Strangely Brown

Thanks Clive, I'm impressed!

http://www.milsurps.com/forumdisplay.php?f=72

If you ask on this forum there is a very well known author/armourer (Pete Laidler) who will answer your question.

The Pig in the background has the registration 28BK53.

One of my many reasons for registering on this site was to find pictures of the Bedford RL Gun tractor variant.

In the 1960's and early seventies this was the workhorse of Royal Artillery training units and the depot regiment for the School of Artillery, where are they today? I think my regiment had at least 18 of them.

Do any RL's exist on this site, or are they rarer than Quads?

Thank you all for a warm welcome, and also finding my Ferret!

I'm just south of east of Salisbury and Bovington isn't that far to travel.

Cheers

Mick

Shamlessly nicked from my regimental Facebook page.

It would appear to be 49 Fld Regiment (55 The Residency Bty) RA in Lippstadt around 1962?

I'm only posting this because the registration may be of use, and no, I was still at at school then!!

A good demonstration of the positioning the high vis red patches on all types of vehicle. Still sheet steel visors, no ram operated vision blocks yet.

 

June 1973, good to have a date mark because I can see it is pre-Sept 1973. This was the date when the plate for supporting the base for VHF whip for the Pye W15 was fitted to the roof rear offside.

 

Also pre-August 1973 when Major Pearce's adjustable mount for the Discharger Smoke Grenade No11 Mk 1 was fitted to the mid front near side roof over the circular aerial downlead port (already present on all Pigs)

 

Can't make out if it is 23 BK 60 or 23 BK 80. Both were FV1612 FFW converted to FV1611 role & uparmoured. I see it has no extractor fans. Appears to have no comms. Although the side-on Pig is clearly on HF judging by the length of the two whips. Despite the arrival of the VHF Pye Westminsters later on in the year there was a delay in them being operational due to problems with the delivery of the correct crystals.

23BK80, looking at the enlarged image on my computer.

Taken at this years Tank Fest , im commanding .

 

 

 

 

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I don't suppose the oatmeal blocks I left in the rear right pannier are still there?

I regret to say that I am running out of good Pig pictures, here is one of my favourites.

York Street Belfast June 1973, a second or two after it detonated, I have a very blurred picture of the road next my feet at the moment of detonation.....

Also included is a gratuitous shot of the steering collumn from the flat boot Cortina, which according to eyewitness's hit the Saracen!

Can anybody tell me were many Ferrets converted to later Mk's?

I would have thought there were enough in the system for this not to happen, I'm refering in particular to the one in this thread 00EC98.

I shoot various old rifles and on one of my associations forums the subject of firearms insurance came up; it would appear that NFU were the most helpfull when it came to insuring firearms. (I accept that a Mobat is bigger than a No4 Lee Enfield)

And that included the storage of black powder as well!

As long as I'm not boring the pants off you lot!

Belfast 1973, these two vehicles belonged to ATO and were attending a suspect package in Glenalpin Street which turned out to be 4 candles and an old alarm clock!

Now that I am getting the measure of this forum and the amount of information which some of you have, I will post pictures that before I would have deemed nobody would have any interest in.

Belfast 1973 taken at the back of Ulster TV, this was our motorised back to a sanger on the Ormeua Road.

I also found this, Larkhill circa 1969 and one of the OP vehicles parked behind a purpose built OP.

The decal on the door is the Bengal Tiger for 143 Tombs's Troop Bty.

When we got to Belfast some of the lads recognised the registrations of some of the Pigs we lost in around 1970.

Interestingly I have just googled 00 EC 98 and found this!

I have often wondered what became of my Ferret, is it a range target somewhere or was it saved for posterity?

Germany (Hohne) 1972 and here it is being used as the Gun Position Officers vehicle for 143 Tombs's Troop Bty of 49 Field Regiment, with a young Gunner Strangely Brown as the driver.

Rather embarrasingly for my second post on this forum I appear to have transposed the registration which I cannot edit!

I took these two in the gasworks in Belfast in 1973, If my memory serves me correctly these were known by the lads as "Flying Pigs" because of the wings at the side. I think they may have been a new variant at that time??

Hi Marmite & Clive,

I have a picture of my Ferret which I will upload, I also have some Pig pictures from Northern Ireland (1973) which I will put on the forum, sadly I don't have any pictures of Pigs from Larkhill 1968-1971 when we used them for OP radio vehicles in support of the School of Artillery.

Hello,

I'm Mick an ex gunner (1966-74) with an interest in 25 Pdr's and a passing interest in Ferret's.

The passing interest is because I have often wondered what happened to the one I used to drive at breakneck speed up and down the Autobhan's without getting caught, 00EC98 are you still out there?

I have joined this site to learn more about some of the vehicles that have survived my service time frame, the Bedford RL Gun Tractor being one of them, the other is the 1 ton Humber, or Pig as it is more universally known. I have worked on both the original radio type which were then taken away from my regiment only to be reunited with them in Belfast some 3 years later in the now familiar up-armoured Northern Ireland role.

It's good to be here!