Adam Elsdon

Here we go, just had a look on the Braemar mountain rescue site, my local MRT, and this is the sort of thing they get:-

"Party of three walkers became lost in poor visibility while walking from Glen Esk to Mount Keen as they had no map or compass. They descended to Glen Tanar by mistake and tried to retrace their route however were overtaken by darkness and called for help using a mobile telephone. They were instructed to return to Glen Tanar where they were picked up by members of Grampian Police and Braemar MRT's."

Now you might think it was summer, but no, it was the end of January,(dark by 4:00) the rescue involved 3 MRT personnell a Landrover and 13 hours. If the mobile phone didnt have a signal, do you get the feeling that nobody would of known they were gone...

They should of left them to it and removed them from the gene pool.

Clive, what date do they originate from, as the vehicles they are applied to dont have the brigade numbers?

Found a website showing alot of the brigade insignia from WW2, but doesnt go any further on than that, quite good nonetheless if you want to identify markings:-

http://www.petergh.f2s.com/flashes.html

Cant find anything similiar for Postwar, which is a pity. Had a look on BAOR-locations.com but they dont have any either.

The economic thing applies to other areas not just RNLI, look at other rescue facilities RAF/RN SAR, huge cost, and there to save downed pilots, but generally they rescue hill walkers in flip flops from a snowy crevasse.

Mountain Rescue Teams, whether RAF, Police or charitable funded the cost is high to rescue idiots poorly equipped, or who have extremely poor judgement.

Fortunately there are always volunteers who are prepared to go out and do the human thing, rather than sit and count the pennies.

In some instances the cost has to be taken to preserve life.

But as previously mentioned, i am sure some practices could be fine tuned to make sure money is well spent.

I supose as the rd traffic act now covers the rally field a lot of us with mil plates are comiting an offence,but to be honest who gives a----.

Im with captain birdseye on this one :rofl:

If its a villiers engine, there is a plastic screw collar that carries the ignition lead into the engine case, in the end of that collar is a spring and brass contact which pushes against a metal contact on the coil of the magneto, they are good at breaking down at this point, i modified a villiers by carefully soldering the copper ignition cable directly to the coil, never had a problem with it afterwards.

The points could be worn as well of course, i have some villiers parts somewhere if i can find them, may have a spare coil and points, i cant remember if i passed them on with the Allan Scythe i used to have.

PM me once you establish what is up, probably just needs a clean and adjust.

It certainly looks original, it would be appreciated if you have the dimensions etc Tony

That is a crossed key & cutlass thing both in white. If it is a red background with a blue '5' above them it is 5th Brigade. But if it is blue background with a red '6' it is 6th Brigade.

Tony

Or is it, according to clive its 5 brigade!

Adam lights the blue touchpaper and retires..:box:

Looks more like a bayonet than a cutlass though!

Off Topic question about that photo - I'm currently researching 60 pattern kit, which those two lads are wearing. Unless I miss my guess, they're using Gaiters rather than putees; with this in mind, what date is the photo?

Ted is spot on with the dates, this particular one i believe was taken in 1961.

Here are a couple of pics with Green Howards on exercise, same period. Note the muddied out unit markings.

Bugger!

Here we go again!

Can anyone shed more light on the division marking on the right hand side of this humber pig, it belongs to the Green Howards based at Iserlohne.

A clearer picture of the marking would be appreciated if anyone can point me in the right direction!

I don't imagine pullovers were supplied with a boot lace threaded through the neck, so this must be a modification?

 

Is it an "official" modification? Were particular units prone to do this? Was it something done for cold climates to ensure as little heat as possible was lost? Or was it done if the soldier's neck was thinner than the rest of his body would suggest? Or was it done if the wool got rather stretched, although this one seems to have had little or no use? This is not a quiz, I just wondered what it was all about.

 

That is the later issue jumper looking at the label, and the string looks like an issue boot lace, i knew people that done this to their wully pullies to keep the neck looking tight, a bit like the service modified equivalent of putting a chain loop in the bottoms of bungeed trousers to keep the trouser pulled down straight.

