[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Hanno, after the Ministry of Supply was established by August 1939 they took over the ordering of and for firstly the War Department, and then the RAF (Air Ministry) but not the Admiralty. They may have also ordered vehicles for 'civilian' government-approved users such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, St Johns Ambulance, Church Army, YWCA, Food Programme, Salvage Corps, National Fire Service, et al although National Archives papers suggest that vehicles for the Ministry of Works say and local authorities may have been acquired through the M of W and other Ministries and Departments directly responsible save that wartime demobbed military vehicles were disposed of through the M of S to other Ministries and Departments.

The WD Census Number listings only refer to UK-allocated WD Census Numbers and not RAF and Royal Navy serials. Thus only WD S/M Contracts appear in the WD listing with some exceptions e.g. when there was a transfer between Service branches. I have never been concerned with RN vehicles ordered by the Admiralty although this changed recently when the Bedford QLT models came out and I had to do a review..I still have no idea whether there are record cards for RN and RM vehicles but they, in common with RAF vehicles, had a different numbering system. The same of course applied with Dutch/Polish/Czech forces with their own WD Census Number series as well as the Canadian series!

In addition the Ministry of Supply placed Contracts for overseas supplies, both for British and Commonwealth orders and deliveries/accounts. Mid-East, Far East, African, et al deliveries whilst being acquired under S/M Contracts would also not appear in the WD UK Census List. However the record cards should in theory exist to show all S/M Contracts for overseas delivery and supply, e.g. we know that Dodge cards exist showing non-UK deliveries with their theatre-allocated Census Numbers. There should be record cards relating to RAF vehicles as they were provided by the M of S, and that is what we are hunting for!

Although reference is made to US-buiilt Sno-Gos, these, if rhd, would most likely have been Canadian-sourced I suggest and thus converted by Canadian Traction Ltd to M-H 4 x 4 after official delivery by Ford, Windsor.