NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 13 JULY 2009

Hi there again and welcome to this week’s newsletter of what’s ne on Miliblog this week.

To start with we have reached another milestone this week when my trusty old scanner coughed and spluttered photo number 3,000 onto the website, which was a nice Bedford S series Tractor in RAF markings, which I have illustrated below. It still amazes me to look at the website statistics and see the visits from all the different countries across the world, so a big ‘Hello’ to you all. To share a common interest in old military vehicles I think is a wonderful thing. We also have loads of 1950′s/1960′s Leyland Martian 10ton Trucks in various forms, Artillery Tractor, Cargo and Heavy Recovery. Some are in British army service, and you can just see the National Service troops driving them during their ‘two years in’. Have a look at the sample below showing one towing a 5.5″ gun, which was also a gun used in WW2 and usually towed by an AEC Matador. Others are in civilian guise and being used for recovery work. In addition, we have some nice old Bedford TK 4×2 tractors, and as we have said before, we love looking right into the photos to see what else is going on. One example below shows a nice Wessex helicopter as the load. Also added are some more French lorries, the one I love in particular is the Berliet TBU15 6×6 Tractor with a tank transporter trailer. It is so wonderfully Gallic that you can almost smell the Galloises cigarettes !  Another French Saviem Renault looks like it’s taken in the Alps. Finally, we have at last managed to identify our Italian military vehicles, a sample I show below. It’s a lovely old Fiat, although at the end of it’s military career I think. I would really like to obtain some photos of the old Alfa Romeo Matta or Fiat Campagnola field cars, so if anyone can help……..    

We really enjoy adding each week to Miliblog and seeking new items and stories to relate to you. This week we heard a story about the Staffordshire Yeomanry. In World War 2, many of the troops in the regiment came from Staffordshire, which is roughly in the Midlands of England. One town in the area, Burton-upon-Trent was, and still is, famous for brewing beer. One of the senior officers in the Yeomanry was a senior manager or even director of Bass Breweries from the town in civilian life before being called up. He insisted that the troops should wear a red material triangle on their berets behind the Yeomanry badge, to emphasise the badge and make them stand out. So for all the war years that’s what they wore. Little did the troops realise that the red triangle was the famous logo or trademark for Bass Beers and that for years they had been advertising the product free of charge !!!

Also mentioning Burton-upon-Trent, before the war one of the breweries ran a series of adverts for their beer called Burton Ale. It featured various tradesmen disappearing off-site and someone asking where’s Tommy gone, with the reply ‘He’s gone for a Burton’, ie a Burton Ale. In the war it took on a different meaning, particularly in the RAF, when a colleague had been shot down and lost.

Well that about wraps up this week and I will return to the scanner to see what new stuff we can find to share with you.

Cheerio !

Simon

Bedford S Type 4x2 Tractor (57 AN 00) Photo Number 3000 !!!

Leyland Martian 10Ton Heavy Recovery (217 EH)

Leyland Martian 10Ton Artillery Tractor (43 BM 64)

Bedford TK 4x2 Tractor (72 KC 39)

Berliet TBU15 6x6 Tractor (263-0560)

Saviem Renault SM8 4Ton Cargo (6803-0896)

Fiat 639 4x2 Cargo (EI-86479)