Raaf cmp 1956

[Mike Cecil]

They appear to be RAAF Fire Trucks. The type started life as RAAF fire truck design and constuction project, but then the war ended, so the majority of the contract were transferred to Army for use as Ordnance Vehicle Park (OVP) 'self contained' fire trucks, so only a small number were actually used by the RAAF. Some (unknown number) were later transferred to Dept Civil Aviation post-war, when airfields were still government operated.

Civilian type tyres were a common feature on both wartime and post war vehicles when the tactical environment allowed it. The type often used in Australia was the Dunlop 'Silent 90'.

Mike C

[Keith Webb]

Mallala which is north of Adelaide was No.6 Service Flying Training School for the RAAF, teaching young pilots who had just graduated from elementary flying training on Tiger Moths.
On graduation at the end of this course they were awarded their wings. The aircraft used for the purpose was the Avro Anson.
Photo: Mallala Museum

[Keith Webb]

Here's another interesting one of an International from the Museum's flikr pics:




Incidentally that first pic in this thread is shown in the Mallala Museum's collection.

[Lang]

I think that photo of Mallala is a fake. Probably done for PR/propaganda purposes.

If you look at the aircraft they are all totally identical in perfect rows - nowhere for them to taxi past each other, same shadows and reflections. Down the back the artist even put one half of an aircraft on the dirt to keep his perfect spacing.

The only other explaination is it was after the war and every Anson in the Australian fleet was gathered there for disposal like they did with the Spitfires at Oakey etc.

Wonder how many aircraft they actually had in Mallala?

[Mike Cecil]

Is there a registration number visible?

Forgot to add: the dual wheels were part of the original RAAF design for the fire tender/crash tender, to take the greater loading of the fire fighting liquid.

Mike C

[Stuart Kirkham]

Thanks for all the replies.

I would think that bar tread tyres would be incompatible with tarmac and grass driving. Would be a heck quieter as well.

Anyone got photos of the entire vehicle?

The line up of Ansons does look very pricise. It may be that the aircraft have been positioned like this in antisipation of a disposal auction. During military service, you would normally expect one third of the aircraft to be in the hangers for repair/routine maintenance/repaint etc. This is not the case in the photo.

[Stew Robertson]

I noticed that the truck is sporting split rims also