NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 1 MARCH 2010

Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter. Or should I say Hiya ! to our growing number of vistors to Miliblog from the USA and a Guten Tag und wie gehts ! to our similar gowing number of visitors from Deutschland. 

Well this week I thought we’d return to our military vehicle photos and bring some new ones in for you all. As before, I am showing ten samples below to tempt you to visit our many galleries of photographs here on Miliblog. With over 6,000 photos, we had to introduce the many catagories right at the start to give you a chance of finding your own particular area of interest. Don’t forget, you can always use the Search tab at the top of the page to find a particular vehicle or registration number. Many of our visitors have been amazed to find a photo of their own vehicle taken 20 years ago, often with their family including small children that are old enough now to own their own military vehicles. Also look into the photos and see what’s going on in the background. Even some of the old fashions can bring a laugh, and even ask did I really wear similar clothes to that years ago !!!

So let’s move onto our samples this week, starting off with a rare Albion gun tractor taken in a ‘waiting for my turn to be tarted up’ area. An FWD SU-COE gun tractor is next with similar bodywork to our old friend the AEC Matador. Built by the Americans for the British army, they are pretty rare now. Immagine what you would feel to discover one tucked away in a corner of your local bus depot, like on this photo. We’ve four other photos of FWD’s added this week, Just look under the British WW2 Gun Tractors gallery to find them.

What happens to army vehicles after demobbing ? Well the next photo answers this ! Anyone know if the Lochcarron Garage is still in business ? Maybe even the QL is still there ?!!!!!! A similar ex-army vehicle is this Morris FAT, or Field Artillery Tractor, down in Falmouth, Cornwall. Any of our Cornish visitors know what happened to this old soldier ? Maybe it’s been saved and is now a pampered pride and joy, owned by one of us. 

We now move onto two similar American International F1800 Series vehicles in US service on the roads of  Britain but with different uses. A 4×2 Tractor and a breakdown truck or wrecker as it’s known, and despite 1963 and 1976 registrations, there’s not much difference between their two cabs.

Some nice British post-war stuff now starting with a Humber 1Ton converted to carry the Merkeva rocket system and renamed the Humber Hornet. As vehicles have different owners – or masters ! – through their life, each treat their vehicle differently. Here we have the same AEC Militant Mk3 after being demobbed but in different paint schemes, but which came first ?

Lastly, especially for the tankies amongst us, is a Chieftain Mk5 ARRV. Enjoy !

So once again, have a great week and don’t work too hard !

Cheerio !

Simon  

Albion FT15N 6x6 Field Artillery Tractor

FWD SU-COE 5Ton 4x4 Gun Tractor (010 CN)

Bedford QLD 3Ton 4x4 Demobbed

Morris C8 FAT Mk3

International Loadster F1800 4x2 Tractor (63B-11922)

International Loadster F1800 9Ton 6x6 Wrecker (76C-82)

Humber 1Ton Hornet Air-Portable Malkara Missile Launcher (06 BK 66)

AEC 0870 Militant Mk3 10Ton Recovery (WOT 428 H)

AEC 0870 Militant Mk3 10Ton Recovery (WOT 428 H)

Chieftain Tank Mk5 ARRV (06 FF 85)