ted angus

Hi Clive, we didn't use 0220-A-221-013 as our bible, although we held a copy for tasks we did under parenting arrangements for 71 Eng Regt and occasionally prestige jobs for the Lowland Gunners or HQ Army Scotland. I do have a copy of the oct 97 edition and note 380 is absent. . Some of our painting stuff re theatre colour was in AP 4545 Vol 2, that was up to the late 1980s, but our bible roughly our equivalent of the Army document 0220 etc was contained in the AP119A-0601- 0 series . I have a sheet copied from AP 119A-0601-0B to Amendment no 7 dated oct 94 and 380 is in the BS 381c table in chap 8-0 page 9. As you possibly know when a new page is added to an AP lines that contain changes or additions are prefixed and suffixed with an arrow head mark, from the marks on my copy I can tell you 380 was not added as part of AL 7 so in that RAF publication it was added prior to AL 7 of oct 94. I guess your date of 1996 will be when there was an amendment issued to the BS381 and it therefore first appeared in the published BS document, but the colour is at least mid 94 in age. Whenever we had to undertake operational measures re surface finishing it always came by Signal, this applied to both GW1 & 2. FS 30279, BS 361 & 380 had never appeared in then current publications by the time I left in 2004. regards TED

Hi Clive, I mentioned 380 but if that picture is dated 2002 I would be very surprised, we had an urgent overnight task using 380 for gulf war 2 it was only avalible in those days to special order as it had BC resistant properties. 380 has a pink tinge in most light conditions it was a dream to apply we did an urgent overnight task at Leuchars for the mobile radar boys based at Boulmer, they set off north to Leuchars one morning and were driving south very happy bunnies the following morning. BS380 is almost identical to FS30279 which we used used in gulf war one. As an aside re FS 30279 we had it as an ARTF for aircraft finish and as an alkyd synthetic mixed to a formula in dustbins for some of our vehicles and ground equipment; whilst we also did a lot of stuff in 361 again mixed in dustbins after depot stocks ran out and we overtook the ability of industry to keep pace. regards TED

I bet like me people dived into pathe and got carried away thanks Graham some cracking stuff TED

To clarify-- my Coventry Climax comment was re the trailer in the picture at message 17 : I have a note of the trailer maker somewhere ?? I will try and find it. TED

My paintshops applied hundreds of gallons of BS 361 Lt Stone and BS 285 matt Green and that is what that is, remember every pc monitor laptop , graphics programme changes the colour each person sees. Also there are 7 levels of paint sheen used by the MoD from matt to high gloss - matt Lt Stone looks different to semi matt to eggshell to satin etc etc. Just before GW2 we started to use a B & C agent proof desert cam color BS 380, but that has a pink tinge in certain light. For interest a new green known as "Land Green" is in use especially on RE PFI vehicles & plant and certain RAF equipments ; Also a new desert colour is about to happen - possibly already being used . ?? its possible these will have a Pantone range number TED

Tony, I would almost be willing to put a days pension on yours having been cobbled from a Coventry Climax trailer pump chassis axle wheels, legs tow/eye/brake assy and retractable handling bars on the front .

Wally what I could do with is a nearside view or drawing and a rear view or drawing of the recovery example. ; regards TED

It does I can't remember where I got that obviously a scan from a magazine possibly ?? TED

Hi Wally , the only reference I have is in Pat Ware's book on FVRE types he quotes 1958 -?? his typo no doubt ?? - and the picture I posted; anything else very gratefully received; I am building a model, I know the underbody layout is different from the later Bedford RL - thant can be seen from the pic I posted, but the dimension from behind the cab to the rear axle is shorter on the Commer so the near side body will be different as well- at the moment I am assuming the nearside is the same as the Bedford but with one less stowage comp ; Here is where I am so far but changes can still be made ?? TED

Gents I am looking for photographs of the attached, I believe it was shown at the 1958 Chertsey show as FV 13218, It was mentioned in a fairly recent Classic Military Vehicle mag in a letter in reply to an article on the Commer Q4 variants. The letter stated it bore the MoS reg number of RGX 133 but having found this picture in my files I know it is actually RGX 139. Any help would be gratefully recieved . I am also looking for pictures of a handful of the Commer Q4 with workshop bodies that were reregistered to the RAF. Thank You Regards TED

