ted angus

Afraid Nothing like that chassis number in the incomplete Army list I have- most are 11***    then 19***  then a handful 345***. The nearest to yours is 345520.  With no sign of green I expect this will be ex Army, Some of the first batch into Army Fire Service  service were gloss green and some Lt Stone. then later batches in red. But they had the earlier grill and the recessed twin amber flashers.  They were followed by a batch with the twin amber flashers and new grill, Then a later batch with  new grill and no amber flashers  ( see attached ).  Unfortunately It seems when some later examples were delivered the chassis numbers RLHZ3  12345 would be recorded as 312345.      

The attached Army example is listed as chassis number 345455- which I presume is RLHZ3 45455.  Sorry I cannot give you a better answer. TED

The GGs built for the Auxiliary Fire Service had the original style grill plus had a recess central above the windscreen for twin amber flashers. A number were also built for the Army fire service. Some. Of these had the later grill and no recess above the windscreen. I have the chassis numbers for some of these. So it may have been transferred from the army ?? Let me know the chass number and I will check if I have it.

Photo ?

Yes. Both the bedford rl and M support vehicles had 3 roles. Fire and rescue. Fuel and  comms. TED

yes.

V= Transport Command; 38 is 38 group. At one time all the RAF's tactical assets in the UK were in 38 group  Argosy transports, Hunter ground attack- later Harriers. the groups assets included tactical refuelling, and tactical Comms units. 

Ted.

More by luck !    I sent that from my tablet and it does predicted mumbo  so takes an age to correct before submitting 

Larry. I did say 2TAF carried the roundel

The star was only applied to UK based British army vehicles  as a D Day preparation.  Very few R.A.F. vehicles of  2TAF carried the star. The extra large roundel applied on all vertical and  horizontal surfaces was their air recognition symbol. Whereas.   USAAF and US army carried the star almost from their arrival in the UK.

EAST WRETHAM

USAAF at Duxford  had  Morris armoured cars and Beverettes for airfield defence.

24 minutes ago, 10FM68 said:

It does depend on the period and, given the presence of a US-built vehicle in the picture, this is probably later in the war than the Battle of Britain (I'm not sufficiently up on my Spitfires to recognise the mark!)  But, while 302 and 303 were certainly the first fighter squadrons, 306, 307, 308, 309, 315, 316, 317 and 318 at various times were fighter squadrons (or night fighter, fighter/recce) - though not necessarily equipped with Spitfires.

I think only 302' ,303, 308 and 315 with spits.  I am sure the caption stated the girls were all polish airwomen and it was a national celebration day.

7 hours ago, 10FM68 said:

That really is a lovely photo of Polish airmen and their girls.  Do you know any more details about it?  I was very privileged, some years ago, to have quite a bit to do with Polish ex-servicemen who fought with the British in the west.  I was able to host Gen Slawek Skalski at my home following his last Remembrance Service in 2003 - he died in the following November.  This from Wikipedia: 

Skalski was the top Polish fighter ace of the war and chronologically the first Allied fighter ace of the war, credited, according to the Bajan's list, with 18 11/12 victories and two probable. Some sources, including Skalski himself, give a number of 22 11/12 victories.

"He returned to Poland after the war but was imprisoned by the communist authorities under the pretext that he was a spy for Great Britain. While in arrest he was tortured and then, in a show trial, sentenced to death on April 7, 1950. Skalski refused to ask for clemency but after his mother's intervention with the president of communist Poland, Boleslaw Bierut his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He remained in prison until 1956 when a court overturned the previous verdict. After the "Polish October" and subsequent liberalization and end of Stalinist terror, he was rehabilitated and rejoined the Polish armed forces. In 1972 he was moved to inactive service and in 1988, on the cusp of fall of communism in Poland he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general."

It gives you an impression of how badly treated were so many Poles who returned to their homeland after 1945 if they had been in the Polish Army fighting in the West and wearing the crowned eagle capbadge.  The only Polish army recognised by the Soviets (and of course, the international community once the Lublin government was recognised) was the one which was formed in the USSR and which went on to fight under Gen Berling as the 1st Polish Army and which became the Polish People's Army after the war.  Not until the fall of communism did the veterans from the west have their moment in the sun - alas, all too short-lived with few now still alive.

Afraid I didn't note the location of date, but there were only 4 polish fighters squadrons.     What I feel was a great injustice was the exclusion of any polish participation in the 1946 victory parade .

