ted angus

They were built by Thomas Cook in Cairo for the RAF. It was just for No 2 Arm Car Company. The then-World's number one travel company they had fleets of vehicles in the Middle East and full vehicle workshop facilities to support them. I think it was mid 1940.

My Dad was on that night shift-LOL-- I think the Karrier 3tonner might have predated the QL ?? From what he told me it was just a rebodied gun tractor hence the winch; The Humber arm car was to be called the Karrier Arm car but to prevent the overuse/ confusion with the many differing Carriers, Rootes chose Humber. My Dad was one of only a few who could operated a huge lathe which played some part in machining turret rings, he retired dec 1979 from the factory and that lathe was still in use for occasional jobs. For some reason it was marked property of the Air Ministry/ Min Aircraft Production. He was alo involved in building the proto Commer Q4 4x4 post war-- but I digress TED

Been around MVs for 39 years in the RAF was involved with the GGs on both the 77/78 and 2002/3 national strikes, things green, Lt Stone, green & black are in my blood; in 97 bought a pile of 1943 ex Army scrap which became a gleaming coventry climax trailer pump, in 2003 went after a 1942 Morris to tow the pump, back prevented an enjoyable drive so bought a 1964 ex AFS Gipsy, the Gipsy and pump have been my pride & joy and Mrs A and the lab made a great crew. Mrs A's health means she canno longer do any lifting to help me and my back just gets worse; 3 weeks ago had the wheels off to give the brakes a going over- couldn't lift the wheels back on even using all my well developed techniques ! that night I put together an advert and the pair are up for sale ! Common sense must prevail and I have to stop kidding myself I can carry on with the hobby !! I will now concentrate on my other hobby which is in 1/76th scale. Regards TED

Blimey that may well be so, I was jan 79 to jan 82 2 and a half hanger was GEF's home; TED

I had dealings with the RE ADR lads in Germany -( Bruggen then Laarbruch) we used to look after their prestocked plant which was in air conditioned dry clad bags !! yes big plant in huge rubber bags. Turning back to WW2 my dad was RE when he was in 15 Div which was an infantry Div his unit was 279 Fld Company, when he was posted to & Arm Div his was in aFld Park Sqn. During my time in Germany all the RE I dealt with were Sqns X number of Sqns belong to a Regiment; i.e 39 Eng Regt is comprised a number of Sqns. Now if you really turn the clock back- The Army used the title Sqn long before our once great RAF was thought of ! hope that helps TED

Thanks for that link I had no idea that was happening, possibly you have already tried but I used the word Palestine in my search on LoC and it gave some great results. Thanks again TED

take a flask but watch out for the border guards, most if not all the useful L of C shots are on FLICKR now. can I ask how you got the shots you posted I have tried all the usual routes on the internet into the RAFM collection. take care TED

Here is the picture with the aerial erected, so a wireless truck it is. These Fordsons were preceded by Commer Raiders, a Morris and RR mounted tenders; I think with some of these some were specifically termed wireless tender. A fancinating era . TED

Great shots thanks for posting, now according to the bible its a Fordson 79 truck 30cwt 4x2 Officially known as Armed Tender Type F; On the RAF M site there is a pic of one in Manger Squarte and one also appears amongst the library of congress shots. I am a little concerned about wireless bit as there was an armed and an unarmed wireless tender I am sure I have seen a picture and it has more poles and bits and pieces to form an aerial I will have a dig -- have you seen the library of congress shot ??? TED

You don't need an FOI the info is freely availible; the record cards are at the RAF museum Hendon. If they have the card they will copy it for you for a tiny fee. Go to their website phone the number or go to their website and e mail them and ask if they have the card and if so request a copy, the normal charge is about 24 p per sheet +p&P aome cards are just 1 sheet some run to 3 or 4. But be aware a percentage of cards are missing. good luck TED

you can just make out the fixture- the driver screwed a short flag staff into it. On lease cars they have a magnetic base !

Is the roundal 4 inch dia approx ?? if so its a car pennant for station commanders of Wing Commander and above. Saluted it many time !!!!!!

I wonder if that shot was at RAF Cardington ??

53AM78 I think that might be the nearest to yours - go to FLICKR do a search using RAF mountain rescue loads of series Landies several AM reg lightweights but not in your batch. some wonderfull local conversions for the DMRT lads in the middle east !! warning get a bug mug of tea before you start !! In the meantime back to the 2A see attached

I also think its a scruffy grey ! re the khaki and white hot weather tops, they were locally made in GEF , Canvas came in a range of green /khakis on 4ft 6inch rolls . the white was LPO . TED ps although this is a Series 3 L/weight I had to share this shot !!

We were issued with B/G webbing of 37 pattern when I joined as an apprentice in 64

I would suggest the colour and pattern are from the era before we had the knowledge base we now have? re the Matador with 51 MT I will revisit the items in my cuttings box might get lucky On the recovery subject I found mention in a magazine article that 317 Suppy & Trans Column had an Austin breakdown Gantry, the article was centred on one of the fitters and he notes as tail end charlie when the unit moved out of Hamburg he had trouble keeping up with the main body TED

then it is as supplied in a canvas to match RAF blue grey ??

Here we go lads its a Series 2 or 2a this is how the tilts looked with the blue grey emulsion; hope this helps TED

I guess the Mens & Boys would be to do with the size range- I was 15 when I joined a little skinny dwarf !! TED

Have these got rubber buttons on the cuff ankles and down the front, i joined 64 we had blue / grey and green, some had rubber buttons some had big brass press studs- fantastic overalls, proper overalls which gave protection to oil spillage and had some warmth to them; and could be worn in the welding/ blacksmith shop without fear of melting !! TED

Exactly; you mention 51 MT Co have you a pic of Matador Rcy with them. returning to the original message there was very little ground wise in BoB that was accurate even the colours were wrong.

QL bowsers did apear in the film BoB come to that most of the vehicles used in the film were not in service until well after the BoB and some such as the Matador artillery tractors never served with the RAF.. There is overwhelming photo evidence that few if any vehicles were still in blue grey by the BoB If you think the Film BoB is bad try looking at 633 sqn !! TED

Mostly in Mid East but one did end up at Tengah post 1946, Many soldiered on well into the 1950, about 10 of them had the tanks removed and fitted to Austin K6 bomb flats . Been searching for years for a rear view for a model TED

My understanding which I have read in many articles & books : in 1949 the Army & RAF went over from H12345 set to 11AA22 format, ARMY vehicles that would remain in service until the end of their expect life got a reg pair from near the end of the alphabet, vehicles that were rebuilt for longer term retention got an RD etc number; So I would suggest this vehicle was allocated a new VRN on rebuild- there may well be a rebuild plate on it somewhere TED