Lamanva Military Vehicle Museum, Lamanva, 3 miles from Falmouth Cornwall
Visited July 1988
The museum was created by the late Charlie Mann, I think in the late 1970′s. Charlie was a real character who I first met on the MVCG – as the MVT was first known as – commemorative tour of military vehicles to Normandy in June 1974, for the 30th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. Charlie had amazed us all with his US Half Track and Bedford QL Trooper with army unit badges showing the map of Cornwall. He was also the military vehicle advisor to the film A Bridge Too Far, made in 1977 telling the story of the Arnhem landings. Following the film, many of the props used were bought by Charlie and used in his museum. For example, look at the replica Horsa glider fuselage, which visitors can walk through, and also the flat bottom boats that Robert Redford rowed across the Rhine River in the film.
We visited the museum in July 1988 while on holiday in Cornwall and took the photos you see below. Have a close look at the ‘German’ trucks ! These were provided by Charlie for the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, with Harrison Ford. I seem to remember they were actually based on US GMC CCKW 353 6×6 Trucks !
Sadly Charlie died in I think the late 1980′s and the collection was split up, so there’s no chance to visit the museum. Some say part of the collection was bought by Flambards Experience also in Cornwall. I noticed however that the Scottish Military Vehicle Group list their Dodge WC-51 Weapons Carrier as being ex-Lamanva, so there may be other vehicles from the collection out there somewhere. I wonder what became of the Horsa glider section ?
Boulton Paul Aircraft Heritage Project, GE Aviation, Wobaston Road, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton WV9 5EW
Telephone 01902-397700
Museum Open Day, Sunday 19 April 2009
Boulton Paul had moved from Norwich to Wolverhampton in 1934 and set up a purpose made factory to produce aircraft. The Defiant aircraft produced during WW2 was unique in that it was single engineed but with a turret in the fuselage behind the pilot. The company was also famous for producing many of the turrets used in WW2 bombers such as the Halifax. Over the years, the company changed hands and is now owned by the American GE Aviation. One chap today told me that when they bought the company from Smith’s Aerospace in 2007, they didn’t know about the museum but had a very pleasant surprise. Now they are very supportive and are proud to have part of the company’s history on their site.
The museum itself isn’t open to the public very often, which is a great shame, since it has a wonderful atmosphere to it. It’s like a private club of enthusiasts who are really enthusiastic about there interests and are more than happy to share it with you, which makes you feel really at home and welcomed. In addition to the Defiant, I was amazed to find a Jet Provost, a Balliiol trainers, a 1919 P6 Biplane, a number of Slingsby training gliders used by the ATC (Air Traning Corps) along with cockpits of a Hawker Hunter, Avro Anson, Canberra and a turret from a Halifax bomber. In addition to the open day was a working display of 1/6 scale – Action Man size ! – radio controlled model tanks, complete with loud engine noise by the UK Tank Club. It was also nice to see a number of classic cars on display which added to the atmosphere. While I was there, I saw a Sunbeam Alpine, a Model T Ford and a local Willys MB Jeep. Truly an amazing afternoon and one I would highly recommend. I can’t wait until the next one ! For further details visit their website at www.boultonpaul.com
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 13 APRIL 2009
Hi there again everyone !
Welcome to Miliblog !
Sorry we didn’t have a weekly newsletter last week, but I hope to make this up to you all this week with a bumper edition. So what’s new this week ? Well we’re pleased to announce that we have now reached the magic number of 2,000 photos of military items on the website. This week we’ve added many new US WW2 wreckers, British WW2 Bedford QL’s, Karrier K6′s, 1950′s Bedford RL’s in military service and preserved examples, plus a number of civilian Thornycroft Antars and many more, including nearly 20 US Half Tracks. Look out for the one based in Breda, in The Netherlands. Can any of you guys in The Netherlands tell us some more information on this Half Track ? Has it now been rescued ? As usual, i’ve included a few samples of this week’s photos as a sample to tempt you to look even further !
