Ford cmp (laa) used in normandy by the british???

[POPPY]

Good evening to you all,

 

Please could any one tell me weather the Ford CMP (LAA) was used by the British in Normandy. And possibly by who:undecided:.

 

I have just purchased one (Currently with no regimental markings on) and would very much like to dedicate it to the Iron Division (3rd Infantry Division) who landed on Sword beach.

 

I would prefer to detail the vehicle in its correct markings of course!

 

If any one can advise me i will be most grateful!!!

 

Mark

[Ivor Ramsden]

The Division's light anti-aircraft unit might have used Fords as its towing vehicles for Bofors guns as an alternative to Bedfords. I haven't found concrete information for the D-Day period but by October 1944 the regiment would have had one troop of six self-propelled guns on Morris 4x4 chassis. These vehicles didn't have winches so each troop had two 4x4 LAA tractors because they were fitted with winches and could drag the Morrises out of the mire.

 

So you would be right in marking up your Ford as a vehicle of the Division's LAA Regiment, which was 92 LAA Regiment, RA. It will carry the divisional sign and the LAA arm of service marking which is number 47 in white on a red/blue square. It will also carry an individual vehicle identification marking. On the gun tractors and SP guns it's a battery marking (blue square with one quarter red, the position of the quarter signifies the battery), the troop letter or number, and the vehicle number, which would be 1 to 6. I assume that the extra Fords would have been marked in a similar way, possibly with a number above 6.

 

The photo shows one of 92LAA's SP Bofors vehicles of F Troop early in 1945 and the markings are just about visible. The divisional mark is faintly visible on the left hand stowage box. The white F4 shows that it's vehicle number 4 of F Troop, and it belongs to the Regiment's second battery - (with a bit of faith you can see that the bottom right hand quarter of the square behind the white F4 is darker than the rest, so this is the red bit. 92LAA's second battery was 318 Bty.)

 

Simples, as they say....

 

I can't remember where the photo came from but it appears on several websites. If there is any copyright problem I will happily remove it or acknowledge source.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Ivor Ramsden
Missed a bit out

[Pete Ashby]

Mark, try this link http://www.trueloyals.com/index.html a lot of information here.

 

regards

 

Pete

[POPPY]

The Division's light anti-aircraft unit might have used Fords as its towing vehicles for Bofors guns as an alternative to Bedfords. I haven't found concrete information for the D-Day period but by October 1944 the regiment would have had one troop of six self-propelled guns on Morris 4x4 chassis. These vehicles didn't have winches so each troop had two 4x4 LAA tractors because they were fitted with winches and could drag the Morrises out of the mire.

 

So you would be right in marking up your Ford as a vehicle of the Division's LAA Regiment, which was 92 LAA Regiment, RA. It will carry the divisional sign and the LAA arm of service marking which is number 47 in white on a red/blue square. It will also carry an individual vehicle identification marking. On the gun tractors and SP guns it's a battery marking (blue square with one quarter red, the position of the quarter signifies the battery), the troop letter or number, and the vehicle number, which would be 1 to 6. I assume that the extra Fords would have been marked in a similar way, possibly with a number above 6.

 

The photo shows one of 92LAA's SP Bofors vehicles of F Troop early in 1945 and the markings are just about visible. The divisional mark is faintly visible on the left hand stowage box. The white F4 shows that it's vehicle number 4 of F Troop, and it belongs to the Regiment's second battery - (with a bit of faith you can see that the bottom right hand quarter of the square behind the white F4 is darker than the rest, so this is the red bit. 92LAA's second battery was 318 Bty.)

 

Simples, as they say....

 

I can't remember where the photo came from but it appears on several websites. If there is any copyright problem I will happily remove it or acknowledge source.

 

Thank you very much Ivor!

 

That is superb information indeed. Thats going to be very helpful. I have now got that warm fuzzy feeling that i have purchased the right vehicle for the job:-)

[POPPY]

Mark, try this link http://www.trueloyals.com/index.html a lot of information here.

 

regards

 

Pete

 

Thanks very much for the link Pete!

 

Very helpful.

 

Regards

 

Mark