Army Vehicles - 1960s

[quote="Dee Z"]The museum is located on the site of the World War 2 and post-war Weybourne Anti Aircraft Training Camp. Weybourne Camp is north west of the coastal village of Weybourne.......
The site is owned by Sir Peter de Savary  
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Late congrats on the video, which I've only just opened after some break in
comms due to one thing & another........... On the subject of vehicles, although not 1960's stuff, it was interesting to see the brief shot of a Humber 8cwt FFW.
For them as don't know ......... probably weren't born yet ! ....... this was a WW2
4 x 2 and was odd in that the whole of the back end was detachable from the chassis. This bit had folding legs which could support it when detached to become a static radio station or command centre. My refs don't say how it was lifted, but when kitted out for two ops. with radios, batteries, seating etc, it must have been more than a four-man lift.

[quote="twroberts27

[/quote] - although I always had a soft spot for the Saracen after my younger brother (when 9) drove one onto the parade ground just before the GOC's inspection!
[/quote]
A Saracen ?
Aged 9 ?
Blimey, he must've had strong legs !

I learned to drive in a champ and then they gave me an Austin 1 tonner with a crash box to take the test in!!! Army logic. I also nearly ended my days driving an AEC 10 tonner with no power steering. I pushed the wheel one way while changing gear and tore a muscle in my back. One of the lads came into the ablutions while I was having a wash and said, "My God! Have you seen your back? The last time I saw a bruise like that was on my Dad after he died." That had me scuttling off to the sick room I can tell you.
Favorite drive? Chieftains were fun. As was the LAD 434 I had. When I was attached to 4 fd regt RA we had a young gunner who climbed into a Centurion OP when the engine was running and pulled one of the tillers. Made one hell of a mess of the interior of the building and surrounding vehicles as it neutral turned.

[quote="steve1226"]I learned to drive in a champ and then they gave me an Austin 1 tonner with a crash box to take the test in!!! Army logic. ....[quote]

Apart from staff cars, I suppose the Champ was the first bit of MT with a synchromesh box........ don't know about the Jeep, never got my hands on one.  But double -D gear changes were the norm for many. The cheaper cars usually only had three gears with no synchro on first.  Before that innovation. , even earlier cars with crash boxes might have the accelerator pedal in the middle of the three to help to "heel & toe" .   ie left foot de-clutching, right toe on the brake pedal, right heel on the gas to rev up in neutral when changing
down & slowing.  That complicated stuff in a helicopter is a doddle in comparison and driving  a QL or an Austin 1-tonner was easy.

Old Buckenham airfield

That's an amazing collection of mil hardware, makes our local transport festival look miniscule !

I got quite nostalgic, listening to that K60 engine wailing away in the background.

I didn't join until 1976 but there were still a few of these knocking around. We had an RL as FAMTO waggon at 1ADOC (Soltau) being a petrol engine it was faster than the MK's and there was space under the passengers seat where you could fit two yellow handbags quite snugly.




For those who may not know... the yellow handbag:

i was doing driver training in chilwell 1956 they had just started changing the rl for the old type 3 ton bedford , i much prefered the old 3 tonner to the rl ,

Nice to see the old RL again.
We were in Hohne, early '71. Waiting for the wagon to pick us up in Bergen, one morning, we noticed that the thermometer, on the wall of the chemist, read -25.
Eventually the duty truck turned up, (an RL), very late and the driver explained that he'd had to go around, bump starting the squadron MKs. It was too cold for them to start.
It was a good wagon, the RL, but I preferred the MK, it was more comfortable.

I seem to remember when on exercise in the winter we would use an eager beaver to 'slave' the knockers, winter excercises would have ground to a halt without a beaver with a slave lead. Knockers would never start below freezing but once fired up they would go anywhere... albeit slowly. We were using them right up until the end of the 1980's and although some people tend to look back to the knocker fondly, I much prefered it's replacement. The TM may not have been quite as robust (Squaddyproof) as the knocker but it was a damned sight more comfortable and unlike the knocker it came in left hand drive.

   

[quote="Wilf"] We had an RL as FAMTO waggon

"FAMTO", blimey, that's one I'd forgotten !

gingerjim wrote:

i was doing driver training in chilwell 1956 they had just started changing the rl ..........

Time sounds about right........ I drove my first RL in Spring of '56 and that might have been when 16 LAA moved back to UK. RLs were still going strong in TA up to late, late 1970s. What happened to I-tonners ? Did nothing replace the Austin, which became one of my favourites........? . Tan leathercloth inside the cab was almost like a car. No heater then, but no draughts either. And you could kip laying across the front seats whilst the two others of an OP were happy to spread out in the back.

The Fordson E4 was one many might not have come across....... purely a LAA tractor, I think, and could have been replaced when
L 70s came in instead of the Bristol Bofors around the late '50s to early 1960s. Another comfortable, draughtproof truck with a 3.9 litre V8..........but not much use for towing.