So what has Miliblog been upto over Easter ? Well we visited the Classic Car Show at Weston Park in Shropshire on Easter Monday which in the past has proved worthwhile to us MV enthusiasts with plenty to see. Despite the £7 per person entrance, we coughed up the money, with the thoughts of seeing many Green Machines. However, what a disappointment ! I know that it is always good to see any old MV and have a chat to their owners and hear their stories, but all we saw was one unattended Ford GPW Jeep and 4 ex-army Land Rovers which were also unattended. However we did find a Bedford Green Goddess Fire Tender and many other classic cars from old Jaguars, Austins, Fords, MGs etc and spoke with their owners so it wasn’t a wasted journey. Did any of you attend the show on Easter Sunday ? Perhaps there were more MV’s then ? Please let us know !
Today, however was the opposite ! Miliblog had heard of the Boulton Paul Heritage Project near Codsall in Wolverhampton but always heard of their open day after the event. However this time we heard before the event so off we went. I had read that the project had been rebuilding a Bouton Paul Defiant aircraft from WW2 and the story was that they had a few bits and bobs to go with it and so I went along just expecting to see this aircraft. Wow, did I have a pleasant surprise !
Boulton Paul had moved from Norwich to Wolverhampton in 1934 and set up a purpose made factory to produce aircraft. Their most famous aircraft, the Defiant, was produced during WW2 and was unique in being single engineed but with a turret in the fuselage behind the pilot. The company was also famous for producing many of the turrets used in WW2 bombers such as the Halifax. Over the years, the company changed hands and is now owned by the American GE Aviation. One chap today told me that when they bought the company from Smith’s Aerospace in 2007, they didn’t know about the museum but had a very pleasant surprise. Now they are very supportive and are proud to have part of the company’s history on their site, which is great to hear in this day and age.
The museum itself isn’t open to the public very often, which is a great shame, since it has such a wonderful atmosphere to it. It’s like a private club of enthusiasts who are really enthusiastic about there interests and are more than happy to share it with you, which makes you feel really at home and welcomed. In addition to the Defiant, I was amazed to find a Jet Provost, a Balliiol trainer, a 1919 P6 Biplane, a number of Slingsby training gliders used by the ATC (Air Traning Corps) along with cockpits of a Hawker Hunter, Avro Anson, Canberra and a turret from a Halifax bomber. In addition to the open day was a display of 1/6 scale – Action Man size ! – radio controlled model tanks, complete with loud engine noise by the UK Tank Club. Truly an amazing afternoon and one I would highly recommend. I can’t wait until the next one, which I believe in on June 7th. For further details visit their website at www.boultonpaul.com Have a look at out new tab for Museum Visits where you’ll see some of the photos I took.
So please keep enjoy visiting our website and discovering the new additons. We had over 100,000 hits in March from all over the World, which I still find amazing that there are so many people out there that share our hobby !
Cheerio until next week !
Simon
Bedford QLD 3Ton Van Body (DFP 407)
Ward La France Model 1000 Series 2 Wrecker (WSU 626)
Pacific M26 40Ton Tractors x4
Mack NR9 10Ton 6x4 Cargo (BL-73-YX)(Netherlands)
Bedford RL 3Ton 4x4 Cargo (D-9665)(Malta)
M3A1 Half Track (416 ASV)
NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 30 MARCH 2009
Hello to you all
Welcome once again to Miliblog. It’s a very exciting week so far for us here at Miliblog, for our website developers have worked their magic once again and given us what many of you have requested ! Now, when you click on any photo shown in the random selection that loads 20 photos at a time on each page, it now clicks through and brings up the photo in ful screen, but the clever part is that if you click on it again….it zooms in and you get the extra detail ! Great for those building scale models or rebuilding an old military vehicle.
Some of our photos are nice crisp digital ones with lots of sharp details, but many are upto 30+ years old and have been scanned in from sometimes blurey originals. Myself it adds to the atmosphere of these old 1970′s & 1980′s photos !
Anyway, must get back to work but not before a couple of photos from this weeks additions. A nice Bedford MWD breakdown truck, from the 1970′s and the a Danish Dodge Weapons Carrier – anyone out there know if this was a true military conversion or a civilian one ?
Meanwhile have a great week and get ready for Easter and all those chocolate eggs ! Not too many or you won’t get behind your jeep steering wheel !
Cheerio !
Simon
Bedford MWD 15cwt GS (MEH 224)
Dodge WC-52 Weapons Carrier Conversion (DR68985)(Dansk)
