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Humber PIG Pictures


13BK76

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I don't remember Pigs towing stuff. Saracens did - in the field artillery regiments in the mid-1960s the radar troop had two towed Green Archers and two silenced generators towed by Saracens.

 

With the artillery (typical was 18 Fd Regt in Dennis Barracks,Munsterlager 1964-66) Pigs were replaced by Saracens, which, in turn, were replaced by FV432s. Strangely enough, a Pig was NEVER replaced by an FV432. The rotation sequence Pig-Saracen-FV432 was strictly adhered to! I can't explain why, and my father , who as RSM knew why, died some 25 years ago. So maybe the secret/reason died with him.

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there is a RAWHS web site at qq22.net 2nd page, it was started by Paul Brooke and Ray Fordham (current Historian) about 8 years ago, before I got involved. The society objected to it so Paul diassociated it and himself from the society. I managed to get him to give me copy discs to keep it going with Tim Bluck, but nothing has yet been added to it from these images.

 

The society now want to have a web site containing just 4 pages of information, so we are meeting next week and hope that we can talk them into throwing their money into a site that attracted over 30,000 hits a year.

 

All the images are on my home PC but can be carried on a 4gb stick.Wheeled vehicles are listed by Manufacturer and tracked by designation/name.

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I tend to find society committee meetings something to avoid, headed by people who dont like change.....unless it was their idea, so you'll need to filter that one in to them slowly!

 

Good that you have the pictures, if nothing else, much appreciated here.

 

Schliesser92, the Green Archer system was towed by Humber Pigs, somewhere in this thread is a photo of such a beast, i have also read accounts from other regimental old boys that the Pigs went when the 432's turned up, so it may of depended on which Regiments had which vehicles, my father was Coldstream Guards and he doesnt recall having Pigs but has alot of time in driving Saracens, the Green Howards (Light Infantry) seemed to have alot of Pigs and no Saracens, the SCLI had Pigs and Unimogs pulling MOBAT anti tank weapons.

The more photographs that come out the better, it paints an interesting history for Pigs.

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The Artillery Pigs in my father's regiment were in the Op and CP role. The introduction of FV432s was slow due to the Infantry having priority, so that is probably why cast Pigs were replaced by Saracens. There was also the problem of driver training - a towed field regiment was 100 % wheels! Nobody with a track licence.When he took over as RSM in 1965 , Saracens were already in the Green Archer role. Before that I don't know, as he came from Light Air Defence (steam gunnery, not missiles, as he said!), and he hadn't worked with real artillery since 1950!

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi gents , i have just spent 2 hrs talking to one of the previous owners, in ireland.. he has given me her complete history, based in dery, was uparmourd at remme aldershot, served with ROYAL ANGLIANS<WELSH & SCOTTISH. not sure of dates,& the PARA,S, started service as mk1,. a rough guide, but luckily he has a lot of paper work & documents to confirm her history, which he is very kindley sending me, its great

bangor2004_014.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
Clive,

As it looks in to good a condtion to have come up for disposal ( where MS plates were often seen), I can only hazard a guess that it might have been destined for export to another country, under Military Sales?

 

Richard, MacGregor had it for export once but it stayed in the UK in the end. It has a number of interesting features that I expect you have spotted.

 

In fact it ended up in the ownership of someone quite famous.

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In post no 401 the pig in front of the barv has a large box on the right side, what is it? I have no clue, so im not being smug.

 

R

 

Robin, I'm not sure quite how to get to post no 401. But I recall there is a picture of, as Richard says, a Hornet/Malkara disembarking on here somewhere.

 

I think if it is a colour picture that it is painted sand/black so that would make it Para Sqn RAC rather than Cyclops 2 RTR. I suspect it was the start of Ex Smoke Ring based at Abu Kharban March 1966.

 

But you might be asking about the large box. If it is on the wing then it is houses the seperation sight for remote firing. There is a book published showing the Hornet I used to have captioned with the comment that the box "may not be original".

 

If you mean the box behind the drivers door then that is large pair of general stowage lockers one above the other.

 

But if you mean the large unit above that then that is an armoured extractor fan. This was a retro fit once a transistorised power unit was available to supply the GCU (Ground Control Unit). Being a smaller unit allowed the rather bulky & much needed extractor fan assembly to be fitted.

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