York Barracks, Munster?

[quote="QRIHussar"]

brum wrote:

Hi Brum, the Irish Hussars were in Barker Bks Paderborn until about 79 when they moved to Tidworth, then to Munster in 82. Funnily enough they have been in the Paderborn neck of the woods since 98 now, in Athlone Bks Sennelager (as QRH). 3 yearsly Arms plotting is a thing of the past.

I remember, back in the 80s talking about the Amalgamation with some QOH people and I told them QRIH was a "good mob".

In the light of what happened to the 3rd Carabiniers how did the forming of QRH go ?

[quote="brum"][quote="QRIHussar"]

brum wrote:

In the light of what happened to the 3rd Carabiniers

I would have said that they did rather well out of it - they got a new Beret and a No 1 Record!!

[quote="brum"][quote="QRIHussar"]

brum wrote:

....how did the forming of QRH go ?

Fine in my view, I was one of the Tp Sgts on Amalgamation and we had a 50/50 split in every troop. I think that QRIH came out on top with regards to uniform as the new Regt retained the green beret and Maid of Erin as the central device on the cap badge. The QOH has faired better since though as most of the Regts recruits come from the Midlands so the number of Irish serving in the ranks has reduced year on year.

Understandably the Associations struggled more with the concept of amalgamation than those who were serving at the time. In 2013 it will be 20 years since we came together and still there are parts of the Association which are exclusively QOH or QRIH - even though the Assns also combined. This is largely due to the regional nature of the Assn Troops.

[quote="QRIHussar"][quote="brum"]

QRIHussar wrote:

brum wrote:

....how did the forming of QRH go ?

Fine in my view, I was one of the Tp Sgts on Amalgamation and we had a 50/50 split in every troop. I think that QRIH came out on top with regards to uniform as the new Regt retained the green beret and Maid of Erin as the central device on the cap badge. The QOH has faired better since though as most of the Regts recruits come from the Midlands so the number of Irish serving in the ranks has reduced year on year.

Understandably the Associations struggled more with the concept of amalgamation than those who were serving at the time. In 2013 it will be 20 years since we came together and still there are parts of the Association which are exclusively QOH or QRIH - even though the Assns also combined. This is largely due to the regional nature of the Assn Troops.

I had a feeling the amalgamation would go better than some of those previous. A lot of those in QOH had Irish parentage so there would be less of a "culture shock".
I take your point about associations, I visited the local branch in Chester, a while back. Everyone was very friendly but QRIH in origin.

During my wanderings on Friday, I came across the grave of L/Cpl Mc Millan,
(died 28 Dec 1993).
Did you know him ?

Hi there,
The 1992 amalgamations were painful for all involved. Its been just over 20 years now and the first of the new regiments are producing there own RSM's etc. Good for them.
atb
Capt.Pinky
HUSSAR

QRH is up there as one of my best postings, some quality blokes in that Regt. I'd go back tomorrow.

It was me who took that photograph of the QRIH in York Kaserne, Muenster c July 1984. Those are C Sqn hangars and that is KD. The other guy isn't Dave Sparks though, his name was Nigel ? and he was a Brummie, 1st Troop, C Sqn. I can find his name in Crossbelts of that year.

The two girls, yes the one on the left is Kath V and she worked in the NAAFI at the time before marrying into the regiment. The other is called Valerie W and she was a girlfriend of mine over on a visit from Northern Ireland. The pic was taken because the girls had never seen a panzer up close so KD organised a guided tour.

The hangars were pulled down in '85 as they were condemned. New hangars were built round the back near the POL point and old railhead.

The YWCA at the gate was a Toch H in my time. Don't know if it ever was a YWCA.

Hussar100 wrote:

It was me who took that photograph of the QRIH in York Kaserne, Muenster c July 1984. Those are C Sqn hangars and that is KD. The other guy isn't Dave Sparks though, his name was Nigel ? and he was a Brummie, 1st Troop, C Sqn. I can find his name in Crossbelts of that year.

The two girls, yes the one on the left is Kath V and she worked in the NAAFI at the time before marrying into the regiment. The other is called Valerie W and she was a girlfriend of mine over on a visit from Northern Ireland. The pic was taken because the girls had never seen a panzer up close so KD organised a guided tour.

The hangars were pulled down in '85 as they were condemned. New hangars were built round the back near the POL point and old railhead.

The Chieftain (in the early 70s) was a filthy, oily, unreliable beast but despite all that, it was good looking tank !

brum wrote:

Hussar100 wrote:

It was me who took that photograph of the QRIH in York Kaserne, Muenster c July 1984. Those are C Sqn hangars and that is KD. The other guy isn't Dave Sparks though, his name was Nigel ? and he was a Brummie, 1st Troop, C Sqn. I can find his name in Crossbelts of that year.