If you had the next size up jumper your shoulders wouldnt pull on the neck opening.

I think there was desert jumpers issued with the string drawcord, as i remember the knitted pattern was different, it looked flat.

My particular unit didnt like modifications carried out to issue kit, particularly on inspection parades, the thinking been if you had to get kit off quick for whatever emergency, stuff like that would slow you down.

I have heard from somebody else which means it must of been true....of somebody attending para training wearing there own purchased boots, because they were better, Goretex, blah etc etc, but they had lace hooks instead of eyes, which could get caught on lines etc, so they were told to take them off and march back to accommodation collect the correct boots and march back present them to the instructor who then pointed out why they were superior, and only then was he instructed to put them on.

Cross the armourers palm with silver and you got a fully auto SLR.

Problem then was controlling it.... :cool2: :cool2:

Apparently as an in field mod you could hold back a sear or such like, with the use of a yoghurt pot and some sticky back plastic!

But when you pulled the trigger it didnt stop until the mag was empty....which sounded like fun...probably would of hit everything except what you started to shoot at!

As an interesting but totally useless piece of information, you can fire an SLR while holding it with one hand like a pistol, hold it upright, wrapping your forearm through the sling and then slowly bring the barrel down onto the target and gently squeeze off the trigger.......dirty harry eat your heart out. Dont ask how i know this:cool2:

OOOOOOH!:bow:

Are you going to have gigantic turbo intercoolers and dump valves that go "Phishhhh"!

Done an exercise in the states (Purple Star) with the USMC and done a weapons exchange, gave them our SA80 we had their M16, they didnt like how complicated it was however they did like the fully automatic fire, as the M16 had a 3 round burst feature.

I have fired the No.4 Lee Enfield, SLR and IW (SA80) the Lee Enfield was nice and accurate, but no good these days with auto weapons, the SLR was a big mother of a rifle and makes you feel like god, the IW you can carry more ammo and you get full auto.

Personally i preferred the later rifle, i could get more accurate fire down with it, and i never had a moments problem with my own issue weapon.

Yes its more complicated than other weapons, but not a problem with training, and i think the latest H&K modifications have sorted it out properly.

But the GPMG still rates as my favourite!

Must be a recurring theme of the period, my rolling chassis, had been painted all over at one time.

Are you putting the B60 back in or are you doing the same as you did with the Pig.

Adam: The obvious biblical references apply, although i have a sneaking suspicion that my mother liked "Adam Faith" !

Elsdon: Northumberland border town near Otterburn, a Celtic tribal capital at the time of the roman occupation and later was centre to alot of border skirmishes and fighting with the Scots, also centre to the Border Reivers trade, crossing the border and stealing scots cattle.

Basically our family likes a fight and a steak!

A poem about Elsdon and what a traveller thought of it, they possibly could of tweaked the tourism customer service aspect...

Hae ye ivver been at Elsdon ?

The world's unfinished neuk

It stands amang the hungry hills,

An' wears a frozen leuk.

The Elsdon folk like diein' stegs

At ivvery stranger stare;

An' hather broth an' curlew eggs,

Ye'll get for supper there.

Yen neet aw cam tiv Elsdon;

Sair tired efter dark

Aw'd trovell'd mony a lyensome meyle

Wet through the varra sark

Maw legs were warkin' fit ta brik,

An' empty was me kite,

But nowther love nor money could

Get owther bed or bite.

At ivvery hoose iv Elsdon

Aw teld me desperate need,

But nivver a corner had the churls

Where aw might lay me heed;

Sae at the public hoose aw boos'd

Till aw was sent away;

Then tiv a steyble- loft aw crept

An' coil'd amang the hay.

Should the Frenchers land iv England

Just gie them Elsdon fare;

By George ! they'll sharply hook it back,

An' nivver cum ne mair

For a hungry hole like Elsdon

Aw nivver yit did see;

An' if aw gan back tiv Elsdon,

The De'il may carry me.

