Bedford wartime models

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I have tried to put together a definitive list, with the kind assistance of colleagues on MLU, of wartime Bedford models.

BEDFORD WARTIME CIVILIAN & MILITARY MODELS

NORMAL BONNET:
K 30-cwt Commercial
MS 2-ton Short Commercial
ML 2-ton Long Commercial
ML Code 54 Ambulance (1940)
ML Code 55 Tanker (1940)
OS 3-ton Short Commercial
OL 3-ton Long Commercial
OS Code 40 5-ton Short Commercial
OL Code 40 5-ton Long Commercial
OB 26-seat bus

MW 15-CWT WD TYPE (‘SERVICE’) TRUCK (FLAT FRONT):
MWC WATER; MWD G/S; MWG A/A; MWR RADIO; [MWV Van adaptation of MWR] MWT Anti-tank Portee; MWX inflatable decoy

OX 30-CWT WD TYPE (‘SERVICE’) LORRY (FLAT FRONT):
[OXA Armoured truck]; OXC; OXD

OX BEDFORD-SCAMMELL WD TYPE (‘SERVICE’) & CIVILIAN 6-TON 4X2-2 TRACTOR LORRY (FLAT FRONT): OXC

OY 3-TON LORRY WD TYPE ‘SERVICE’) LORRY (FLAT FRONT):
OYC; OYD G/S Cargo body

OWS 5-TON SHORT WHEELBASE ‘CIVILIAN’ MODEL’ LORRY (FLAT FRONT):
OWS; OWST Tipper, military front.

OWL 5-TON LONG WHEELBASE ‘CIVILIAN’ LORRY (FLAT FRONT):
OWL; OWLE Flat platform; OWLD Dropside

OWB 26/32-SEATER WD TYPE (‘SERVICE’) & CIVILIAN BUS (NORMAL BONNET):
OWB (1941-on)
QL 3-TON 4-WHEEL DRIVE LORRY
QLB 3-ton Gun Tractor and 3-ton Light A.A. Unit
QLC 3-ton chassis cab for bodying by outside builders.
QLD 3-ton G/S lorry
QLR 3-ton Wireless, Command or Cypher vehicle
QLC variant, perhaps better known as QLS (conversion of the QLC chassis cab to a 6-ton semi-trailer tractor)
QLT 3-ton Troop Carrier
QLW 3-ton Tipper

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I have amended the listing after studying parts manuals etc. for the official designations.

Can anyone please confirm which models these mobile canteens are? I assume OXC.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

This thread is so famous it is coming up on Google!

[Les Freathy]

David, a few photos to accompany your listings
cheers
Les

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Thanks Les. I am trying to prove that OX chassis were available to authorised users such as NAAFI, Churchy Army, Salvation Army, et al as well as the OW models. However I cannot tell the difference between an OWS and an OXC!

[Alan McGuinness]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

Can anyone please confirm which models these mobile canteens are? I assume OXC.

These vehicles are of part of one of the Queen's Messenger Convoy "Food Flying Squads". I've recorded two of these vehicles as being OXD/15055 (40cwt Food Store Van, CCA665) & OXD/15031 (40 cwt Food Store Van, CCA685) and posted more details about these convoys on HMVF, here: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread...ens-messengers

I've would love to hear any other details people may have.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The shots taken by COMMERCIAL MOTOR show several vehicles, brand new, and no regos. All were Bedfords except for a Vix-Ant tanker.

[Richard Farrant]

Hi David,

Do you have a copy of the Vauxhall Motors pamphlet dated Jan. 1944? It is titled Bedford Vehicles and Vauxhall Cars, Supplied to Government Contracts or MOWT Release.

There are sketches against each entry, a Food Flying Squad canteen is listed as; OXC, 30cwt, 4x2, Mobile Canteen.........body by Spurling

There are no MW, OX, OY, QL models as such, they are family designations, each model has the full three letter reference, here is a list;
MWC water tanker
MWD GS truck
MWG GS truck with gun mountings
MWR fitted for wireless
MWT Anti Tank tractor
MWV GS van
OXD GS lorry
OXC Bedford-Scammell 6ton semi trailer lorry ( with sides)
OXC " " " " " flat platfom lorry
OXC mobile canteen
OXC Bedford-Scammell semi trailer petrol tanker 1200 and 2000 gallon types
OXC " " " " dropside lorry
OXC with Tasker semi trailer
OXC semi trailer bus "Bevin Bus"
OXC semi trailer Tasker low loading "Queen Mary"
OXC semi trailer with torpedo carrying attachment
OYC petrol tanker
OYD GS lorry
QLB Light AA tractor
QLC petrol tanker
QLD GS lorry
QLT troop carrying
QLR fitted for wireless
QLC 6 ton semi trailer
OWST 5 ton swb tipper (cvilian model to MOWT licence)
OWLE 5 ton flat platform (civilain model to MOWT licence)
OWLD 5 ton dropside (civilian model to MOWT licence)
OWB 32 seater bus ( civilian model to MOWT licence

and a few more.............

Never seen any offical reference to QLC semi trailer as a QLS though.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Thanks for that!

