ted angus

Steve, Andy is on the right track, its not just wether the engine is 6, 12 or 24 volts; The condensor or capacitor as it is sometimes called is more matched to the coil with regards to the coil's primary windings than the volts the engine is getting initially from the battery; remember the primary may be between 230 & 600 volts whereas the secondery at discharge can give tens of thousands. Its all down to the original design of that particular ignition circuit. . Condensors appear to range between 0.08mfds and 0.8 mfds. As long as it physically fits most condensors will work, but to get design performance and reliability, it should be the one originally called for at manufacture or a modern equivalent.

Thinking back to my shop floor days in the RAF, On Ford industrial engines, plugs, points & condenser were all changed at the same time, either annually or every 10k miles or on static kit about 350 hours running, not changing the condenser leads to reduced points life. condensers hate damp so your's may have been stored in the damp ?? TED

During the later cold war years and for a few years after, each operational Strike Command & RAF Germany airfield had a Spartan & Scimitar for use by the station's EOD teams. The CVRT was to give some level of crew protection, the 30mm Rarden could be used against bomblets etc when clearing a minimum operating strip. TED

My Father was in 279 fld Coy RE 15 ( scottish Div) . His Rank was Driver because His trade was driver /mechanic, lots of strings to his bow; metalsmith , oxy welder, crane op. etc etc. When I got my RAF license in 1967 all our footwear ( both boots and shoes) were leather sole; I hated certain vehicles as they didn't have pedal rubbers. I remember commenting to my Dad saying about slippery pedals especially in the wet ; He replied when you are a real driver you will be able to drive in hob nailed boots just like I did ??

I don't know Elstows history but it may have been the MoS depot there; Strangely several Mc contracts were deliverted to MoS sites then moved on to HO stores. TED

No they were home office employees . Forget the army etc The media created the myth with the Army's green goddesses : The AFS was a civillian org raised in response to the Civil defence act of 1948 to meet the ever growing threat from the Soviets. There has been military involvement over the years, but at all times including the national strikes of 77/78 and 2002/3 all the vehicles etc have been HO property and their use under HO control.

The Home Office had 3 major workshops that did some very in depth work in developing vehicles and equippment for AFS/CD use. In 1938 the HO commenced purchasing thousands of pump etc as part of the ARP preperations. Prior to issue to local brigades, storage was needed, So 3 large premises geograpically seperated were aquired. One was a large converted mill in Wakefield, and 2 purpose built facilities one in Greenford the other Swindon, All 3 had major workshop facilities. In addition, Post war the HO obtained a host of storage facilities. They had 15 supply and transport depots which included workshop facilities, spare parts and vehicle/equipment stores and 29 sub stores for vehicles. Some of the depots were purpose built in the late 1940s to accomodate the ex ww2 NFS stock to be retained for future contingency and to look after the new equipment purchased from 1953 onward, others were in converted industrial premises. Most of the sub stores were in hangars not being used by the Air Ministry or on other ministries' sites loaned to the HO. There was a big ROF at Elstow - about 2 miles from Wilstead-- which post war became a Ministry of Supply storage and disposal depot ( one of several predecessors to Ruddington) , I understand they had sub sites at Wilstead, it may have been one of those that the HO was using. Since the end of WW2 the War Office later MoD have always acted as sales agents for the Home office, likewise the Min of works always acted as the purchasing agents for the HO, both sensible arrangements that saved duplication of facilitities - It was common practise that much of the AFS/CD stock being sold would remain at its storage depot, with pre auction days set aside for prospective buyers to view, but with the actual auction at Ruddington. I no longer have access to the Catalogues, but I have it as Ruddington sale 107, between the WXR and XYM blocks I have a number that were located at Wilstead they were all sold at RD 107. There is a very slim possiblity that they were previously in the RD 100 catalogue and for some reason didn't sell- maybe the viewing location was not included previously so they didn't sell. Most items in RD 100 & 101 seem to have been moved to Ruddington for the complete disposal process. It was not uncommon for items to be in 2 or 3 auctions before they sold; the sale I recorded is that at which the vehicle actually sold. My guess is your machine was possibly at Wilstead for the 10 years. Does the paperwork give a delivery address ex Matchless factory ??

