john_g_kearney

Sorry, I cannot read the letters on the Scottish Mack's number plate - the numbers are 931.

John

'Somewhere in Scotland' late 1976.

John.

Seen mid Saturday afternoon, 8 September: an Austin Gipsy fire engine and pump trailer heading in the Skipton direction. The combination looked superb in the unaccustomed sunshine. Was it heading for the Wartime Weekend at the Yorkshire Dales Railway? We had just come from there, having seen a couple of handsome Bedfords: OX and QL.

John.

Many thanks for the information - I have noted it down in my records.

Re the Sutterlin on the rear of the photograph, it now looks to me like it reads: 'Auf dem Marsch nach Polenzug'. (On the march to the Polish campaign.) Did Landser use the term 'Polenzug' I wonder?

John.

Many thanks, Clive. How amazing to see a photograph of 25BK85!

John.

At the other end of the road to my school in Monkseaton was a row of half a dozen Army houses. I presumed that they were occupied by regular soldiers posted to local TA depots. I often saw Army Land Rovers parked outside the houses, and on at least two occasions (in October 1971) saw Humber Pigs. In my schoolboy hand, I made notes... ('Olive Green' should of course have been Deep Bronze Green.) Have either 25BK85 or 28BK97 survived?

John.

A civilian 90 (1993 County Station Wagon), but a military Mark III wide-track trailer. The trailer was well used during its Army career (latterly with Signals element of 16th Air Assault Brigade) as the brake pads were worn to a sliver. Note the trailer wheels, transferred from an earlier Mark before the trailer was cast.

John.

Looks superb, Phil - well done!

At which show were the photographs taken?

What was stored in the aisle created by the missile storage boxes stacked one on top of the other at the sides of the rear body? (I presume that the aisle was there for a reason, as the CofG would be lower if the four boxes were stowed at the same level. Or are they just too wide to allow that?)

John.

I like the Series II as well, John. Yours also?

Is your Unimog ex BAOR, or do you just like Deep Bronze Green?

John.

Many thanks, John. Your 404 is looking particularly splendid in your photograph. There are several modern Unimogs in the Leeds area used by tree surgeons, but I don't recall seeing many older examples at MV rallies.

John.

Many thanks,

John.

As operated by Autohaus L Bogner in Oberammergau in the mid-1980s. Can one say that the soft-top cab means that it is presumably ex-military?

John.

Many thanks for your replies, N.O.S. and Smithy. I remember seeing a black and white film which starred one of these AEC 6x6s. I can't recall the body that was fitted - what I remember most is seeing the drive train when the vehicle rolled over on its back. Can anybody recall the film's name, I wonder?

John.

EKA_Wrecker - a most comprehensive reply, many thanks. I did not really study the truck at the time; an opportunity missed, I confess....

John.

An old holiday snap (taken in 1980) : an M35 in service with the Public Works Department, Malta. The PWD also used an M-series wrecker - see the Transporters and Wreckers thread.

John.

Is this a member of the Matador family please? (Photographed at an air show at RAF Church Fenton in June 1980.)

John.

I came across this amongst my old holiday snaps. The wrecker is in service (or it was when photographed, in 1980) with the Public Works Department on Malta. Is it an M543 or its MAP equivalent, an M816 please? It does not have what I take to be a hydraulic fluid tank behind the cab as seen in other photos on this thread.

John.

In the mid 1970s there used to be an annual MV show in the Maidenhead area. One time I went there was a REME half-track in attendance with, I think the canvas top rather than the steel version. I recall the owner saying that the weight of the A-frame meant that he could hardly keep the tyres on it. Was this a general problem?

John.

Ingenious, and looks good too.

John.

The Jeep might not be coming on that quickly, but it is coming on very nicely. Looking forward to seeing the body resplendent in a new coat of paint.

John.

In the August issue of Classic Military Vehicle there is an article on Model T Fords. These had a what is today the conventional driving position. The subsequent generation of similar-sized military vehicles by various manufacturers had a manifestly much worse driving position, cramped and with the driver practically sitting on the floor. I think this must have been due to a desire to lower the profile of the vehicles in order to better suit them to military usage. Not sure what the excuse was though for the designer of Scammell Pioneer's driving position...

John.

Your Morris looks superb, Ron. No wonder you love it so.

Your photograph, and that posted earlier by Tim, shows I think why the Germans might have thought better of the captured British vehicles than their own. The tyres are a generous width, and have a good cross-country pattern. In contrast, German vehicles appear under-tyred in comparison. I presume that this was due to the cost and difficulty of obtaining rubber even in peacetime; we got much of our supplies from the Empire, of course.

John.

I stand corrected re the LVTs at Utah; I didn't know that... Is it odd that a US LVT is in a dump with what appears to be exclusively British Army armour? Did the RN use LVTs in Normandy?

Did the British Army use LVTs to cross the Rhine?

John.

Perhaps the caption is suspect; I don't think that Landing Vehicle, Tracked in the middle background came ashore at Normandy.

John.

As it happens, I have been looking on the Axis History Forum's 'Beute and Umbauwagen' thread at Morris Commercials captured by the Germans at Dunkirk and re-used variously by the Wehrmacht. On page 153 of the thread there is a group photograph including at least two Morris Commercials; on the back of the print is written: 'Brit Beutewg Morris sind viel besser als unsere'. (Captured British Morris vehicles are much better than ours.) Praise indeed...

John.