Brucie

It all depends on the project they were used for, when i was stationed there I was involved with the end of a trial life of a vehicle where we stripped the complete vehicle down, it was a Foden FH70, I think the engine along with the gearbox and axles got dispatched to trade training in Borden and the rest was scrapped, what a waste of a vehicle

Attached is a photograph of a CVRT at MVEE which I found on the web along with this description of its purpose WASP - MVEE Test Vehicle This vehicle was a turretless CVR(T) Scorpion used by the Military Vehicles Engineering Establishment Chertsey in the late 70's early 80's. It was powered by an Avo-Lycoming 7.2L petrol engine mounted in the turret well. It was used for High Speed Track and Suspension testing.

Rock I know in France it is illegal to tow a trailer that is wider than the vehicle doing the towing, saw the local police pull someone up in the village square and made him unhitch the trailer and would not let the trailer proceed till he obtained a wider vehicle to tow it. But if you queue at any British ferry port bound for France you will see plent of brits with trailers that are wider than the towing vehicle and overloaded to the bargain either ignorant of the rules or dont care as I was till I saw that incident in France and also you cant plead that you dont speak French anymore as they have cottoned on to that and a lot more French Police now speak english.

In reply to this message, MVEE did all sorts of trials on CVRTs, and the incident you mention did take place when I was based at MVEE. The incident occurred on the test track at Chertsey where the CVRT was coming of the test track onto one of the side roads and was travelling at a high speed and there was bad weather conditions. At the same time a Chieftain tank was proceeding from the skid pan area onto the test track. The CVRT collided with the side of the Chieftain, there was minimal damage to the Chieftain and extensive damage to the CVRT and as a result of the impact the two military personnel in the CVRT Mick and Ken died. I along with my comrades attended the funeral of Mick while other comrades attended the funeral of Ken.

Yes I remember them well though I never worn them, but when I was on my 1st Class training and was stationed at Martinique barracks in Bordon in 81, in the NAFFI one night there were some stripper entertainment and they plucked a young cook from the audience still in his whites and proceeded to raunchily undress him down to his pants only, which were the Army Issue ones as shown in the picture, it certainly raised the roof that night.

Hi John Please find attached info & blurred pictures about your trailer, looking at the picture in my REME book which I will send it appears your canopy has 3 tubulars held together with 5 x strips of flat bar. Also it contains a list of the major equipment for the trailer Regards Brucie

Hi Clive Did not get into any Saracen work at MVEE. being on a 2 year posting there we tended to get the shorter tasks or the tasks that the civvies did not get, i.e me and my buddy Mick had to remove a bogie axle from a 60 ton trailer which was being trialled to take what was then the Sha's Tank now Challenger, it had broken down at the testing site at Aldershot, Longvalley if my memory serves me right, the brakes had seized on and we had to remove the bogie axle at longvalley and take it back to Chertsey where it was inspected and repaired. As you know MVEE carried out all the testing and trial work on all Vehicles entering service and these trials also continued after the vehicle had entered service, I was carried out work on the Bedford MK which had been in service a few years then and the job was to repair the Chassis, where the fuel tank was mounted as the holes in the chassis were cracking, had to crack test it, drill the cracks and grind them ready for welder to repair them and in all my time in the service I never saw that fault again. As you know Vehicles Branch did the EMERs and the modifications(Many years later I used to curse them as every month we used to get a boxload of updates for EMERs and Parts List that I used to have to file them) and they used to liase with the trials of the vehicles usually with the project leader and tended to get involved with the trials and sometimes I would see them in the workshops working on a vehicle, they were mostly senior ranks and we tended to know most of them at they were billited at our barracks. Regards George As for 5 MAG I cant remember but they were working in the same building as vehiles branch.

Hi Clive Worked on them in N.I. between 83 - 85 where we had a fleet around 15 which were used on a daily basis, previous to that we had a few when I did my first tour in N.I. 75-76 but they did not do a lot of running around as they tended to be held in reserve so never really did much work on them in that 4 months and then at MVEE between 77-80 where they were used for trials and equipment assessment. Sorry no pictures as with anything when surronded by them the last thing on your mind is to take pictures which is something I do now regret, but if you visit the following website "www.theroyalscots.co.uk" and select their picture gallery and then select the following and browse "Photographs from members of the regiment" & "Photographs from members of the regiment vol 4" there are a couple of pictures of the humbers being deployed by the regiment in N.I. Regards George

Thanks for the chuckle, I always think its good to be able to laugh at oneself, life is to serious nowadays Cheers Brucie

Jon If you send me your email address I will send it to you direct, being a newbie I am stiil not sure how to use this system with confidence yet. My email address should be in my profile. Brucie

Spent 2 years working on them at a 1st line unit, did not have much to do to them as they seemed to go well, but when a engine fault developed i.e. electrics they were a bit of a nightmare to fix and they were forever leaking oil on the wheel stations and this was a 2nd line repair, apart from stripping and adjusting the brakes along with a bit of body fabrication they were fine?

Morning All I am interested in all things military having spent 24 years in the military(REME) working on all types off vehicles

Are you still looking for MVEE Insignia, I maybe able to help as i hold a copy on my computer of the one on the rear turret of your CVRW Fox Brucie