East Point War Museum Carrier
G’day Ron, Hanno et al
I replied to this thread last night - I had just got it all done and then had a power spike and lost the lot. I gave up in disgust but hopefully tonight will be better.
I live just out of Darwin so know a bit about this carrier and the military museum it is in.
This hull was built by South Australian Railways - is a model LP2A - and is Hull# 1334. The engine and gearbox are straight out of a Blitz and have been placed in the hull to look the part - the box still has the truck shifter and output shaft insitu. Due to its proximity to salt air, it is slowly rusting away. The hull is interesting for a number of reasons. It has the early type side tool stowage brackets but also has the later style rear tool stowage. It also has the late style segmented AA mount on the left of the air scoop (see pic) which I have not seen on any other early hull. I don’t know whether it is made up from a number of carrier wrecks or whether it was field modified in this manner. Has anyone got any insights into this?
The 5 spoke road wheels are reasonably common up in these parts. I assume that they were supplied as a batch of spares later in the war as carrier wrecks and bogies that I have come across here have them fitted randomly in all the different road wheel positions.
Rod’s information is correct. The museums entire outdoor salvage area was scrapped a few years ago. It was done with very little warning - “we need to have a clean up” and almost all of it went - a few of us saved what treasures we could. A real shame.
This carrier holds a special place for me as this was the first AFV I ever laid eyes on as a young bloke. I played on this and other vehicles in the salvage area for a number of years - I was duly bitten by the armour bug and have been suffering from it ever since.
Jared
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