Isnt it strange some wear shorts and some longs,we allways changed to longs in the evening,supose it could be thats all they had.

talking of the desert a client of mines father came in today to look at the mil vehicles,just a trip down memory lane.He was in from the 60s up to the Falklands,He gave me a couple of nice books and some scanned pics of

champ leading a column of pigs(humber)but he was working with the saudi defence force driving a Prototype LRDG L/rover with 50 cal mount.Trying to convince the Saudis to buy them.I must try get more and better copies from him,he has lots of BAOR,and Falklands.He had a great time kept patting the champ bonnet,Didnt have a good word for the 101s.

CW,Pictures of vehicles in service.... get em on the forum!

By the way Richard, have read this thread from start to finish, excellent stuff........only marred by captain birdseyes ramblings :-D

And a Hind!! Now that is a piece of kit!

I was on a job in Angola and landed at Luanda airport, and off to one side of the arrivals building was a number of tooled up Hind gunships........welcome to Angola! actually i seem to remember that the terminal building had a similiar look as the one used in the Charles Bronson film "Raid on Entebbe" all very inviting :-D

The OH design still looks very modern today, so it must of been something to see when it first flew, especially compared to some of the stuff in service at the time.

FIDO is claimed to have saved 2,500 Aircraft, and 10,000 men during the war, but 30 Million gallons of Petrol were used.

 

The First operational trials of the system were at Graveley, St Neots. (no bomber field was made available for the test) Graveley being No 8 group (pathfinder Force)

 

 

The first Airfield installations used 6,900 burners on 30" standpipes, two feet apart in a double row. Initially to get the petrol to burn without smoke 80% alcohol was added, but it wassn't possible to supply this secondary fuel in sufficient quantity, so the pipelines were preheated so that fuel at the burners had vaporized sufficientlt to burn with a small clear flame.

 

Preheating gave more heat output so the Graveley instalation became a single row of burners down each side if the runway.

Just done the maths on that, it equates to 12000 gallons per aircraft or 3000 gallons per man, which is really quite good, especially compared to the alternative.

I am making some plates at the moment, the modern Civvy plate on one side, the back of the plate painted black with the Military VRN using white stickers, Im going to fit them with butterfly nuts, and reverse them when i get to a show. Means you can have your fully reflective modern plates for on the road, and entirely legal in every respect, and have the Military VRN, when you get to your show. job done.

What i dont like to see is the civvy plates made to look like a military VRN IE: 123 ABC, made to look like

12

3A

BC

Mainly because it is illegal, and secondly it just looks a bit siht!

Get the official line on number plates here at the DVLA site:-

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/leaflets/v796.pdf

You all might not be best pleased to learn then that there is an ugly rumour doing the rounds right now that our un-beloved PM wants the three SAS Regiments disbanded and merged into another unit - probably the SRS.

They should do everybody a favour and go around to No. 10 and slot him!

I am trying to get a set of military number plates made up for my army land rover to put on it when I go to shows. It appears that the DVLA have changed the rules for the manufacture of show plates. Dose any one know the rules relating to this and if I can indeed get a set made now and if I can get a set now made does any one know where I can get a set made up??

Cut a piece of metal out to the right size, prime and spray it satin black, then go down your local motorfactors or have a look on the internet for white registration number stickers........hey presto, a very effective and original looking military number plate, for very little money.

Just made up a plate for my trailer with the above method, looks just the ticket.

I got my Brockhouse 1 Ton trailer from the Notts depot not so long ago, for £170, which i thought was a bit of a bargain, flaky paint, but very straight, even got some of the glass lenses chucked in. What you dont want to do is pick up an unknown state trailer, then put on a trailer board, just to find that one of your brake lights dont work.....on a Saturday afternoon...Notts forest were playing in the ground just opposite, and there was a massive Police presence!:sweat:

And i got some New Old Stock aircraft cargo chain tensioners for a fiver each, they didnt know what they were used for, so i paid my fiver's first and then told them! so apologies if they are now £20 each :-D

I'd rather they'd put a picture of a nice original Ferret on the front cover, instead of the one with 1001 post service modifications. It's almost as bad as the ebay pimped Ferret.

No, nothing is as bad as the e-bay pimped Ferret!

Did they sell it? did somebody save it from a life of Bling?