MYSTERY VEHICLE

Pinky I thought you were in the KRH ? and not the QOH.

Howdy,
1420H handed Hohne over to the QOH in 1985, the Dutch complained that they were no longer the scruffiest in Hohne Garrison..................lol.
In 1992 the 1420H became the KRH, more's the pity !! But lets not go there.........
atb
Pinky
HUSSAR

In the interests of mathematical correctness, should that not be 1,420H?



PS: Welcome to the Officers Mess, we should be obliged if you start a Bar Bill and refrain from referring to your Knife, Fork and Spoon as "Eating Irons".!!

No 1420H is fine.
Champers all around waiter !!
atb
Capt. Pinky
HUSSAR

Hope it`s a decent vintage and not the cheap stuff from Aldi`s..Standards you know..

the Dutch complained that they were no longer the scruffiest in Hohne Garrison..................lol

LOL. I wish I had known this when I served with the Dutch in the MN; They were excellent guys.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

The dutch........schmoke and a pancake !!
Scruffy, long haired, ear ring wearing union controlled champions of many a Canadian cup !!
Strange eh ?
atb
Capt.Pinky
HUSSAR

I remember when visiting the Roundhouse, driving through the Cloggy lines, it always seemed as if their Tanks were lying around waiting to be assembled, like some giant Meccano set.

i nevva knew aldis champers wos called standards ,

Hi all,

Happy New Year

"You lads have had your Christmas, what have you had"

Keeping to subject

Our RE Field Sqn in early 1950's had:
CO a VW
A few Bedford 15cwt and Bedford 3 ton 4x2; and plenty of the Beford 4x4
Also had a Scammel as recovery; and a "heap" of motor bikes most out of use
And some larger [6 tonner ?] to carry Baily bridge panels; what model where these?
Could have been AEC, dont have any photos

Regards Tony

I'm sure that Baily bridge panels were carried by various vehicles, but I seem to remember AEC Matador Mk1 (the famous Knocker) and special trailer being used?

A basic Baily bridge consisted of three main basic parts.

1) The "floor" of the bridge consists of a number of 19-foot-wide transoms (5.8 m) that run across the bridge.

2) With 10-foot-long stringers (3.0 m) running between them on the bottom, forming a square.

3) The bridge's strength is provided by the panels on the sides. The panels are 10-foot-long (3.0 m), 5-foot-high (1.5 m), cross-braced rectangles that each weigh 570 pounds (260 kg)

Mike_2817 wrote:

I'm sure that Baily bridge panels were carried by various vehicles, but I seem to remember AEC Matador Mk1 (the famous Knocker) and special trailer being used?

A basic Baily bridge consisted of three main basic parts.

1) The "floor" of the bridge consists of a number of 19-foot-wide transoms (5.8 m) that run across the bridge.

2) With 10-foot-long stringers (3.0 m) running between them on the bottom, forming a square.

3) The bridge's strength is provided by the panels on the sides. The panels are 10-foot-long (3.0 m), 5-foot-high (1.5 m), cross-braced rectangles that each weigh 570 pounds (260 kg)

Hi Mike, thanks, been looing on various web sites, the Matador looks too small; so found the Leyland Hippo 6x4 10 ton which would be more suitable for heavy loads

Other other vehicle we had a lot of was the Bedford 4x4 QL, a great vehicle

A long time ago, happy days
Regards Tony

Weren't the "Diamond T" Fords still in use in those days ?

I think they were used as Tank Transporters/Recy vehs?

There were 3 main types of 10 Tom Truck in the 50's to early 70's

Layland Hippo MkII 6x4
Layland Martian GS (10 Ton) 6x4 or Tractor (16 Ton) 6x6
AEC Mk1 & 2 in 6x4 & 6x6

All had a basic floor bed of 16 foot but some had longer 18 foot load beds extended partly by moving the spare from behind the cab.

I think the Layland Martian 6x6 with winch (Identified by its long bonnet) was used by the RA as a Gun Tractor and RE for Bridging
The AEC 6x6 MkII more than replaced them in later years

We had the 10 Tonner GS at 3 BAPD as late as 1976 as Load Carriers within the depot.

[Edited to add diiferance in Layland Martian]

When I was in 24 Medium Regt, (Nienburg), we had the Leyland you mention to tow our 5.5 guns. (I didn't know it was called Martian).
The gun tractor, with seating for the gun detachment and space in the rear for gun kit, was called a 16 tonner. It sticks in my mind the same veh was used to pull the L70/40 AA gun, over to you Cartav !
There was also a cargo version which carried ammunition, POL, you name it and named 10 tonner.
In '75-'76 I did a driving examiner's course at Bovington and our driving phase was carried out in a "16 tonner". (Two-speed differential . . . . magic !).

