Bedford QL

[john_g_kearney]

I have just acquired this on e-bay. There is what appears to be a date (8/58) stencilled on the windscreen, which if it is a date indicates the period in which the photograph was taken. Any thoughts please re the markings? There appears to be a 3rd Division marking low down on the front of the vehicle, below the tubular bumper.

John.

 

[MatchFuzee]

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/2300/Multinational/CEF/CEFBCV.htm

[john_g_kearney]

I thought that the Guards Armoured Division was disbanded at the end of the war?

The photograph is post-war as the officer wears the 1939 - 45 Star. I don't recognise his cap badge. Detail here.

John.

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by john_g_kearney

[ianhc]

Is it the General Service Corps?

[john_g_kearney]

The badge looks like the description I have read for the General Service Corps, but this was formed in February 1942 for trainees before they were posted to a regiment or corps. I would not have expected a post-war officer who has evidently seen wartime service to be wearing a General Service Corps badge.

Come to think of it, I don't recognise the Arm of Service badge either. It appears to comprise three horizontal bands, the top and bottom two the same colour.

John.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by john_g_kearney

[10FM68]

1st Guards Brigade were part of 3rd Division between 1956 and 1960 when they were the strategic reserve.  As such they were heavily involved in operations and exercises in the Mediterranean and North Africa during that period. 

This picture could have been taken on exercise in Cyprus (work-up training for the Kuwait crisis), or Libya, (1960 Ex STARLIGHT) for example. 

The date on the windscreen is an ordnance storage marking which should have been removed once the vehicle entered unit service, but, quite often they stayed in place until they wore off naturally through cleaning. 

 The arm of service marking here is the Guards' Blue/Red/Blue with a standard infantry figure 8 for the seniority of the battalion in the brigade.  It is unusual, for there to be both brigade and divisional signs on the vehicle, but, the Guards often do things just a little bit differently from infantry of the line. 

And, yes, I agree the cap badge does seem to be the GSC.  It could be that the individual is a former warrant officer commissioned into the GSC.

10 68

[john_g_kearney]

Thank you very much, 10FM68 - I think that pretty much wraps up all the questions. It is interesting that an elite Guards unit was still being issued a wartime lorry instead of a new Bedford RL circa 1958. Perhaps the QL has a special body fitted - it is a hard body, not an open one covered by a canvas tilt.

John.

[Richard Farrant]

On ‎21‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 9:26 AM, john_g_kearney said:

Thank you very much, 10FM68 - I think that pretty much wraps up all the questions. It is interesting that an elite Guards unit was still being issued a wartime lorry instead of a new Bedford RL circa 1958. Perhaps the QL has a special body fitted - it is a hard body, not an open one covered by a canvas tilt.

John.

Hi John,

The QL was likely to be an officers 'gin palace'. Some of the QL's with Command type bodies soldiered on until the mid-1970's. I remember one coming in Workshops about that time. I don't think there was a similar type body on a RL at that time, apart from mobile workshops.

Richard

[john_g_kearney]

Thanks, Richard. The officers seem to have been making good use of the lorry, as the front tyres are well worn...

John.