RAF vehicles

[Keith Brooker]

A few photos from my collection.

[Keith Brooker]

A few more photos from my collection.

[Larry Hayward]

The attached photo shows a typical Austin 30 cwt ( I think) in RAF service in 1940-41.

It is camouflaged in G3 and G4 overspray I guess but I think the very faded RAF on the cab door suggests a thin coat of camo over what was the RAF Blue applied on delivery from the factory, as the use of the white 'RAF' insignia was very much a pre-war standard marking but (mostly) dropped with the introduction of camo colours. Conserving paint may have been a factor I guess hence a thin coat of paint, which soon wore off.

[ted angus]

Its a Bedford MSC supplied prewar to the RAF. Many were fitted with oversize tyres after introduction. Yes the RAF is an indication its pre war and no doubt would originally have been RAF Blue Grey.
Ted

[Larry Hayward]

I realise now the photo above was not an Austin. The engine cover hid the detail I was looking for, as in the attached photo of an RAF Bedford MSC in October 1940 with 83 Sqn c/o IWM.

By comparison this Bedford looks to have a cab as yet in need of disruptive camo, to match the rear wooden body. Could it be that the cab is still in RAF Blue at this stage of the war and soon to be completed when the proper paint arrives? It is hard to tell, but with the RAF insignia, it looks quite fresh and the paint appears to have a sheen. If it is in a base coat of G3 camo the RAF insignia would surely have been painted over?

Certainly the cab of the Bedford in the second photo (right) suggests the cab is still in RAF Blue glossy finish, with perhaps a very thin spray of G3 which has worn off or yet to be completed. So were vehicles painted in stages?

Also I guess that whatever the colours used on the wood of the body, they were different paint type from the metal parts?

Incidentally, I find it hard to distinguish a Bedford MSC from an ML. What are the distinguishing features?

[Larry Hayward]

Anyone who has studied Bedford OXA Armoured 30 cwt Lorries in WW2 will know that they were built as an expedient in 1940 due to the loss of so much at Dunkirk etc. And yet here we are in spring 1942 or later with a Bedford Armoured Lorry on guard in the background?

I doubt this is an Avro Lancaster factory airfield and more like an RAF one, as suggested by the RAF personnel. Incidentally many of these Bedfords, including the 3 tonners with COW guns, were passed to the RAF, so I consider it to be an RAF vehicle.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

“RAF road haulage in North Africa”.

Found some copies of article in Wheels & Tracks magazine.

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[ted angus]

Originally Posted by Larry Hayward

Anyone who has studied Bedford OXA Armoured 30 cwt Lorries in WW2 will know that they were built as an expedient in 1940 due to the loss of so much at Dunkirk etc. And yet here we are in spring 1942 or later with a Bedford Armoured Lorry on guard in the background?

I doubt this is an Avro Lancaster factory airfield and more like an RAF one, as suggested by the RAF personnel. Incidentally many of these Bedfords, including the 3 tonners with COW guns, were passed to the RAF, so I consider it to be an RAF vehicle.

This photo was taken in 1942 at RAF Bottesford. A number of RAF stations were handed down these small Bedfords. The Larger vehicles titled AMADILLOs were built soley for the RAF & RN for airfield defence, In the Lineup picture these are MK 1s.