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#61
14-11-09, 01:55
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RN Vehicles
It's great to look at old posts sometimes. I have just found out that CFMU stands for Coastal Forces Maintenance Unit. Now all I need is to find what 4MLRU stands for! An MARU was a Mobile Ammunition Repair Unit and ML in the RN is used for Motor Launch so is MLRU - Motor Launch Repair Unit?
Thinking about RN operations you can image that ships would put in to the nearest port with damage- that would then be repaired by mobile units using cutting tools, grinders and generators as seen in the photos posted here. Has anyone got any more to post?
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Larry Hayward Last edited by Larry Hayward; 14-11-09 at 01:57. Reason: Because its late! 
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#62
14-11-09, 02:06
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Quote:
This was a question I have been asking for nearly 30 years, after finding it on the door of a Morris Commercial C4 air compressor truck, and the conclusion drawn was Motor Launch Repair Unit, I had even contacted the Royal Navy historical branch back then, with no luck, but after seeing the Coastal Force vehicle photos, it pretty much confirms my thought line.
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#63
15-11-09, 19:53
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Royal Navy Morris
The Morris commercial photographed at the navel yard is not a navy truck. It was one of several bought in the early fifties by a company in Aberdeen from the army disposal sales in Irving to be civilised. This Morris was a radio truck that was modified into a breakdown wagon by removing the radio cabin and installing a flat platform with the curved sides and a Harvy Frost crane. The radio cabins were then sold off, apparently they were very popular as ready made garden sheds. The body from this Morris ended up as a hen house.
The Morris was bought to be the recovery vehicle for the Fountain Garage in Great Northern Road Aberdeen, who were a Reliant main dealer and used by them right up until the late 1980s when the garage closed. I bought the truck from the owner’s son in 1990 who has started to put it back into military trim but had given up due to work commitments. I refitted a 15 cwt GS body which was rebuilt from several found at an old site in the wilds of Aviemore, remade the cab doors and painted it OD green. During it’s time with the garage the truck had been fitted with an elderly Perkins diesel and huge four speed crash box which refused to rev over 1100 rpm and give the truck a cruising speed 25 mph. After a couple of rally seasons of this I decided an engine transplant was needed. I had an old 1975 FD series BMC truck lying in the yard so pulled the 2.2 diesel engine and synchromesh gearbox out of that and transferred it to the Morris.. During the rebuild I noticed the rear axle in the FD was remarkably slimier looking to the one on the Morris and stripping them both down I was able to swap the FD’s crown wheel and pinion with the Morris one. The result was a truck that could return 30 mpg and cruise happily at 50 mph although stopping was another matter. When the Morris was with the garage it ran on a Q number plate as seen on the picture with it in green paint. Just before I sold it and it went down to England I painted it khaki and black, the picture of it with RAF markings and age related number plate was taking I believe at RAF Evington. Then recently I found on the great Classic Commercial Motor Vehicles website under the Morris Commercial section two more pictures of my old truck now in Royal Navy colours at the Chatham navel yard with its civilian number plate and 3883 RN. A well travelled old truck displayed in the colours of all three services but as they say there is more. The Perth Australia model makers have a very good military model website with daily listings of all new military kits. And last week there was a page with Plus Models new release of a very nice 1/35 scale resin Morris in blue with the 3883 RN number plate complete with the old jeep jerry can holder behind the passenger side of the cab which I fitted to give me a bit more range and can be clearly seen in all the pictures. Sorry to anybody in advance for any copyright infringements. Cheers Stan
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#64
15-11-09, 23:15
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Vor,
Thanks for the clarification. Its so easy for schemes on preserved military vehicles to be taken as a true representation of their original wartime use! In Terence Wise's Book 'D-Day to Berlin', on war time camo (Arms & Armour Press published 1979) there is a colour drawing on page 44 of a Dingo of the Guards Div - but in fact this is a drawing of a vehicle on the rally circuit at the time! The artist has even drawn the tax disk holder attached to the side of the hull!
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Larry Hayward
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#65
15-11-09, 23:47
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RN markings
Quote:
Chris
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#66
16-11-09, 23:00
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Cfmu
Although it could stand for other things as well, CFMU stands for Coastal Forces Mobile Unit - there were two, CFMU 1 & CFMU 2, which were Flotillas of Motor Torpedo Boats( possibly Motor Gun Boats also) which, in 44/45, were based on the European coast moving up with the land forces - [Arromanches; Ostend; Copenhagen; Cuxhaven]
I presume that the photos of CFMU 2 vehicles represent the shore establishment for this unit. I did ask Alan Brock if he had any further info on these photos but got no reply. Noel
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#67
17-11-09, 08:59
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That makes a bit of sense Noel my dad was on motor gun boats and his flotilla moved up the coast and finished at Hamberg before moving to Cuxhaven where they spent a few months as security for shipping
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#68
30-11-09, 23:58
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RN vehicles
More photos please! I would like to see more photos of vehicles used by the RN and FAA in the UK.
