wally dugan

HI l have just been to a reunion with my old boss and l told him about the missing files he has given me abox of files and i have come across one of the missing files its part one of two files in this file it tell us who attened the meeting about a range of post war engines the chairman SIR GEOFFREY BURTON MINISTRY OF SUPPLY SIR CHARLES BARLETT VAUXHAULL MOTORS

HI GRAHAM Yes l think we may have met l would be a technical officer at that time if you do not mind l will answer your questions one at a time and not in order last first The question of REG numbers BT was a number used on trails vehicles not generally issued to in service vehicles CHERTSEY had its own issue of numbers both civillian type and special types like BT/SP/WA JUST A FEW of what were used They were reused on other types of vehicles after they had finished being trailed if the IF the trailed vehicle was to be issued to a service unit to be assessed it would get a regular service type number ie 22 bg 86 As to the trails done by CHERTSEY on the moke theses were done at LONG VALLEY BAGSHOT HEATH AND AT CHERTSEY ITS SELF REGARDS WALLY

HI andy the one at Beverley is not the one at Firepower POWER but that shoud come as a no surprise as l did both

HELLO MR DONOVAN nice short clip good to see it l do not remember getting a royalty fee l expect its in the post regards wally

GRAHAM a bit more on MOKES from the CHERTSEY FILES SPL 433A sent back to AUSTIN MOTORS on the 14/12/ 1960 SPL 446A struck off charge no date given SPL 453 AM sent to MT SCHOOL BORDON on the25/6/ 1963 SPL 466AMsent to the MT SCHOOL BORDON on the 25/6 / 1963 SPL 467AM sent to the SCHOOL OF TANK TECHNOLOGY BOVINGTON on the 18/3/1963 SPL 468AM returned to storage at ASHCHURCH on the 24/4/1969 SPL 578 sent back to AUSTIN MOTORS on the 22/6/ 1961 SPL 748 sent back to AUSTIN MOTORS on the2/10/ 1962

could be series landrover as been said or Austin Champ both had this type of rim both five stud fitting

GRAHAM SORRY the number on the front under metal number plate should read 14 BT 18 finger must have slipped

IN front of me now l have the 1962 BRITISH MILITARY VEHICLE BOOK ON PAGES 6 and 7 exhibit number 3 is the left hand drive moke that tony B posted if it did appear in a earlier book it may have been in brackets [ in project stage ] after what RICHARD POSTED i may of not of explained the establishment numbering clearly but to put simplely it was a way of tracking and the numbering was nothing to do with the MOD but only for use by CHERTSEY

Right l spent many months at CHERTSEY over a number of years so l think l know abit about how it worked so lets deal with the subject of your four white numbers on the bonnets these were called ESTABLISHMENT numbers when a new vehicle arrived be it a prototype or a production vehicle it did not get allocated number straight away it received a ESTABLISHMENT NUMBER which was painted on both sides and can be seen on other vehicles that where at chertsey first this helped to identify the individual vehicle when it was photographed so you could tell one from another it was often refered to as the photo number the reason for this l was told was number plates get swopped sometimes no ones going to re paint a number to much bother when the vehicles went onto roads out side they were issused with a registration number in this case ones out of the BT range just to prove that numbers where swopped you mentioned 14 BT 17 one l know better than any one else if you remove the metal front number plate you will find another 14 BT NUMBER UNDER IT you may not like this but from memory its 14 bt 17 but l could be wrong but a number is there as to what the CHERTSEY FILES hold l have really never looked in this case we should thank phylo roadking because if l had not been looking for some thing for him l may not have found these files again there are hundreds of photos and hundreds of reports on vehicles from 1944 to the 1990s as to your other questions if you wish l will answer them for you kind regards wally

TONY what a good memory what about the BMC twini MOKE two engines the lightweight austin ant used 1100 car parts one prototype moke and the twini where trailed in the USA by the military you are right about the pony and ant now whos showing his age REGARDS WALLY

HI TONY Picture from the 1962 exhibits book RADE DID YOU NOTICE ITS LEFT HAND DRIVE

HI This is from the chertsey files on MOKES chassis photo number spl 433a 5950 spl 446a 5998 now allocated est number 6011 spl 453 am 6008 spl 465 am 6009 spl 466 am 6010 spl 446 a 6011 formerly 5998 spl 467 am 6012 spl 468 am 6013 spl 578 6286 S.W.B spl748 6806 spl 468 am was the last one to leave chertsey on the 24/4/1969 REGARDS WALLY

HI GRAHAM welcome e mail sent

HI BOVINGTON for year of manufacture and history but it costs

HI As promised we finished looking through the files in the loft today but we did not find what we were looking for we did notice that several files are missing we also think we know what may have happened to them regards WALLY

HI and welcome have you read IRISH HUSSARS a short history of THE QUEENS IRISH HUSSARS the 8 th get a good mention also good pictures of there cromwells in the early weeks after D DAY i have a ferret that served with the QRIH in the first GULF WAR REGARDS WALLY

ICE COLD IN ALEX was made in 1958

hi ALEXANDER had several topless cars including the ford as to the body being like apack of cards the body of the humber was braced also WAVELL used them and l am sure others as well the reason that l am sure is that the chairman of the museum MR ROBERT HOLTBY served in north africa during ww2 not only under alexander but wavell and gave the museum numerous photos these included the cars l mentioned they where in my office for years on the wall sadly ROBERT DIED but he served with the SAS in africa europe and lastly norway he retired major from his regiment

HI ROOFLESS HUMBER BOXES In the film ICE COLD IN ALEX theres one at the begining GENERAL ALEXANDER had one and there where others the story about ALEXANDERS is that its roof was badly damaged when been unloaded so they just took the roof off

HI MR W PHOTO pre 1990 hall one behind the flight simulater hope you are enjoying the Humber

Right l have now looked at a couple of books first LRDG GROUP BY R JENNER AND D LISTER reading it they mention the f 3o and chev wb also on the subject of sand chanels the one in the museum had pierce planking as far as l know it is not the type shown in the books but was around during WW 2 AS to was it from the flim sea of sand l do not know but l do not think so as far as been on display any were in the UK l would say not

HI YOU ARE RIGHT the one we had on display was a dodge which cyril groombridge lent us it appeared in one of the sunday supplements LRDG MAINLY USE FORD F30S AND CHEV WBS the dodge was a replica

EVENING JOHN l could have said CASTLE DONINGTON 71 BVD 12 .7 MILES from ruddington but it was the first one that came in to my head because we use to do one drop ruddington one pick up market harborough on the same run did that for 6 months

STEVE RUDDINGTON was mainly disposals of B AND C VEHICLES ASHCHURCH was 12 B VEHICLE DEPOT

HI l have had no luck up to now lots of everthing else going to be away this weekend but a friend is coming monday and tuesday to try and finish going through the last of the files with me will let you know soon as WALLY