Martian was its 'Trade name' The AEC was known as 'Matador'

The other differance was that the '16 Tonner' was a 6x6 with winch and as you say seats and I think a side door and the '10 Tonner GS' a 6x4 Cargo

brum wrote:

When I was in 24 Medium Regt, (Nienburg), we had the Leyland you mention to tow our 5.5 guns. (I didn't know it was called Martian).
The gun tractor, with seating for the gun detachment and space in the rear for gun kit, was called a 16 tonner. It sticks in my mind the same veh was used to pull the L70/40 AA gun, over to you Cartav ! .

Blast from the past Brum ! Only just come across this, it must have been posted when I was otherwise engaged fending off the Trojans & doing some non- mil research.......

Can't help much with L70 tractors in BFG, as, in my time with 16 LAA, we had the L60 Bristol Bofors. That was towed by an odd truck...... Cab looked like the civvy Commer unit, ( and so it was !), whole thing was made by Ford with a Cannuck V8 engine. We did get an early L70 in winter of '54 / '55 for user trials of a Unimog which was under consideration .......... a short wheel base truck with oversized wheels. I've a feeling it did well enough against the Fordson E4 in spite of being a bit lightweight for towing a gun which weighed 2ton 12. 1/2 cwt. It lost out on being able to carry spare barrel, boxes of 40mm and the gun crew.
( " Ve haf vays off makin' you valk !" they said )

When I became conversant with the L70 in the 1960's with TAVR, we had 4 x4 AEC Matadors which went on for ever. Whatever was used, something with a winch was important, if only for unhitching the gun to get across bridges with limited capacity.

Seems like anything on vehicles in BAOR has been neglected to date.... what about a post to cover MT generally ?

cartav wrote:

.......... which weighed 2ton 12. 1/2 cwt. It lost out on being able to carry spare barrel, boxes of 40mm and the gun crew...............................

OK, OK, Wrong again ! Memory lapse........... L70 / 40 weighs 4 ton 12.1/2 cwt.

Although we were equipped with Leylands, for some reason we also had a Matador floating around the battery, it seemed to be used for "Q" jobs and a bit of ammo/POL shifting.
The Matador was usually driven by one of those sergeants who didn't seem to have a job just seem to make himself useful. (Not unusual in the 50s).
The sergeant could make the Matador do everything except sit up and beg. I watched one day when a bogged in Bedford was being extricated, he put the Matador into gear and left the engine ticking over. the truck just "walked" its way out of the mud.

brum wrote:

The Matador was usually driven by one of those sergeants who didn't seem to have a job just seem to make himself useful. (Not unusual in the 50s).

Or the 60s, 70s and 80s for that matter - we usually referred to them a Gun Nos 1s/BCs Dog!!

For 9 months or so up to D DAY we had a RA unit equipped with 3-7ins guns stationed on our estate in Whyteleafe in Surrey ang all the guns were towed by Matadors which were parked all down the streets outside our houses. They had canvas seats fitted in the back for the crews and the sergeants always sat in the front but I don't remember them driving. They spent weeks prior to them leaving repainting the vehicles and covering all moving parts in thick grease , - it took them somewhat longer because as kids, we kept pinching the paint. All their amunition was stacked on our street corner covered by tarpaulins under which we used to play!

[quote="brum"]

................. one of those sergeants who didn't seem to have a job just seem to make himself useful. (Not unusual in the 50s [ quote]

Sounds a bit like me, though without the 3rd stripe! I had a Bedford 15cwt MWD FFW ( fitted for wireless then ) on charge which I used for dvr. instruction. Trained and was unused as Operator Fire Control, then for short time filled in as Bty Clerk (ugh !), DR Instr., a/c recog inst., OP NCO, NCO i/c cookhouse (another ugh!), producer of drgs for a variety of Bty & Regt. needs, top NCO BHQ tp. etc. etc. Didn't have time to get bored, and could always claim to be working for higher authority if any superior tried to grip me for a thankless task. All for 20p a day !

Just remembered with all this interest in Matadors & things............. Having some on charge in the UK in the 1970's became a problem when new rules came in about HGV licenses. Up until then, I seem to recall that any lad could pass the test in a Mini, then jump in an HGV & drive off. Don't know if there was a similar problem for BFG, but rules for Matadors were even more restrictive and a license for a 4-tonner didn't cover the larger vehicle.

Cartav, you're an old gunner - did you ever hear any tales of how those Matadors managed going ashore on the Normandy beaches fullen laden with ammunition, full crew with all their kit and pulling a 3.7in gun. I often womder how many of them survived, it was surely the ultimate test of their abilities.