NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2010

Hi there and welcome to what’s new on Miliblog this week. “Can we have some more photos of modern British Army trucks ?” said the email, so here we are ! We have recently bought some photos from John Peckmore, an excellent local photographer and so for your delight I’ve added a few samples below.

To start with, here’s an old trooper and well known truck used by the British Army for many years. Here perhaps looking a little tired and unloved and ready for one of us enthusiasts to give it a good home. It’s towing an Arrows trailer with another trailer inside that.

Bedford MJ 4Ton Cargo (89 KD 07)(Copyright of JE Peckmore)

The next three photos feature the Leyland Daf 4Ton British Army truck in three guises. First we have a standard Cargo with the canvas frame attached which then has the canvas hood over the top.

Leyland Daf 4Ton Cargo (AN 36 AA)(Copyright of JE Peckmore)

Following is a similar truck but with the canvas and canvas hoops removed. Anyone making a model of the truck can see more detail of the drop sides and how high the back is above the sides.

Leyland Daf 4Ton Cargo (01 KL 37)(Copyright of JE Peckmore)

The whole point of these Leyland Daf trucks were to be as flexible as possible. The cargo body sides could be removed to create a flat bed to which could be added a number of different items. Here we see one kitted out as a Rapier ground-to-air missile support vehicle, complete with camouflage paint and a tactical sign painted on the door.

Leyland Daf 4Ton Cargo (GL 82 AA)(Copyright of JE Peckmore)

In fact here’s a photo I took at the Nesscliffe Military Vehicle show a few years ago. The show was held in the middle of an army training ground and during the afternoon a small convoy of these Leyland Daf’s drove throug the middle of the showground on their way back to the barracks. I remember seeing the bemusement on the faces of the troops at seeing the wartiem vehicles all on display as if they had travelled back in time !!! This photo shows an actual Rapier launcher being towed, with presumeably the missiles on the truck. Actually I do remember now that there were some MV enthusiasts that had collected all the kit and equipment for a Rapier missile battery, including radar, launchers, missiles – dummy ones of course – and the support vehicles to go with it. That is what the serving soldiers could not believe !!!

Leyland Daf 4Ton Rapier Support (09 KL 88)

So have a great week and we’ll soon be back again !

Cheerio !

Simon