RAFMT

I have to be honest, I read the first few posts on this thread and switched off as it was Navy; but I picked up your request for Form 524s today at work and I hope you don't mind me answering via here. Unfortunately as you said earlier in the thread, they are arranged by Reg, and whilst it would seem common sense to be otherwise, there is no chronological correlation between Reg, Chassis number and Contract number. Here are some cards to illustrate my point, in the order of the Reg numbers:

You'll notice that 69 AM 29 and 75 AM 25 are both from contract WV11369 but are separated by a year and about 500 Reg nos. And I couldn't be bothered to find the difference in Chassis numbers.

the other two were also received in the Jan 75 period but came from two different contract numbers (so that makes at least 3 contracts for 3 different equipment fits in one month)

A lack of Blue Grey doesn't necessarily rule out the RAF as vehicles for the Regiment and RAF Germany were in Green, but it does look like the weight of evidence is against the RAF being previous owners. However if I see any cards bearing the contract number WV11378 I'll let you know

Of course you could always paint it sand and mark it up as 51 MT Squadron RAF :whistle:

I'll take a look at the manuals when I get a free moment. Otherwise, shoot me a message to remind if I don't get back to you - mind like a sieve!!

The book mentioned above is on 51 MT Co/Sqn, Bryan Blow has had two books on the unit, both very good.

The photo's in the OP are nice, and i can believe the snow, i've seen a photo of a RR Armoured Car covered in the snow. It was all good until it melted and turned the dirt tracks into swamps!

There was a switch, and the army forms don't give much space - just enough to put the code.

Perhaps the RAF were actually being sensible for once- the codes do nothing but cause more work looking in the manual to find out what they mean. Actually writing it out takes a few seconds more at the time, but is much easier to read back later on.

After reading that i used the very unscientific method of "a quick look", and yes about that time, maybe a bit before the codes start being used. Although, quite a few use the code and description such as one for a trailer who's DIS was 1980: "76 Green"

It would make an interesting avenue of study for someone, unfortunately I've too much on my plate.

Interesting, I'm guessing the R code wasn't used on cards much- all of the RAF vehicle cards I've dealt with record the colour using the crafty method of just writing "Blue" "Green" etc.

I'm also pretty sure it could be dated by the USAAF star marking on the wing of the Liberator. Not my area of expertise, but I know they changed during the war and I believe that by the end of the war, and post war, they all had the bars on either side of the circle.

RAF vehicles, yes, but I don't know about RN.

Although the AMOs state the patch should be irregular in shape, and from September '43 there should be 2 patches, not just one.

http://www.pathfinderdistribution.com/

They do reproductions of all sorts of WW2 tents

My mistake!:blush:

I assumed that he would have been aware that XXX Corps HQ units weren't involved in the actual assault landing.

I've used base-camp before for parts, as per the link above.

Although i've only had to replace one leather washer so far (and that's out of four stoves) i tend to find that a good dose of vaseline, allowed to soak in, does the trick.

That page seems to specifically indicate those units actually engaged in the landings on 6th June 1944.

XXX Corps, according to the sometimes unreliable Bouchery book, had 73rd AT Regt and 27th LAA Regt, Royal Artillery as part of the Corps HQ. They also has 5th Army Group Royal Artillery which contained medium and heavy regiments. But they wore the 2nd Army badge instead of the XXX Corps' boar.

PM sent

I'm honestly not sure. Whilst I can't a see reason for them not to get one, the services have never been known for listening to reason!

You'd only really have a chance of finding the history from the RAF Museum if it remained in service after 1949, and even then it would be a lot easier on the poor sod who had to find the card (i.e. me) if you had the service registration (since that's how they're organised). Having said that the number blocks allocated to WOT1s should be easy enough to blitz through - try finding a Land Rover without the reg number!

What records, and what period?

If your just after war diaries etc then National Archives should be the first port of call. They are currently undertaking a project to digitise and transcribe WW1 war diaries with the publics help.

I'll be popping down to see the family over the summer hols, so i'll try and swing by and see what they've done with the place.

Loads of Hunters about, Lebanon recently returned theirs to service.

Hawker Hunter Aviation at Scampton fly them for the RAF in use for what I believe is termed "dissimilar air combat training". In other words, the next Banana Republic or Handy Oil Source nation we invade will be equipped with stuff of a similar vintage.

You know he had a ride in it didn't you .....?

I Hope this doesn't cause any grief then .....

Oh, he told me all about it. And I was very good, I didn't beat him with a chair :-D

However, Vernon should know better!

And a certain Mr Simpson didn't come up and tell me until I was going home :mad:

I feel left out

Look what I found lying around at work Tom!

If you want Sopwith plans, then I'll see what we can do, otherwise we don't have too much.

Now that's an area I can speak with some confidence on, having seen the process in action!

All records get shunted on to the National Archives eventually, any records they deem to be of significance to the public interest will be kept by them (MoS records here: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details?Uri=C251) any records that they do not want get sent further down the line to various public museums and holdings. I still have the flow diagram somewhere showing the general process (it's very generic covering all documents, not just military so doesn't name specific institutes)

If someone was willing to spend a few days going through TNAs stuff they might come across something, but since their cataloguing is by necessity rather vague, you wont be able to specifically look for the list on their computer systems.

Both of them are "Cans, Transit Sample" and are "for road and rail transport of aviation fuel samples".

Despite having different section references they are both listed at different times (i have the 40P in the early/mid 50s and the 34E in the early 60s) under the same heading.

And from my own experiences I only buy from Cost a Fortune if I'm prepared for the item to be wrong in some way.

It's not always been like that, when i first started in the hobby I never had a problem with them, but when every Tom, Dick and Harry decided they had to dress up just to go to the supermarket, SoF switched to feeding the masses rather than quality reproductions for the discerning gentleman (which makes fine business sense but is frustrating for those of us who know what these items should be like)