In the Ian Allan Archives I found reference to the Bedford-Scammell articulated bus..special permission had been given to them running in service.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

This OXC has a new trailer van being shown to Ernest Bevin.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Taken around 1956

[Les Freathy]

Factory shot of the 30cwt oxd general service

[Les Freathy]

Lets see if i can get this one right first time, the OXC 30 cwt canteen seen during the handing over of the keys to the Church Army

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

Thanks for that!

In the Ian Allan Archives I found reference to the Bedford-Scammell articulated bus..special permission had been given to them running in service.

OK David

Just to clarify, the Bevin Bus was not a Scammell, the trailers were made by R.A. Dyson and British Trailer Co., and bodywork by C.H.Roe.

[ted angus]

Gents, another government OXC was the articulated trailers for the Min of Works flying squads who carried out emergency repairs and construction. Each squad was 60 tradesmen the convoy carried all their tools and also contained self sufficient accomodation. there is a picture on page23 of Ian Allan Bedford Trucks in Camera by john Reed, The artic buses were for the Min Supply for munitions etc factories.
TED

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Now you mention it, there was a reference in a mag article from around 1941/2 in the Ian Allan photo archive in the Charles Roe section about their bodywork for artic buses.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

This is just to confirm that the August 2010 issue of VINTAGE ROADSCENE is now out. I include numerous lovely shots of Luton's production lines in August (?) 1940, just before the plant was bombed, and also trucks ready to be delivered. It is my tribute to those who lost their lives. I include some of my own researched history on the Luftwaffe units involved and why.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

MWG GS truck with gun mountings

Pics of (what I believe is) a Bedford MWG.

HTH,
Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

MWD GS truck

And a nice shot of the classic early open cabbed MWD, plus one of the later closed cab version.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Pics of (what I believe is) a Bedford MWG.

Hanno,

This MWG is positively identified by the brackets on the body sides for "stowing the ditching boards", this phrase is quote from a Bedford wartime publication describing each model. You can see them in both photos.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

MWC water tanker

Wartime shot of a MWC - one of Les' pics, right?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

This MWG is positively identified by the brackets on the body sides for "stowing the ditching boards", this phrase is quote from a Bedford wartime publication describing each model. You can see them in both photos.

Richard,

Ah yes, thanks, I remember it now - Bedford MWG Anti-Tank Portee

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Bedford MW with 20-mm Polsten gun

H.

[Les Freathy]

A couple more OY pics for this interesting thread the first a cargo truck with a water purification unit in the back. I would envisage that as the WVEE were testing this it would have a complete working unit.
The second is a fuel tanker seen filling flimsies through a distribution pump, methinks the fuel would have been safer in the trucks tank

[Les Freathy]

OXC and Queen Mary dressed for the party the London Victory parade i do believe

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This is the elusive MWV GS van, isn't it?

Note the fixed body sides and permanently fitted canvas. Also note the body is slightly longer at the rear.

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

This MWG is positively identified by the brackets on the body sides for "stowing the ditching boards", this phrase is quote from a Bedford wartime publication describing each model. You can see them in both photos.

I did some reading up (including my old thread I found again), and interestingly, even though Vanderveen in one publication - see below - mentions the MWG was the anti tank portee, in his Observer's FV Directory he mentions the MWG was the variant with the Polsten 20-mm AA gun. This is endorsed by Mike Conniford in "British Light Military Trucks 1939-1945".

I am inclined to say evidence points towards the Bedford w/Polsten gun is the MWG, while the Bedford with 2-pdr / 25-mm gun is:
a) the MWT, or
b) a conversion of the MWD GS truck.

Who has more information?

Hanno

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

From Bart Vanderveen's Kaleidoscope of Bedford & Vauxhall Military Vehicles:
"The Bedford MWG was an Anti-Tank Portee, also known as 'GS truck with gun mountings'. It looked like the MWD GS truck but was modified for carrying of a 2-pounder anti-tank gun in the rear body. These modifications included gun-loading ramps carried in outrigger brackets either side of the body and curved channels in fixed ramps on the body floor for the gun wheels to rest in. It had additional seats in the back and was supplied only with the 1939-style open cab. The BEF in France used the MWG to carry a 250-mm Hotchkiss gun instead of the 2-pounder.

The MWT was an Anti-Tank tractor and also similar in appearance to the early MWD GS truck but it featured a detachable tilt with windows and four seats for personnel. WD-pattern drawbar gear was fitted at the rear (similar body was also fitted to the 15-cwt Morris-Commercial CS8)."

[Michael Turner]

Hello:

I found this thread very interesting. I was wondering if anyone might have the answers to my questions.

(1) Taking into consideration any battle field or other losses, what were the years that the Bedford OXD like this served in WWII and what units might it have been assigned to?

Bedford OXD
http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/produ...r1427eq59c4gv7

Also, were these also used by any of the Commonwealth armies?

(2) I tried to find any war time usage of this vehicle but I haven't had much luck finding out too much information on this vehicle. Was this ever used in WWII as a transport?

Bedford OSB
http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/produ...r1427eq59c4gv7

Trailer for Bedford OSB
http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/produ...r1427eq59c4gv7

Thank you.

Michael

[Keith Brooker]

Here are a few Original photos from my collection/book

[Keith Brooker]

Some more Original photos from my Book/Collection