In house numbers
Didn't know that "in-house" numbers were stamped anywhere.
I have only seen them written in chalk on the front plate, but I thought that it answered the 283a question if we were certain that it was an SAR carrier.
Otherwise 283 is VR, with the first SAR number allocated being 285.
I can't answer the question about "284A" as being MetGas. That one is still a puzzle to me. Unless that too refers to a build number.from MetGas.?????
It's interesting though that carriers either side of the number that I have suggested this hull may be, have both Vickers plates and side mounted tools but are all recorded as being LP2A's.
By the way, hull build number for 2539 is 170a, with no listed factory mods. Haven't been able to tie down production dates yet, but will work on it.
Interestingly, within the past couple of weeks over 50% of the buildings have been knocked down in SAR Islington Workshops - which is at the end of my street.
It was my hope to take local SAR carriers back there when restored and try to reinact wartime photo's. This will be all the more harder now as I have less buildings to find the originals from.
Pedr
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