It was amongst a batch WXR 549 to 600 at the time of auction from Ruddington sale No 107 in sept 1970 it was at the Home Office Supply and Transport sub store at Wilstead. Another large Matchless batch was XYM 501 to 690 most of these and the WXR batch went through Ruddington 1969/70. Afraid I have never been able to locate the site of The Wilstead appears to be Bedfordshire but its one of a handful I have not been able to get a firm map ref for. TED

I may be able to help with a reg number

Hi Clive, difficult to determine on a PC monitor: I have downloaded the pic at message 6 into my PC and Mrs A's, as expected they give different results. I have a professional BS 381c chart and the internal colour on both monitors comes nearest to BSC 112 Artic blue. It isn't just recon items that were BSC 101 it was the manufacturers applied colour in many instances; thinking back I am pretty sure the B series engines and ancillaries were BSc 101. So my thought is the internal blue may be a manufacturers standard- and it may not even be a BS colour. my experience is an EMER is an engineering procedure or policy etc , but they do not dictate specs on manufacture. this is currently to Def Stan and prior to that specs laid down by FVRDE amongst the chain of establishments we had. The relevant spec may have been FVRDE 2051. I also have a grey cell telling me that the insides of these components was often treated with a anti tracking laquer which also may have had anti fungal properties ???? As an aside, although a useful general guide the various "E " colour charts on line are often as misleading as they are helpful So in conclusion your items may heve been manufactured to that internal colour and unless a rebuild is necessary it would not be changed. TED

Are you doing it UK or US UK oxy is black acet is dark maroon and has always been so, US oxy is green afraid I don't know their acet colour, I have seen pics of US Rcy and bottles are in drab TED

Sorry to hear your news Robert : I did my mum's estate by probate including selling her house. She lived in Northumberland ; I was still in the RAF up here in scotland. She had come to live with us as she was 89 after 2 years of trying to get her to come up here, her doctor eventually persuaded her and arranged an ambulance to bring her up _ NHS at its best. 5 days later she took a bad turn and died some 40 minutes later in hospital . I registered her death in Dundee , informed her local council for council tax purposes, informed works & pensions re her old age pension, informed the people who paid my late father's widows work pension to her. Contacted the Probate Court in Newcastle, got the forms. Filled them in, made an appointment to be heard at the court- just an interview with a court officer. They issued paperwork that gave me the right to sell the house and discharge the will. , ( i was the sole benefitionary and joint executor of the will ; my cousin was the other executor he had to sign the form for the Probate giving me full control). The only thing I had to pay a solicitor for was to do the deeds when I sold the house, its not worth trying to do that bit yourself. In each notification ( pensions tax etc) I made initial contact by phone noting time date and who I was speaking to, then did formal notification including certified true copies of the death cert ; keeping copies of each letter. The death cert copies are obtainable from the registrar. i also dealt with my wife's aunts estate, she had little money, lived in a council house and had several small debts. I didn't need probate for that just a certificate of oath which most solicitiors can issue for a few pounds. The biggest stumbling blocks are things like catolouges KAYS, Littlewoods etc. the aunt paid PPI but they refused to pay out on death as she was over 70. I delved and found she had signed up to them when she was 72 and her date of birth was on the copy of the application form she filled in. I wrote and told them you have 28 days to pay or I go to the police and report you for obtaining money by false pretences ; they settled the account in 5 days !! another stumbling block was getting both my mother's and the aunt's mail redirected to me after their death impossible even with the death cert, probate document and cert of oath in the aunts case only the person who the mail is addressed to can sign the form to have it redirected !!!! You will have checked to see if you actually need probate ??? Both of my examples were several years ago but i doubt it has changed much, don'y let the forms but you off I read each question twice wrote the answer on paper, got a friend to read each question once happy filled in the form. Good luck & chin up. regards TED

There was definately some badge engineering post war ; but I have always understood if a plate says Luton it was produced there. They definately did vans at Luton but how many and/or what models were a rebadge of a very similar product in he Midlands I don't know. Also no idea of dating by plate numbers. Unfortunately my Dad passed away in 93, he would have been able top answer many of our questions. TED

YES TO OC , everything was addressed "To" . The despatching unit or company would be annotated on the paperwork that accompanied the inbound consignment. I would say it was coming into the MU for stockholding. Any authorised user would put in a demand for the tyre and it would be issued from the nearest holding MU. Stocks were duplicated between MUs having the same remitt ; this would prevent an air attack wiping out every spare of a certain type __Mnnn this happened twice in my service Richard remember Donnington burnt down not once but twice !!!!!! So I would guess there would be a bundle of tyres say 6 tied together the top one would have those detasils painted on in addition to labels . TED

Hi David see attached, this is a post war advert. Harpenden is, (i used to cycle there as a kid) sorry was a tiny village just south of Luton. So with your plate detail they appear to be a Luton product not just badge engineering from the Midlands. the second attachment shows 4 Hillman Tillies taken at RAF Middleton St Geaorge now better known as Teeside airport. regards TED from sunny Fife

Yes that is a dennis as towed by the Army QL tender. In service with AFS then NFS, and all branches of the armed forces. post WW2 it was the standard army trailer pump. I would expect bits and manuals are obtainable I bought a pile of bits that were a 1943 coventry climax pump and in 3 years I fully restored and kitted it.