The two girls, yes the one on the left is Kath V and she worked in the NAAFI at the time before marrying into the regiment. The other is called Valerie W and she was a girlfriend of mine over on a visit from Northern Ireland. The pic was taken because the girls had never seen a panzer up close so KD organised a guided tour.

The hangars were pulled down in '85 as they were condemned. New hangars were built round the back near the POL point and old railhead.

The Chieftain (in the early 70s) was a filthy, oily, unreliable beast but despite all that, it was good looking tank !

Always good looking and as the Iran/Iraq war proved it was an veritable fortress with deadly hitting power. Fortunately by the early 80's the reliability issues with the L60 pack were gone, as was the oil, as long as you remembered to tighten the tensioner on the rh engine fan hub.

One for our Ironside Callsigns. Wasn't clogged air filters a major problem in the early Chieftain years?

re you saying that the Chieftain was used in the Iran/Iraq war. If so by whom?

Were there any oil problems with the Challenger?

My comment was related to Chieftain AFV in the early 70s

The problem I remember, this was '71, was the gearbox oil used to leak out and blow all over the engine and the decks. The crews used to get filthy.

UK Government sold hundreds of Cheiftains plus millions of pounds worth of spares to Iran in the early seventies. I helped to do it. In those days Iran was our best mate in the Middle East.

Goldmohur wrote:

UK Government sold hundreds of Cheiftains plus millions of pounds worth of spares to Iran in the early seventies. I helped to do it. In those days Iran was our best mate in the Middle East.

Who bought the Challenger

The Iranian Government paid with oil for the development of the tank which eventually became Challenger.

UK Government intended to set the Iranians up with a Base Workshop and eventually a tank manufacturing facility. Our mate the Shah got the push and as he had been the US and UK puppet our priorities changed bigtime.

When Chieftain came into service the Centurions were sold to Israel, Jordan and others.

The Shir was the name of the tank developed for Iran and became the fore runner to the Challenger. With the fall of the Shah the Shir was sold in a modified version to Jordan as the Shir II. This tank was further developed and became Challenger I for Brit Army. I believe Challenger was also bought by the Oman.

BobG

BobG wrote:

The Shir was the name of the tank developed for Iran and became the fore runner to the Challenger. With the fall of the Shah the Shir was sold in a modified version to Jordan as the Shir II. This tank was further developed and became Challenger I for Brit Army. I believe Challenger was also bought by the Oman.

BobG

Shock Horror The Mail online today has the headline that all British tank production will cease, and that future UK fighting vehicles will have a Swedish chassis and GERMAN GUNS
A Volvo with an 88mm gun

JPW wrote:

One for our Ironside Callsigns. Wasn't clogged air filters a major problem in the early Chieftain years?

Not in my time on Chieftain. The only issue with air filters as I recall was that close scrutiny was needed on the biscuit to ensure there was no coolant evident. Coolant in the air filter usually meant you had a cracked piston liner and that your pack was ready to die. At RAC Demo Sqn where we ran them harder than anywhere else in the army we would usually get around 400 track miles to a pack before it gave up. After Sundance though all of that was history.

BobG has supplied the correct answers re the Iran/Iraq War and the subsequent development of the Shir II variant of Chieftain which was never delivered to Iran.

What might surprise you a little more is that Chieftain was a joint GB/Israeli project but the UN put an embargo on Israel receiving the finished product because of the imbalance the use of the L11A1 120mm gun sould cause. There was a rumour that prototypes were pressed into service during the 6 Day War but I can't find confirmation of that.

brum wrote:

The problem I remember, this was '71, was the gearbox oil used to leak out and blow all over the engine and the decks. The crews used to get filthy.

That wasn't the gearbox mate. Certainly not in my time. The one big issue there however was that the rh fan hub was fed engine oil from a pipe at the back of the block. The fan tensioner was very prone to vibrating loose and the tensioning pulley would drop down and cut the pipe leading to OMD 75 spraying everywhere leaving the gearbox decks soaking with oil and making steering nigh on impossible at times.

Chemist wrote:

Goldmohur wrote:

UK Government sold hundreds of Cheiftains plus millions of pounds worth of spares to Iran in the early seventies. I helped to do it. In those days Iran was our best mate in the Middle East.

Who bought the Challenger

Mostly Middle Eastern Countries bought the Challanger 2E which is reputed to have a downgraded armour package because Dorchester is still secret. I know Oman uses it.