An ex-FAA Petty Officer I know who was with the Naval Air Radio Installation Unit say the unit had one 10 ton and one 5 ton truck, a 10 hp ‘Tilly’ pickup truck and a motorbike and sidecar. Any suggestions for the 10 ton and 5 ton trucks? Would these have been impressed civi types with that load weight capacity?
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Larry Hayward
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#69
01-12-09, 21:26
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Larry
The RN were issued with a small number of Mack NR 10 tonners, most of these were in the far east but not sure if any in the UK as i have not seen any records to state cheers Les
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#70
01-12-09, 22:50
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RN Vehicles in preservation
Heres one I restored earlier
This is maybe not the best picture I have of this Land Rover that I bought, restored and rallied. LAND ROVER 10 SEAT 107" WB STATION WAGON, built 1957/58 Operated by RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall. Pretty rare vehicle in UK as very few station wagons were bought by private users due to high taxation. Very useful vehicle for attending rallies as it was easily converted as a sleeping quarters, Land rover had designed the rear bench seat to fold back over and form a flat area, just add front seat squabs to front of this seat and clip to ledge on main bulkhead and you end up with a 7' x 6' 6" Sprung and padded bed. Used in conjunction with a 9x9 tent and easy base camp set up. The vehicle carried a yellow Cross painted on the length of the roof , I was told that this was to make it visible from the air when parked on Tarmac [dark blue and black looking much the same from above] Hopefully to stop pilots parking helicopters on top of it. I had to get written permission from the base comander before I could re apply the station name to the doors. For added security and vehicle use flexibility I also had spare front doors with out RN painted on to leave on the vehicle when using the public highways except on the way to or from a vehicle/ military vehicle rally. Happy to answer any further questions or post more pics Stephen 
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#71
02-12-09, 11:52
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Request to Larry Hayward. Is there any chance of higher resolution pictures of the two that you posted with motorcycles. I can't make out the one in the Pacific, the one in Oz looks like an Indian 741? email ronpier@talk21.com
Regards Ron Last edited by Ron Pier; 02-12-09 at 12:00.
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#73
02-12-09, 22:08
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Quote:
Did O&M got their caption wrong then? I see there were only about 16 C12 machines ordered by the Admiralty.
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#74
03-12-09, 08:47
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Hi Richard.
When I rebuilt my own 39 KC10 I did quite a bit of research to get it fairly correct. Here is also a factory drawing of a 1940 WC10. There are some things is the O&M picture that just point to it being a C12. The barrel certainly looks bigger? Ron Last edited by Ron Pier; 03-12-09 at 09:02.
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#75
03-12-09, 19:53
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Quote:
You are right. I can see the picture in the O&M book was wrongly captioned as I used that to count the barrel fins, just goes to show, you can not trust all you see. I knew one thing, it was certainly not a M20 in the original picture on here and I think that one came from one of the motor cycle magazines. regards, Richard
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#77
14-12-09, 00:58
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RN bikes
Ron,
I'm sure you realise that all the motorcycle photos of RN bikes were posted by REWDCO (A.K.A. Jan in the Netherlands) and not me.
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Larry Hayward
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#78
14-12-09, 13:33
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Hi Larry. Jan is always a helpfull sorce of information I know. But there were a couple of pictures that you posted on Dec 2nd. They were vehicle pictures that included a motorcycle each. I'd just like a better look if poss.
Regards Ron
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#80
17-01-10, 19:45
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RN vehicles
Sorry Ron,
The photos I posted in 2005 were off the web and were not very high resolution so I cannot help make then clearer.
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Larry Hayward
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#81
12-02-10, 00:02
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More
Just found some more info on Navy (Etc) Wireless vehiles. The site is mainly concerned with naval radar and is huge but on this page look half way down for "Naval Radar Vans [Mobile] Part one" and" part two".