Just to add a bit to Wally's In the 1930s both CC reg and census numbers ran together, whilst vehicles displayed their CC reg number in the prescribed manner they frequently also carried their census number. There seems to have been a prescribed layout for the census number with the prefix letter above the numerals . TED

1937 all UK military vehicles displayed a county council civvy reg number, this is a R.E. TA unit. The Army reg is on the door in small letters. It looks like a Thornycroft ZS/TC4 a purpose built Searchlight truck with a generator under the bonnet in front of the engine. TED

Thanks Graham saves having a search TED

I will have a look on PATHE tonight sure their is some exbo footage ? ted

Of course JATE pity the background of the pics do not reveal anything; I noticed from the couple of Chertsey exbo catologues I have seen incorrect pictures for the period ? TED

I joined 1964 and never heard of RAF exhibitions our stuff was shown at Chertsey with all the Army stuff the only exception being a couple of fire fighting exhibitions. You cannot safely give a date for RAF stuff from the reg number, for example - Mk 6 fire trucks were mostly 23 AG ** circa 1958 and 26 AG** circa 1962/3 but then bingo we have a batch dated 1960 which slid nicely into an unused block of 03 AG** numbers !! I wonder if Bryan has the 27AE03 record card at Hendon ?? TED

thank you kind Sir !

Fantastic were there any Civil defence or fire service on there please TED

There are many RAF Arm car pictures on the internet plus many of the 11 Hussars in Palestine pre WW2. Especially The Library of Congress site where a Palestine search will throw up a mass of UK vehicles. On a modelling forum where some of the members go to extreme lengths to research vehicle types there was a mass of talk on the armoured cars; My head was buzzing and I couldn't keep pace with it- but what I did glean was the RAF's first cars were as Bryan says starting with WW1 pattern, it seems the different army types are well documented and then there are those built for the Air Ministry culminating with the Fordson remounts by Thomas Cook Garage of Cairo. The turret depth in the LIFE picture in my post 86 were highlighted to me and are the product of 2 different build batches/years. Attached are 2 more shots, there is a famous picture that has been published many times which shows a guy in a peaked cap standing on a fordson turret during thier time as D Sqn captions often say an army officer standing on the car giving inmstructions to the RAFchaps - Mnn I would think 2 ACC could give the Hussars a lesson or two I think the guy in the shot I refer to is one of the RAF crew ' The peaked cap was often the chosen headdress of car crews and they remained on issue to MT drivers throughout WW2 . TED

I have always thought we hear very little about the pre WW2 period when the RAF Armoured car Sqns enforced the law in those distant lands, so I wanted to do a RR circa 1937 in Iraq No 1 A C Co , Just about finished that when I read about No 2 A C Co on loan to the Army as D Sqn 11 Hussars so researched the Caunter and produced the attached pair. TED

There are lots of photos on the internet and film on PATHE of 2 Sqn's Fordsons in the Caunter scheme, attached are a couple. The third attachment is from an order of the time giving the correct colours for the Caunter scheme ' The colour without a BSC is the then new Kahki Green No 3. TED

WALLY et Al I should have known this but had to drag the books out, it is most likely the ATC Gliding Instructors wings or it could be the wings adult airmen were/are allowed to wear if they attain solo glider status after enrolling in the RAF. My Flt Commander at Bruggen used to wear the latter we were quite merciless in calling him "Sir the over grown space cadet" !! The 2 types are possibly identical or very near ! TED

Not convinced an electric fan would suffice for prolonged pumping, If you are just going to pump out the tank contents you should be safe without the intercooler- but otherwise you really would be best advised to sort it. Have you had a good look at the control box re the charging problem; In the Scottish storage Depots in the 1950s & 60s they stored the GGs with the control boxes removed they hate damp and of course well past their sell by date Good luck TED

No, There are drain taps in various places so in cold weather everything should be drained . A pump left idling can boil water !!!

If the tank valve is open the tank can drain into the pump volute, this in turn will act uponl the pipes to the intercoolers. once these are full all will stay at steady level until the intercooler in the sump fails internally; the weight of water in the tank will act on the water in the pipes and the water will be forced into the sump I think the rest may be history . Even if the tank valve is closed the water in the pipes alone will cause mayhem if it gets into the sump via a failer intercooler . Given their age this is not the first internal intercooler failure in recent years : Assuming of course I have understood your post correctly ????????????? The answer is yes the tank can drain into the engine. TED