Now I'm excited

[Mike Cecil]

Dave,

From the other thread you showed the image in:

"Dave Buckle: the number 61176 over three coloured bars on the bonnet is not an ARN, but the Unit Serial Number. The ID of the unit and the explanation of the three colour-coded bars system is explained in my book 'Australian Army Units and Unit Serials of the Second World War,' available from Virtual bookworm (unless some other Forum member has a copy handy?) Not a marking that usually survives."

Battery Staff vehicles came in various loadings, designated by a letter or letter combination, eg H or GA. The Battery Staff vehicles, as mentioned in the other thread, were the ones for which the Sunshine Cab was originally designed. BS vehicles were withdrawn from service when the jungle division structure cam into being. Returned to OVPs, the fittings were removed and they were re-issued as standard GS vehicles.

The bracket above the 2 gallon Fire ext bracket is a standard Australian wireless aerial mount.

The AALMG was not the type descriptor for a truck fitted with a gallows-type LMG mount. The gallows mount was an early standard fitting on Aust CMPs, as was the fitting of brackets to allow the Bren LMG to stand in place of the rifle on the left side of the cab. The gallows mount was discarded by troops, and by 1943(? I'd have to check the date) was dropped from production. As far as I can gather, the CMP 15cwt AALMG was fitted with a flat bed with a Polsten 20-mm LAA mounting, or a smaller sized MG like a twin Bren mounting, but the type was soon converted to standard GS. I have found little paperwork on either the 15cwt AALMG or the 3 ton AALMG trucks. I have a 'requirements of units' listing which shows a total of 1,124 15 cwt and 498 3 ton AALMG trucks were required by the Australian Army in early 1943, divided up by the units & formation types requiring them. By that stage, all but 53 had been delivered from contractors 'less fitments', whatever that actually covers.


Mike