which is well worth visiting if you ever stop in Alice, are a fine selection of trucks, outside is a huge yard with yet more that have been saved and dragged in. On the day, a new addition arrived, an old Foden six wheeler, brought in on an army low loader. We had three days in Alice Springs and the final day we were able to sort ourselves into packets for the convoy. The Australian Army had supplied support in the shape of a contingent from the Army School of Transport, a Major, Captain and nine personnel and a number of vehicles, inc. a International S-Line recovery transporter. The School of Signals supplied six personnel and vehicles. For medical support, a contingent led by a Major, from 3rd Forward Medical Coy., and two RAEME mechanics from 107th Field Workshops, with a Land Rover Perentie 6x6 workshop truck. At the same time as our arrival, a full scale defence exercise, Kangeroo 95, was underway in the northern part of the country and we were to see a lot of activity. A briefing with the Army and Police explained convoy procedures and to be aware of road trains pulling three semi-trailers. We were under strict instructions to maintain convoy procedures, with a speed of 80 kph, vehicles within packets spaced at 100 metres apart, and each packet, ten minutes apart. Our vehicle crews formed themselves into eight packets of ten vehicles each, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and Z. This inevitably ended up with packets called "A Team", "F Troop" and "Z Force". My next instalment is Day One of the long drive................

How on earth did you arrive at that ???? :??? Going by Private Taylor's army number, 14760893, he was enlisted in to the General Service Corps. On the envelope; 24 PLN Z Coy 5' Cheshire Batt My understanding of this is 24 Platoon, Z Company, 5th Cheshire Battalion. The last bit has me puzzled, should it have been 5th Cheshire Regt, or 5th (Cheshire) Battalion :confused:

I thought that pic of you struggling with the oil pump, was familiar, must have been posted before. Best of luck next w/end.

So with the head off what have you found?

Hey, thats my part of the world, . They would have been returning from Bethune today