The Mystery of the Radioactive Land Rover

[Rad Yak]

Hi all,

My name is John, AKA Rad Yak, and I am an atomic history buff from Western Australia. I have joined up hoping you may be able to help me solve an ongoing mystery that obsesses some people here in WA. 

Many old sailors and former national servicemen based at HMAS Leeuwin (now known as Leeuwin Barracks) in Fremantle believe there is a radioactive Jeep or Land Rover buried on the grounds somewhere. Every version of the story is different, but they all go something like this:

After the first nuclear test at Montebello in 1952, an RAN ship stuffed up and brought a red-hot Jeep or Land Rover back to Leeuwin. Following numerous unsuccessful efforts to decontaminate the vehicle, it was supposedly buried on the grounds, but no one agrees on where. The Department of Defence (Aus) has conducted a number of investigations over the years, including at least one where they used a radiac device designed for geological surveys, but found nothing. Old salts remain unconvinced, believing they were looking in the wrong place.

I have done some digging (metaphorically speaking) and have turned up some useful information.

One file from the National Archives of Australia ('Radioactive Jeep ex Monte Bello', NAA: A6456, R098/021) reveals that there were in fact two radioactive Land Rovers brought back to Leeuwin during the fifties:

RN1308 - 2000 counts per second

C73723 - 60 counts per second

This file indicates that both vehicles were successfully decontaminated and disposed of but says nothing about their ultimate fates.

Another file ('Monte Bello - provision of Land Rover', NAA: A6456, R174/022) explains what happened in a little more detail.

RN1308 was a Royal Navy Land Rover used on Trimouille Island in the immediate aftermath of the first test (3 October 1952) and subsequently salvaged by HMAS Hawkesbury. It was kept at Leeuwin for the next year, apparently roped off, and the plan was to send it back up in November 1953 for a radiation survey, but British scientists advised that it was unsafe, so a second LR was sourced from the Department of Supply (Aus). This vehicle (C73723) was taken up by HMAS Karangi in November 1953 and returned to Leeuwin two weeks later. It was subsequently decontaminated and shipped back to Naval Stores in Sydney by HMAS Sydney in mid-1954.

That leaves RN1308. I cannot find any trace of it after 1954 when sailors were apparently employed in disassembling, decontaminating and (crucially) reassembling it. I suspect it was disposed of and not buried, otherwise why go to the bother of reassembling it? But that is just a theory.

(UPDATE: it now appears that the vehicle that was disassembled, decontaminated and reassembled in early 1954 was probably the Supply Land Rover, as an eyewitness has informed me that it was green, and not navy blue. I do not know for sure if the RN Land Rover underwent the same process, but the file mentioned above indicates that it probably did.)

Here is where I am hoping you can help me: would it be possible to locate an engine or chassis number for RN1308? If so, I thought it might be possible to track it down with the help of the Registry of Ex-Military Land Rover chaps here in Australia. If the vehicle turns up anywhere after 1954, then obviously it was not buried. If there is no sign of it, then maybe it was buried after all ...

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it has piqued your interest as it has mine!

Cheers,

Rad Yak

Edited October 5, 2022 by Rad Yak
Updated with new information

[Oh Five]

Hello John,

Many years ago I read a magazine article about aircraft, possibly Spitfires, that had been used as static test subjects during atomic tests in Australia.  

As I remember, the article was more about people visiting the site where the aircraft were parked than the tests.

 Sometime after the tests the aircraft were put up for sale.  I presume that they had been examined and were 'safe' to sell.  Arrangements were made for potential purchasers to travel to the site where the aircraft were parked to examine them.  This chance to fly into the restricted/prohibited area was seized by some flying clubs and private pilots as they were thinking of buying a second hand Spitfire.

I have no recollection of any further details of the article or magazine, but as the aircraft were being offered for sale then there is a chance that the Land Rover you seek was, as you surmise, not buried but possibly disposed of.

Good luck on your quest

Dan

[Rad Yak]

Spot on Dan. I think I know which aircraft you are referring to: at Totem 1 (Emu Field, South Australia, 15 October 1953), six Mustangs were used as 'target response items' and left to rust before being salvaged in 1967. You can see an interesting documentary about them here:

https://www.warbirdsonline.com.au/2019/02/19/the-first-cac-mustang/

Thanks for your encouragement!