[quote="cartav  What happened to I-tonners ?  Did nothing replace the Austin, which became one of my favourites........? .
[/quote]I hadn't really thought about that before but I imagine the Long Wheelbase Rover moved into the 1 tonner's role.

brum wrote:

Wilf wrote:

We had an RL as FAMTO waggon

"FAMTO", blimey, that's one I'd forgotten !

At least you could have a decent kip in the MK. FAACO and FATSO, any more for any more?

Tbh, I reckon you would have to be a very tired contortionist to get to sleep in the cab of an MK. You had to put it in first gear and try to ignore the cupola footplate between the seats that your arse was resting on. The best place to kip in the winter was the passenger seat of a knocker. Push the back of the seat forward so it's flat, drop your large pack & webbing in the footwell, roll out your doss bag and sleep full stretch, after a week of living in a hole in the woods it was like the presidential suite at the London Hilton. In the summer just roll out your doss bag on top of the canvas, you sink between the superstructure just enough to avoid rolling off in your sleep...of course if you did roll off, it was quite a drop!

brum wrote:

[quote="cartav  What happened to I-tonners ?  Did nothing replace the Austin, which became one of my favourites........? .

I hadn't really thought about that before but I imagine the Long Wheelbase Rover moved into the 1 tonner's role.[/quote]

And I'd not thought what the role of our 1-tonners was ! For sure BHQ Tp had one as OP transport when a Champ & trailer was more useful for shifting an NCO, a Sig & a dvr. With no plumbed-in radio lads in a 1-tonner, deployed up to 2. 1/2 miles from BHQ, could have a problem if there was a mechanical breakdown. Gun tps whose Bofors moved into position individually could be over a mile from each other. Each detachment was put in position by a 'coverer', one of the gun crews' reps. who had tagged along in a 1-tonner when the Tp. Cdr did his recce.

So our 1-tonners' roles were more or less ones of shifting 8 or so bodies from A to B, something they did back in camp for anyone with a distant quarter....... ( no squaddies' cars in the dismal '50s ! ).
I guess the LWB Landrover could have done the same job and there were minibuses around for some tasks. And thinking about it, there was the Humber FV 1600, but the only one I came across was much too posh inside for a mundane taxi job.

In my Medium regt days the 1ton Austin was a bit of a Jack of all trades. The line crew had one, the BCs OP party had one, they were just a handy size, I suppose.
In '64 I was posted to the air portable 2nd Light Regt, equipped with the Italian 105mm Pack Howitzer, in Colchester. Having left a Missile regt, I was amazed to see that the guns were "portee'd" in pairs, on a Bedford RL and the command post was jammed into the back of a LWB Rover.

brum wrote:

In my Medium regt days the 1ton Austin was a bit of a Jack of all trades. The line crew had one, the BCs OP party had one, they were just a handy size, I suppose.
In '64 I was posted to the air portable 2nd Light Regt, equipped with the Italian 105mm Pack Howitzer, in Colchester. Having left a Missile regt, I was amazed to see that the guns were "portee'd" in pairs, on a Bedford RL and the command post was jammed into the back of a LWB Rover.

I was posted to 47 Regt, Colchester in 1976, coincidentally from a Msl Regt, they were equipped with the Pack How (Same ones!!). Early in 1977 we were the first Regiment to receive the "New Light Gun", as it was originally called. The prime mover was the Land Rover 1 Tonne 101 Series, each Gun Sub was issued with two, one with winch, to tow the gun and accommodate the equipment (Limber) and one to accommodate the crew. They were used during the Firemens strike and were escorted to the fire by a Police panda car, as the 1 Tonnes were capable of speeds nearing 100 mph, the Police substituted the pandas for motorway patrol vehs.

Not familiar with this 1950;s vehicle

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[quote="Dee Z"]Not familiar with this 1950;s vehicle


Humber FV 1600 1- tonner.

Tis indeed, I learned to drive on one, that and the Champ.

Shelldrake wrote:

Tis indeed, I learned to drive on one,
that and the Champ.

Never got near enough to have a cabby in a Humber......
and certainly never saw one with the Pig - skin top coat except once
on a weekend thing when middle aged men play at being soldiers.

I seem to remember the instrument panel was Champ-like but
was the transmission similar  too ?   ie 5 forward & 5 back etc .

cartav wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

Tis indeed, I learned to drive on one,
that and the Champ.

Never got near enough to have a cabby in a Humber......
and certainly never saw one with the Pig - skin top coat except once
on a weekend thing when middle aged men play at being soldiers.

I seem to remember the instrument panel was Champ-like but
was the transmission similar  too ?   ie 5 forward & 5 back etc .

Only on the Italian model.  

\"cartav wrote:

,

and certainly never saw one with the Pig - skin top coat except once
on a weekend thing when middle aged men play at being soldiers.
.

Only on the Italian model.  [/quote]


Ich bedanke mich !..... I didn't know that .

Anyone remember the Dingo? I certainly don't but my step dad (Ex 1st KDG) tells me they used them in Malaya during the 1950's