Larry yes a GMC & trailer- similar to the attached RN example   Ted.

I was meaning the albion bowser

in the first picture in the series posted by bobc1940

Somewhere I have a shot of an Albion Ambo at I think Odiham, which appeared to have Light Earth with light green cam,   I read somewhere RAE did a trial using these colours , so possibly the Commer with the green roof and the tiny shot of the Albion bowser  are vehicles left over from the trial ???  

The attached might be of interest !

Yes D. I meant nobels dark tarmac green no 4,  

9 minutes ago, LarryH57 said:

So are you saying Ted that the Nobel s colours are the same after all, or the name is wrong. Surely one is a dark green  and the other is grey tarmac?

I am saying  I am thinking that nobels tarmac dark green is the same as army green number 4. 

A couple of corrections to Mike Starmer's notes- I have all the AMOs mentioned plus the TNA notes.  The Hendon Archive notes relate to AMOs  .

AMO 364 /37  states   (1)  overseas ambos to white. (2)  all vehicles Iraq to Khaki. then an  amendment to include (3) armoured cars, Armed tenders and w/t tenders with armoured cars  to be Khaki-  this will mean globally as the original AMO had already  said all vehicles in Iraq-   at this time we had Armoured Car Companies wandering over much of the middle East.

JUNE 1941    N629/41 is not a signal its an AMO- there were several series of AMOs  those prefixed A were Admin  those prefixed N are temporary . 

 It may well be the info we cannot find pre dating June 1941 is hidden in the N series of AMOs   or was simply and more swiftly promulgated by Telex or by the priority letter delivery service. AMOs were ultimately superseded by DCIs ( Defence Council Instructions), these often took 2 to 3 months between initial composition , approval, printing , and global distribution to Stations then to Squadrons, Flights and Sections- so I would think in WW2 it would be a similar period.  

I am still after many years scratching my head over dark green , nobels dark tarmac green and dark tarmac, but I am swaying towards   Nobels dark tarmac green No 4 being Army No 4. 

The truck in several shots is a Bedford MSC..  I would say most of the BoB period "Brown & Green" are KG 3 and dark green- the same as the army were using .

The crash tender is a Fordson WOT1 Weeton type. picture is by IWM taken late WW2 at Prestwick who had mainly civvy Air Ministry employed firemen. The PE1301 on the door is often mistaken for its reg number in fact its TYPE 1301 the type number of crash tenders in the RAF's short lived  type number scheme.   I have seen snippets from that home movie used in DIG 1940 on other programmes over the years. 601 Sqn was known as the Millionaires Sqn  it was a prewar Auxiliary Sqn the pilots were mainly very rich chaps - hence the colour movie film I suppose. The Bowser filling the Lanc coded Z I would say is in SCC2 & 1A  as its in the camp pattern that was introduced about the same time as these colours

Most of the tractor shots are reported to be 44/45 period taken by the Station  Commander Grp Capt Cozens at Hemswell. However I think the date is 1943 as that is the year he was at Hemswell ??? 

Thanks for sharing these shots. Ted

That colour is fiction as is the W/1941 marking       Ted

On 8/31/2021 at 9:15 AM, Listerj123 said:

Would this be the right blue for a raf matador as I've seen a raf Cole crane painted in a dark navy blue 

 

received_1222055541567329.webp 387.57 kB · 9 downloads

For some reason I cannot download  help please !! 

Yes I just found and read the article on the National Trust site- it makes me think I had previously known about Hillside previously and forgotten about it, Ted.

In the UK there were 6 M T Companies numbered 1 to 6.  Overseas a different set of numbers. I would suggest if a vehicle of the Studebaker's capacity was required on a full time basis then one would be on the units establishment. With the exception of 2 M T ,  tasking for M T Companies was directly by  the Air Ministry . Whilst a single raid might only generate the need for say 300 maps there would be  a range of maps held by ops at every group and station which would amount to quantities in their tens of thousands, so the need for such a vehicle may be say a weekly task.  What we don't know is exactly what maps were produced there ?  Was it just specially prepared target maps or all .  My guess is possibly commercial printers produced non target maps.

Just to refresh your memory- Here is your FYY160; I took the shots in front of Hanger 56,   now I think this could well be 1993 or 1994 as my old office in the 1917 wooden hut has gone. I can't remember who owned the ambulance. I don't think it was Jimmy Wood's as his had an ex ministry reg GLU** or similar reg number.

Take care 

TED