Queen's Diamond Jubilee

I didn`t ever hear them called windows untill now..Maybe a gunner thingy/

Gordon. wrote:

I didn`t ever hear them called windows untill now..Maybe a gunner thingy/

Never had a Noddy suit, never heard of windows, what a cloistered life you've led Gordon !
No wonder you took to the Brasso ! ("Used it for cleaning windows" - my arse !).

Shelldrake wrote:

The buckles on the back of the 57 Pattern belt were known colloquially as "Windows". A bigger crime was to cut them off completely - the Tower for that one!

Thirty seven pattern lovely boy, thirty seven pattern. Get it right now, there are people who believe all this stuff you know !

I stand corrected. 37 Pattern Webbing it is, it's the Sun y'know, that and those damn drums!!

Shelldrake wrote:

pete26 wrote:

I could tell you a few tales about Princess Anne as I was at Hohne when she was and we shared guardrooms with the QDGs.
.

Do tell, no one's listening.

Well put it this way...................she was visiting the Officers messes at Hohne before she latched onto Mark Phillips. Then she espied Mr.Phillips.

Mr.Phillips very quickly rose the ranks and was made up to Captain and given his own tank troop. When they got posted to Ulster he was sent on some course or other, some say to keep him from harms way.

A cousin of his was also a QDG officer and was a really sound bloke. While his Regiment were in Ulster I used to invite him to our ORs squadron bar as his barrack blocks and messes were like a 'ghost town'.

Quote :

("Used it for cleaning windows" - my arse !).

Wouldn`t recommend it for that area of your anatomy Brum,,You will become a shiney ar*e,and we all know about them.

To be serious tho. We did use it to clean windows at Harrogate.Gave them a beautiful shine...
As for NBC suits....They were just not around when i was in Germany...

Had the Russkies Nuked you Gordon, you would have perished. We would have been OK in later years with our Noddy Suits but only if we were given 3 days early warning which would have given us time to get them out of the vacuum packed packages.

Awe well...What`s 3 days in a life time?

Shelldrake wrote:

Had the Russkies Nuked you Gordon, you would have perished. We would have been OK in later years with our Noddy Suits but only if we were given 3 days early warning which would have given us time to get them out of the vacuum packed packages.

One of the daft things about the NBC suit was that if it got wet it was useless, (phew ! OK for BAOR then !).

I remember once, while we were firing the regiment a NBC alert came over. The Command Post Officer , being a smartarse, had the door shut and the air conditioner switched on, (432, of course). After about five minutes he said "I can't hear myself think, turn that bloody thing off !".

We were DOOOMED !

But lived to tell the tale........

[quote]"Shelldrake"

Quote :

If you were fortunate enough to have a mate in the REME with access to a hacksaw, you could slice through the part that fits on to the belt. God help you though if the Orderly Officer pulled the window down to check that you had cleaned it properly.

Well....... hang about..... If you cut the middle bits off (ie the bits that are sewn under the loops ) what use are they as buckles? Where do the cross straps fit & how could the "window" stay on the belt to irritate authority ?

And I'm reminded of other dodges that were frowned upon.......... weights for holding down BD trouser legs, (unless you were Regt Police) or elastics to attach trouser bottoms over gaiters. And a DR one which was really a sensible issue....

A DR could be recognised if the back of his right boot was examined and was found to be wearing away at ankle level. It became a habit to clip the bike into 1st gear by pulling up the lever with the back of the boot rather than lifting it with the toe. It was a habit acquired by the lads. When done with a swagger & a fistful of throttle , it marked out the expert from the novice, they believed. But it wore out the boot and, more seriously, when in the rough stuff on schemes, etc., the bike had been known to jerk forward catching the foot in undergrowth, some ankles had been broken. It was hard to stamp out entirely.

[quote="Gordon."]

Quote :

To be serious tho. We did use it to clean windows at Harrogate.Gave them a beautiful shine...

As for NBC suits....They were just not around when i was in Germany...

Brasso on a wad of newspaper was SOP for me too Gordon. Still do it occasionally at home when daughter announces she will visit........

As for NBC kit, even reserves had it inflicted on them. Had at least one weekend where it had to be worn all day from brekkers until afternoon stand down sometimes with respirator, always for urinating, defecating, masticating etc (Yes, Brum! Masticating...... I got it right !) Good for becoming on close terms with your assigned buddy ( for those that like that sort of thing)as he padded around dabbing Fullers Earth on bits of flesh which had been contaminated with CS in the gas chamber. Worst bit......... Digging a slit trench to convince that noddy suits slowed down activities. Just telling us that would have been convincing enough , death might have been the easy option.

[quote="cartav"][quote]"Shelldrake"

Quote :

If you were fortunate enough to have a mate in the REME with access to a hacksaw, you could slice through the part that fits on to the belt. God help you though if the Orderly Officer pulled the window down to check that you had cleaned it properly.

Well....... hang about..... If you cut the middle bits off (ie the bits that are sewn under the loops ) what use are they as buckles? Where do the cross straps fit & how could the "window" stay on the belt to irritate authority ?

Ahh, pull up a Sandbag, Cartav. One didn't cut the whole of the middle bit off, one merely sliced the end where it was attached to the "Window" bent it slightly and slid it out. The Orderly Officer would pull the buckle down with sufficient force to try and dislodge the buckle, that's when the game was up. Being inventive Soldiers we had a spare belt that we could attach the rest of the webbing to for Exercises, etc. Royal Artillery web belts were blackened with layers of boot polish and as highly polished as your best boots - Gunners!! I also knew of people who pressed their Noddy Suits, not me, I hasten to add.


Talking of webbing, anyone remember the saying "Was she wearing webbing", or was it just me?

The bit i remember most about having to dig dirty great holes whilst wearing the noddy suit, was having to lift the respirator up to empty the gallons of sweat before i started to drown in it.

[quote="Shelldrakell:

Talking of webbing, anyone remember the saying "Was she wearing webbing", or was it just me?[/quote]

Happily, my Scottish friend, no, it was not just you, there have been times in my life when the answer was "God yes, she was !

Hmmm..You have a Scottish friend???Strange...

I still refer to it as `webbing`.