Cheers,

John

[ltwtbarmy]

Just curious, was the registration actually RN1308, or 13RN08? Not that it really makes any difference, because contrary to the other branches of the MOD, the senior service never even bother to answer queries about their old vehicles. Also, registration numbers tended to get reused upon vehicle disposal just to confuse matters even more.

[wally dugan]

I think the land rover would have the number 13 RN 08 as by 1950 the new system of numbering military vehicles was in place  and landrovers in any number in service would come after 1949

[Rad Yak]

Thanks for mentioning this. I went back and had another look at the relevant documents. I have rego numbers for four UK Land Rovers (the others were taken back to the UK) and to be precise this is how they appear in the docs:

36BD26

36BD41

RN.1232

RN.1308

Does this shed any light on the matter?

PS Here is a photo of 36BD41.

[Rad Yak]

Incidentally, I have spoken to an Aussie sailor who worked on one of the radioactive Land Rovers, and he told me it must have been the Department of Supply one because it was green, and the RN and RAN ones were all blue. Does that sound right?

[wally dugan]

 the two land rovers in the   36 BD 26 AND 36 BD 41 SERIES came from the batch of mark 2,s allocated numbers 36 BD 05 TO 38 BD 04  contract number 6/v7008  and would expect them to be deep bronze green the navy ones in blue

[Rad Yak]

Very helpful, thanks Wally

[Oh Five]

Thank you for the link to the film about the Mustangs.

I have spent some time browsing the IWM website.  I searched "atomic" and several films are in the results.  Unfortunately I cannot get the sound to work.

There is a three part film about Operation Hurricane.  IWM reference COI 1154.

 I managed to grab a screenshot of an 80" Series One Land Rover. The registration on the front number plate is written as top line 1766 and bottom line RN.  There might have been a system for displaying VRNs and it was followed by the  Army and Air Force but, maybe, the Navy were a bit more relaxed.  Perhaps RN1308 had a number plate written as top line RN and bottom line 1308?

There are also shots of the guard for HMS Hawkesbury, armed with an SMLE and bayonet.  And a gangway has "HMS Leeuwin RAN" painted on the side of it.

 

 

[Rad Yak]

Great shot, Oh Five! I have seen that film but it never occurred to me to go back to look for Land Rovers. I will go watch it again in case anything else leaps out at me.

I wonder if the licence plate on "RN.1308" was in the same format as the one above, and the full stop was used sort of like a colon, as in: "RN Land Rover: 1308"??

[Rad Yak]

Just for your interest, here is a shot of Lieutenant Colonel RNB Homes, OC Royal Engineers, Operation Mosaic (1956), in a Land Rover at Monte. Some equipment from Mosaic was shipped back to the UK in HMS Narvik, and some was sent on to Maralinga, South Australia, for use in Operations Buffalo and Antler. A lot of that stuff ended up getting buried in a bomb crater because it was too hot to decontaminate. 

[fesm_ndt]

On 9/29/2022 at 5:24 PM, Oh Five said:

Hello John,

Many years ago I read a magazine article about aircraft, possibly Spitfires, that had been used as static test subjects during atomic tests in Australia.  

As I remember, the article was more about people visiting the site where the aircraft were parked than the tests.

 Sometime after the tests the aircraft were put up for sale.  I presume that they had been examined and were 'safe' to sell.  Arrangements were made for potential purchasers to travel to the site where the aircraft were parked to examine them.  This chance to fly into the restricted/prohibited area was seized by some flying clubs and private pilots as they were thinking of buying a second hand Spitfire.

I have no recollection of any further details of the article or magazine, but as the aircraft were being offered for sale then there is a chance that the Land Rover you seek was, as you surmise, not buried but possibly disposed of.

Good luck on your quest

Dan

Pretty sure they were Mustangs as when I was doing a preapprenticeshop course he was involved.  He got one very cheap it was said at the time he bought the whole aircraft for the cost of the cooling cowling.  He was affiliated with the Bullcreek aviation museum and he was one of the first people to fly into Truscott former RAF base in the late seventies early 80's

His slide show on the trip was the basis of my fascination with Truscott the pilot and Truscott the secret airbase.

As for contaminated vehicles I know there was some Aussie tanks, decontaminated.  As fer English gear I saw a documentary they agreed to clean the site and it was shipped back to UK and buried in Middlesborough 

 

[Markwise]

Funny detail: Leeuwin is a Dutch word which means ‘lioness’

[wally dugan]

73 BP 86 is from a large contract number 6/V/16223  for land rovers  numbers               60 BP 37 T0 74 BP 62 IN THE BATCH