I
couldn't find any pictures from Christmas Island, so attached are
a few you may find useful. I was MTSS at the time, 1959/60,
Remustered in 1961 at Watton.
Eric
Middleton sent this collection taken during his time out
in Aden 1954/56.
Unloading
stores at
Lodar Airstrip 1955
The
new RL, replacement
for the good old QL
The
old + new, Q.L. alongside 2
of the new R.L's circa1955
Myself
standing alongside
one of the New R.L's circa 1955
Fordson
6 Wheeled
Ambulance circa 1955
Myself
beside a Humber 15CWT,
the first vehicle I drove when I
arrived in Aden August 1954
Humber
Armoured Car the fore
runner of the Ferret circa 1954
Replacing
the cab on a
Bedford QL after
an engine change
Leyland
6 wheeled tanker used for
refuelling Aircraft circa 1955
The
hard working
MK 1 Landrover circa 1954
Scammell
Pioneer
Recovery Vehicle
Bedford
Ambulance circa 1955
The
all new R.L.Bedford
Replacement for the Q.L.
circa 1955
3517995
SAC Middleton
with his favorite vehicle
My
mate Geoff Dolby sat on the
Bedford QL wrecker
outside billet 15
A
Bedford QL negotiating the
Dhaila Pass 1954
Bedford
Coach Based on the
S Type chassis circa1955
Hi Ian,
After Looking at all the other photos I thought
that I would send a few off my own from my time in Germany 1957-1960. I was stationed at R.A.F.
Butzweilerhof most of this time at V.R.D. unit, either taking the old
Leyland's & A.E.C's. down to Antwerp to be shipped back to Blighty, or
returning recondition vehicles back to their units in Holland & Germany.
After I came out of
the R.A.F. in 1962 I carried on Lorry driving until I was 70, this year,
during this time I was never out of work, so I had something to thank my
Instructors at Weeton for.
Just a request for anyone who remembers the
Magirus Duetz Uranus breakdown truck, I have met a chap who has got
possibly
the only one in this Country & is looking for any photos or
stories about these vehicles from the 50s & 60s.
I think
your site is fantastic it brings back so many memories.
The
Yorkshire Air Museum have taken delivery of this fully
restored Thompson Refueller, the vehicle has a 500 gallon main
tank and a much smaller diesel tank.
Hi
Ian,
I've
been sorting out at home found a couple of photos you might
want to put on the site.
Please click on the picture to access his story and pictures
Hi Ian,
Came across your MT drivers website while trying to find information about 117 Signals Unit in Hong Kong.
The construction of the Tai Mo Shan radar site was mentioned in one of the e-mails on display. I was a Cpl Aerial Erector and helped to
build the site. There were two Bedford tipper lorries which delivered all the steelwork etc to the site up a very narrow and hairy track, the two drivers were
great, carefully dumping the loads of steel exactly where we asked thus saving us a lot of sweat and toil. We, the
construction guys, were taken up there every day from RAF Kai Tak in the Tai Mo Shan Express, a Bedford 3 tonner driven by our MT driver
Cpl Jim Cook who also operated the crane. The journey up and down the mountain was very hair-raising with lots of shunting to get the 3 tonner around the hairpin corners, often with sheer-drops below. Jim was a brilliant driver and could work wonders with the crane to
get the girders into place for us. The crane often had to be moved from one tower to the other along a steep and winding rough track which had to be done with the crane reversing down very slowly. Towards the end of the job Jim took a few days leave to get married and a new driver was sent to operate the crane for us. He knew it all!!! No creeping down for him. Just shoved it into gear and set off next thing it started sliding and over the side it went. He was lucky not to be killed.
The crane was wrecked. Jim went ballistic when he heard about it, up there for
Months and not so much as a scratch. Fortunately most of the heavy lifting was done by then.
Attached are a few photographs which may be of interest.
Pictures from the archives of
Frank
Waller
Please click on the picture to access his pictures
CAN
YOU HELP?
Dear Sir,
I have found your web page dedicated to RAF MT Company. maybe you could
help me with one question. I am a scale modeller and I am thinking about
building a model of a Mack NR6 truck. I guess it would be nice in the
colour
scheme used by RAF in North Africa (see opposite). I suppose it was
pained Desert Sand, RAF roundel was painted on the front mudguard and
probably also on the cab top (or bonnet?). What I am not sure about
is the triangular insignia painted on the cab door. I believe it is
the insignia of a MT company (in particular No. 5 RAF MT Company).
Can any of your members enlighten me or have a more detailed picture showing
this insignia which would help me to make a decal in 1/35 scale?
Any comments would be welcome.
Thanking you beforehand for your time,
Best Regards from Prague,
Jan
Mostek
Antique military trucks enthusiast Prague
Czech Rep.
Answered
09/11/09
Joe
Snook says "The insignia is that of No 51 RAF MT Company,
which is a red triangle with a blue centre and a thin white line
in between and a black 51 in the middle"
Joe
served on 51 MT from 1945 to 1947, it was formed in Egypt in 1942
and was disbanded in 1956.
A
model of the truck I used to drive on 51 MT
It is a Studebaker 6x4 coupled to a Queen Mary trailer
Ian Brawn
sent in this picture of 32 AC 82 taken at Seletar in 1959, although not an M.T. driver he has a particular interest in the Bedford SB Mulliner buses and would like to hear from anyone with any pictures or information they might have about them.
