We received an email from Raymond Pritchard asking if we would be interested in seeing some of the vehicles he served with in his time in the army, and see if you can guess our reply !!!! Raymond kindly scanned and emailed us 15 fantastic photos, especially rare to see colour photos of the incredible Thornycroft Antar.
Below is the narrative that Raymond sent with his photos. Please enjoy !
“The Antars are mainly 617 (Polish) Tank Transporter Sqdn – they had an overnight stay at Senelager – while the remaining Antars are from 3 Tank Transporter Sqdn. Bedford RL 3 ton was with 3 Sqdn RCT (Singapore). The Alvis Stalwarts were issued brand new, no mileage, to 33 Sqdn RCT (Bunde) There were a nice glossy bronze clean. This is the era when “most” army vehicles were kept clean with car polish; Bedfords, Stalwarts, staff cars, etc. When I was on Centurion and Chieftain tanks, polishing was different. We used kerosene/petrol and oil and buffed up with cotton waste”
Although this show is advertised through the classic car world as a Festival of Transport, we always have a few military green machines attending. Not as many as I would like though as the location on the A5 East of Telford in Shropshire is such an easy location to travel to.
This year we went on the Saturday rather than the usual Sunday and I’m glad I did, as the number of vehicles was much better than usual.
Got talking to the owner of the lovely condition Dodge Ambulance and he allowed us to look inside and take photos. He’d got stretchers and a load of medical equipment to complement the vehicle.
Our only only whine for the show is that the military section was again placed right at the very back of the showground and if you hadn’t purposely searched them out like we did, you could have easily missed them.
Paul Wallis was there with his fantastic head turning GKN Simba.
Watch out for this at other shows and if you get the chance as we did to hear the engine tick over, it purrs like a huge leopard. From photos we’ve featured in the past of the Simba, we get many emails into our postbox asking for more details and how they can contact the owner to buy it !
So our first show of the season, and despite Weston Park’s Easter Show being famous for rain, the weather was gorgeous.
So enjoy these photos and if you’re interested in classic cars, have a look at our sister website www.classiccarblog.co.uk for loads of photos of more polished and shinier vehicles !
Standard Vanguard RAF Staff Car
Another cracking model is this typically British Morris Minor 1000 Traveller from the 1960′s and 1970′s. The British Army used 1000′s of these as basic communications vehicles. With many army bases across Germany ready to defeat the threat of invasion from the Iron Curtain, they were used to carry post and paperwork between the command centres and camps. This model is painted with the famous bright red wings of the Bomb Disposal Squad, which carried engineers to difuse either terrorist bombs or many WW2 bombs found on construction sites around the country.
Morris Minor 1000 Traveller Bomb Disposal (29 FH 72)
Bedford MWD Western Desert 1942
Bedford OWB Bus Royal Navy (54 RN 12)
AEC Matador Gun Tractor Western Desert 1942
AEC Matador Gun Tractors
Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them and have a closer study of the detail. We’ll certainly be looking for new releases later this year.
Rolf our dog is looking for a walk now, so on go the wellies and raincoat and I’ll be back soon !
Cheerio !
Simon
Here we show a couple of ships from the Belgian Navy while visiting Portsmouth
Here we have a fascinating collection of MoD (Ministry of Defence) official photos of a whole range of military vehicles in service. Not to the same standard as modern digital photographs, but they have that same certain patina that old 1960′s military things have. I know the original photos that Miliblog has been lucky to purchase for you have that certin whiff of old musty paper, with a hint of dampness that we find so good. Although part of the MoD, they all have AM and a crown stamped on the back, which is Air Ministry. A bit unusual when most of the photos are British Army !!!
One by one we’ll be scanning this old collection to share with you. When we discovered them, we just had to have them to add to the Miliblog archives !!! So please enjoy them as we did too !!!
Hillman Minx 10hp Light Utility (TRT 679)
Spitfire MkIX
German Luftwaffe Group
19 Mechanised Brigade (Subdued)
21 Engineer Regt (LAD)
19 Mechanised Brigade (Desert)
So as we come upto the anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, lets’ get out there to some dry shows !
Cheerio !!!
Simon
NEW THIS MONTH – APRIL 2012
Well we’re back once again after a bumpy few weeks and can’t wait to share some of new stuff we’ve been adding to the collection over the winter months. You may have read already on Miliblog how excited we were to see our first sample model from Oxford Diecast. Miliblog were quite flattered to have been asked by Oxford Diecast to work with them to launch a range of British military softskin models. The first is an absolute cracker and as you see below is a very good small scale replica of this lovely WW2 15cwt truck. All in a scale of 1/76 the same scale as Triang Hornby model railways or Airfix plastic model kits of military vehicles. Also ideal for wargamers and at about £4.50 an absolute bargain. Click on the photo below to get a better idea !
Bedford MWD NW Europe 1944
Well in our part of the UK, the Easter holidays with the first classic car and military vehicle shows were a complete washout ! Who wants to take out their pride and joy out in the wet, wind and the mud ! In fact many shows and events were cancelled with some being rescheduled for later in the year. So what can we turn to instead ?
Cloth badges issued for army units were very popular in WW1 and WW2 and even into the 1950′s. But by the 1970′s and 1980′s, they all but disappeared. Come the new millienium, they seem to have come back again ! This time though they’re called TRF’s !!! ….or in their fullest description Tactical Recognition Flash !!! Many designs can be traced back to the second world war or even the colours or the individual regitment or corps. So here at Miliblog, we wanted to start collecting them and share with you these very attractive badges. This first one is for the Rifle Brigade know as The Rifles and is the largest regiment in the current British Army.
The Rifles
Next we have a nice TRF for the Royal Engineers, with the historic RE colours of red and blue stripes.
Royal Engineers
Now these TRF’s are great on the usual DPM modern British Army uniform while in the UK, but a bright basge in combat maybe isn’t such a good idea. So we have three versions of some TRF’s, UK, subdued for combat and then a desert sand version for guess where ! Now with the new MTP, or Multi Terrain Pattern uniforms I’ve seen a fourth version TRF ! So here we show the TRF for the 1st Artillery Brigade firstly in a nice bright red and then a subdued version for combat situations.
1 Artillery Brigade
1 Artillery Brigade (Subdued)
What about some vehicles then I hear you shout ?!!! Ok, the Scannell Crusader EKA Recovery lorry is well known in military circles and we feature many photos of them serving with the British army. So now we’re seeing them in civvi street earning their keep towing broken down trucks in for repair. A bit like a repeat story of the 1950′s with AEC Matadors ! Here’s a couple of samples below for you to enjoy. More are listed under 1980s+ preserved breakdowns
Scammell Crusader EKA Recovery (BCV 160 T)(Copyright ERF Mania)
Scammell Crusader EKA Recovery (XHT 415 T)(Copyright ERF Mania)
Well let’s hope the weather picks up for next month and we can get out there enjoying some decent sunshine !
Until then….
Cheerio !
Simon
Here we start with some lovely Star military vehicles at play at the factory playground. Many thanks to their PR department for these photos.