So David's Commer could well be an ex RN as opposed to ex RAF ??? that would fit ther bill . TED

Hi David, a good chunk of Rootes WW2 production figures up to january 1944 are published on the MLU forum; No vehicles of this size under the Commer badge for the Air Mionistry. I also have a first edition of the RAF MT regulations AP and the tillies and vans are all listed as Hillman ( Minx ) , the smallest Commers for the A.M. are the Q2 & Q15 15cwt variants. My Dad worked at Commer-Karrier Luton from 1940 until 1982 and used to tell me about wartime production - it would seem the only badge engineering that affected them at Luton was the Humber armoured car produced at Luton; originally to be the Karrier armoured car but rebadged to save confusion over the Carrier . Coincidental to the Rootes records on MLU only running up to jan 44, my Dad was called up early 44 for 3 years- It may be there was some badge engineering towards the end of the war ??????? I will dig further TED

Adding to Richard's It will be to : OC 216MU Sutton Coldfield. ( everything was addressed to the OC. ) KAS/F/405/441-475 -- I reckon this could be a contract detail contract KAS/F/405 / and this item was part of batch 441 - 475 . Wt 3 cwt agree but I reckon the final line is DIMS 34"x 10"

Yes they were all badged Hillman, based on the Minx 10hp.. Initially there was the Utility (tilly) then the convertible Van ( Estate Car) as in the 2 pictures above with the ATA pilot, then a Ladder Van for the aerofrome lighting teams. By january 1944 the AIR MINISTRY had received a total of 5410 utilities and vans, 693 of these were Ladder Vans . TED

sorry duplicated post TED

As an aside : i have the RAF paint regs for the said period; Light Stone was to be in gloss as the preferred finish (2 coats) . matt was availible if deemed operationally essential one coat over one coat of gloss. I have been trying to find a article I read which gave Lt Stone with DBG as the disruptive both in gloss but after much nashing of teeth I stlll cannot find it.

David same answer as before Roundal front only UK offside wing, above which should be the Command/Group marking. Genva cross top sides on back. Command /group mark on rear NO roudlon rer. Hospital vehicles would carry the marking of the parent Command /Group. just like any other. TED

Ian PM sent TED

On- base cas were removed by station personnel; firemen, medical assistants, MOs plus anyone else on hand. They would be taken in the aerodrome ambulance(s) to SSQ for initial treatment. Those requiring further treatment would be taken in the Station's domestic ambulances to the nearest nominated hospital , which could be civvy or RAF. The K2 ambulance along with 2 types of Fordson crash tenders were used on reverse lend lease by the USAAF as soon as they arrived in UK. The K2s issued to the USAAF were either new or diverted from Army stock. At the outbreak of war the Albion was the standard heavy aerodrome ambulance- hundreds had been stockpiled at Kidbrooke and Cardington commencing 1937. The little Morris and Standard 12hp were the domestic types. In 1941 the Albion was supplemented by the Fordson WOT1 with 2 body styles. The K2 was in use by a mobile medical unit in Italy but the IWM photos do not show any markings so they could be army assetts issued in theatre to replace long in the tooth Albions or to equip a newly established unit. . My 2TAF album both pre and post D Day shows Fordsons but no K2s. AS I said previously casevac aircraft would normally be met by a convoy of ambulances made up from the station's own fleet plus K2s and Morris light ambulances belonging to the St Johns/red cross. AP3090 aug 1944 lists both the Albion & Fordson as the heavy types in service , plus the Morris & Standards as the domestics. The first mention I have found in RAF publications for the K2 is in the Data book leaf issued march 1945. RAF hosp[itals carried the command group marking of their parent command, normally this was Bomber Command. If you have piccies or evidence of K2s in use on aerodrome please share !! Attached a lineup waiting arrival of a casevac Dakota, Note the K2s have the St Johns /Red cross legend around the geneva cross plus note the London CC reg number. The latter were all driven by ladies who were either members of the St Johns/Red cross war org or were seconded from the FANY, who can be seen to the right of the lineup, the airmen in the pictures (see collar trade badges)are mostly medical assistants who rode as 2nd man on the RAF ambulances. RAF MT regs called for MT drivers only as ambulance drivers. .