john_g_kearney

Many thanks, Nick. John.

This looks to me like a CMP lorry fitted with an armoured cab. I think the photograph was taken in Palestine circa 1946 as it came with a photograph of a standard CMP labelled on the rear 'Hedesa, Palestine, Dec 1946'. Any thoughts please? John.

Thanks, Richard. The officers seem to have been making good use of the lorry, as the front tyres are well worn... John.

We very much enjoy Militracks in the Netherlands where you can (for a fee) ride through the woods in Kübelwagen, Kettenkrad, semi-tracks and even tanks (if you can afford the fee...) Last year, there were 'tank' rides (in an APC and a CVT) at the Yorkshire War Experience, which we also enjoyed. John.

Thank you very much, 10FM68 - I think that pretty much wraps up all the questions. It is interesting that an elite Guards unit was still being issued a wartime lorry instead of a new Bedford RL circa 1958. Perhaps the QL has a special body fitted - it is a hard body, not an open one covered by a canvas tilt. John.

The badge looks like the description I have read for the General Service Corps, but this was formed in February 1942 for trainees before they were posted to a regiment or corps. I would not have expected a post-war officer who has evidently seen wartime service to be wearing a General Service Corps badge. Come to think of it, I don't recognise the Arm of Service badge either. It appears to comprise three horizontal bands, the top and bottom two the same colour. John.

I thought that the Guards Armoured Division was disbanded at the end of the war? The photograph is post-war as the officer wears the 1939 - 45 Star. I don't recognise his cap badge. Detail here. John.

I have just acquired this on e-bay. There is what appears to be a date (8/58) stencilled on the windscreen, which if it is a date indicates the period in which the photograph was taken. Any thoughts please re the markings? There appears to be a 3rd Division marking low down on the front of the vehicle, below the tubular bumper. John.

An interesting line of thought, Smithy. Given that the war was over, could the deceased even have been flown home if of high enough rank? John.

I think you are right, David. When I first looked, I thought the blue was inexpertly applied / badly faded, but on the cab roof in particular it does look like there were two colours on the original print. John.

Yes, by no means colourised by an expert... The print itself does not appear to be painted. Is it the neg that is hand-tinted in these cases? I am intrigued by the RAF blue. The photograph is dated 1945, and the Happy Valley location suggests late 1945 when the war was over. As far as I understand it, RAF blue was officially mandated for vehicles not until April 1946. So I reckon there are three possibilities as far as the photograph is concerned: 1) A senior airman died in late 1945, and it was decided to specially prepare a lorry for use as a hearse by obtaining blue paint locally. The photograph was hand-tinted in 1945 to reflect the actual colour of the lorry. 2) The lorry was in camouflage colours, but the photograph was hand-tinted in 1945 with the lorry in blue to make the photograph a bit more special. 3) The photograph was hand-tinted many decades after the event, and the lorry was made blue because the person who did it did not know any different. Any thoughts please? John.

A change of scene : this RAF CMP 15 cwt with the No 13 cab is serving as a hearse at Happy Valley, Hong Kong in 1945. The hand-tinting is, as far as I am aware, original. John.

Many thanks for the information on 22 MRS, Ted - I'll add it to my notes. Re Hair Bear's comment about extra ballast on the drive axle (from the generator on the loadbed rather than the tow hook), traction does seem to have been an issue in the Western Desert. The photographs I have posted of Photographic Section of 285 Reconnaissance Wing show it using 6x4s as towing vehicles for mobile darkrooms in the desert, even though it had on strength a purpose-built towing vehicle in the form of a 4x2 Dennis AM 30/40 cwt. John.

John1950 : it does not say on the back of the 22 MRS photograph were it was taken, but others by the same photographer were taken at Gambut (in Libya, east of Tobruk). Ex-boy : Medical Reception Station does sound promising, many thanks. John.

Many thanks for the motorcycle ID. I have been looking at the rider's battledress too - it appears to have the red eagle arm badge, so I am assuming it is Army issue khaki. I don't have any other photographs of the units other vehicles, but there is the unit nameboard. John.

Here is another photograph taken of the RAF in the Western Desert, 1942. This time though, the unit is a Mobile Hospital, 22 MRS. Any thoughts on what MRS stands for please, and make and model of the motorcycle? John.

Many thanks for the turning circle information in particular. It is interesting to see that the Dodge four-wheeler had such a large turning circle - presumably related to its long 188 inch wheelbase. John.

Thanks for the brake info, Ted. Interesting photograph you have posted - especially to see the generator in the loadbed rather than being towed. The photographs of the Photographic Section in Egypt / Libya showed generators in lorry loadbeds, but I thought this was because the lorries already had a towed load in the form of the mobile darkrooms. John.

Many thanks, John and Richard. Would a Dodge or Chevrolet have hydraulic brakes? I was wondering about turning circles too. Presumably the 6x4s would have larger turning circles than the 4x2s, which might have been an issue in the mountainous terrain if bends were tight - you would not want to shunt back and forth round a corner if you were towing a four-wheel trailer... Incidentally, the Dodge / Chevrolet has R.A.F. on the cab door in white, not black like the other vehicles in the photographs.

Now this is really getting interesting... This morning I posted a photograph of a Photographic Section 4x2 hauling a Mobile Darkroom - location was the mountainous terrain of the Wadi El Kouf in Libya. The Photographic Section (or perhaps it was just a detachment therefrom) had two darkrooms, and both had been hauled across the desert from Egypt and into eastern Libya by Fordson 6x4s. When I looked at the photograph I posted this morning, I supposed that one of the 6x4s had broken down and that the 4x2 had had to be substituted. But looking at a second photograph taken at the same time in the same place, I see that both darkrooms are now being hauled by 4x2s. There must have been a definite decision to take the 6x4s off and hook on the 4x2s. I haven't made an ID of this second lorry yet. Note that in both photographs, a man is walking beside the darkroom - possibly he is there to work the handbrake as required? John.

Many thanks for the ID, Ted and John. Thank you too, Ted, for the info re HQ 285 Wing - most interesting. John.

A week or so ago I posted on another thread photographs of an RAF Mobile Field Photographic Unit In Egypt and Libya in 1942. In A Fordson Sussex 6x4 was seen towing a Mobile Darkroom. In another photograph in the series, a Fordson WOT1 6x4 is seen towing a second Mobile Darkroom. I have just obtained another photograph in the series, and on enlarging a small part I have found this lorry towing one of the Mobile Darkrooms. I think it is a Dennis AM 30/40 cwt 4x2, but the late Bart Vanderveen in his green bible says the lorry was used by the RAF in the UK only. Any thoughts please? John.

The RAF Chevrolet in the photograph has R.A.F. on the cab door. None of the photographs I have just acquired show the doors of the Bedford OY. The Ford Sussex 6x4's of the MFPU in the photographs have R.A.F. on the body side, and the single Ford WOT1 6x4 does not seem to have the lettering anywhere. None of the vehicles (photographed some time in 1942) have the RAF roundel. John.

I have cleaned up the scratches on another part of the photograph including the Mobile Field Photographic Unit Bedford OY in the Western Desert, 1942 (though it is still not perfect...). I think this is an AK Series Chevrolet, and I think the camouflage on the body is light / dark divided by a diagonal line from top to bottom. John.

Thanks for that, Ted. John.