Also near the bottom of the page look at "VHF Stations part4" - theres anunusual Jeep set up. I think many of the vehicles/containers shown ar for use with MONAB units (as mentioned previously- see 20 Nov 2008 post). The files are all .pdf format - so difficult to extract photos but here's a couple: Noel Last edited by Noel Burgess; 12-02-10 at 00:03. Reason: correct typo
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#82
12-03-10, 04:09
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No1 Mobile Land Repair Unit
Quote:
4MLRU stand for Number 4 Mobile Land Repair Unit. My Grandfatehr formed No1 MLRU as Naval Party 871 in Algiers in April 1943 to invade Sicily (Husky) and then Salerno (Avalanche). 1MLRU was disbanded in Naples in December 1943 and all the originals were sent back to England and formed 3&4MLRU to invade Normandy in June 1944. I have a reasonable amount of information on these completely un-recorded RN units, so would like to reply to several of the posts individually. In the mean time have a look at the photos and documents on my Webshots pages: http://news.webshots.com/album/571340078sIySOY http://news.webshots.com/album/560302531PWmBes I am in the process of writing Grandfathers history and this forum has turned up information such as: Quote:
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#83
12-03-10, 20:05
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Quote:
It was actually me who was looking to find out about 4MLRU. I have been searching to identify the unit for 30 years now. Back then, I was helping a friend restore a 1943 Morris Commercial truck, which carried a large air compressor. When I rubbed the paint down on the doors, the RN vehicle number came up and below it 4MLRU. We contacted the Admiralty to trace the vehicle, but they were unaware of any existing records for M.T. If you know of where 4MLRU operated, pre and post D-Day, that might help narrow the history down. The mileage on the truck was low, and quite possibly genuine, as I think it had been laying in a scrapyard since disposal soon after the war. I was contacted my its new owner only recently and I am sure he would be interested to hear more. regards, Richard
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#84
14-03-10, 01:18
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Morris Commercial
Richard,
JUst out of interest, regarding the new owner of the Morris Commercial Compressor truck, is he the owner of the one recently listed on Milweb, painted in Army colours?
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Larry Hayward
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#85
14-03-10, 11:55
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Quote:
Yes, that was the one.
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#86
16-03-10, 01:14
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Shame I didn't get in there quick enough as I'd love to own a Morris Commercial though I bet spare parts are now a problem hence the price of £4600!
It would be nice to think that the new owner will put it back into RN markings though I bet it won't be. Was it ever gray in colour or did the MLRU markings appear over a typical army scheme for the period?
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Larry Hayward
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#87
16-03-10, 02:12
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Quote:
My recollection from 30 years ago, was that parts were not easy to find then, we trawled the old motor parts dealers as the engines were used in civvy lorries and agricultural vehicles. The original colour of the C4 was brown, from the factory, no sign of grey. It had a coat of green on top.
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#88
16-03-10, 05:34
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4MLRU Operations
Hi Richard,
Sorry I don't know much about where 3&4MLRU operated by my guess would be as follows: Formed sometime between December 1943 (from 1MLRU) and May 1944, probably based at Portsmouth. Would have landed D+1 or 2. Here is the only official mention I have ever found about MLRUs (it refers to ONLY 3&4). " XVI. Recovery and Repair. 1. Recovery, maintenance and repair in the assault area were under the general control of senior engineer officers on FOBAA (Flag Officer, British Assault Area) Staff. These included base engineer, electrical and construction officers, principal salvage officer, and fuelling officer. 2. Off shore repairs were handled by large repair parties in LSE, Depot Ships and floating docks. 3. In shore repair and recovery was organized on a divisional front basis under the NOIC. His staff included Reserve Assault Group Squadron Engineer Officers and Engineer Officers of the MLRU." see: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/...mNavEu-10.html Initial port targets would have been Port-en-Bessin and Oiustreham as well as beach support in the British area. They would have then leap-frogged ports up the coast through France, Belgium, Holland and possibly to Germany. The Units would have been disbanded as soon as there were no more ports to assault. Your compressor truck was used to support divers, air tools, salvage pumps and to provide compressed air to refloat vessels and would have ended up being used by port parties along the coast until surplus to requirements. I have some other photos of my Grandfathers RN vehicles and will post them shortly with some comments on the photos in this thread. Regard Stephen Last edited by illgato; 21-03-10 at 23:24.
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#89
16-03-10, 23:34
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Quote:
That is more information than I have found in 30 years, I will pass this on to the new owner. Once again, thank you. Richard
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Richard 1943 Bedford QLD lorry - 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle - 1943 Daimler Scout Car Mk2 Member of MVT, IMPS, MVG of NSW, KVE and AMVCS KVE President & KVE News Editor
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#90
17-03-10, 23:58
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RN vehicles
Stephen,
I look forward to seeing your grandfathers photos too!
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Larry Hayward
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